Standfirst:
For the first Edinburgh International Festival since succeeding Roger Wright as Controller of BBC Radio 3, Alan Davey has enhanced the network's association with the EIF and teh capital's other August festivals. Here he explains why, even in the same time frame as the Proms at the Albert Hall in London, the Edinburgh Festivals are important to the BBC.
What I love about Edinburgh during the month of August is the chance to discover something new and unexpected; the great city of the enlightenment turns into a hive of cultural activity where you are just as likely to stumble across the best version of Macbeth you have ever seen in your life by a student drama group performed at midnight as you are to encounter world class musicians, singers and conductors having a coffee on the Royal Mile, all equally as excited to perform on stages across the city.
To me, it is therefore fitting that Radio 3 is here at the Edinburgh International Festival where the best in international talent and cultural experimentation descends every year to surprise, delight and reach new audiences. In my first few months as controller of BBC Radio 3 (including responsibility for the Proms and BBC performing groups) I have been anxious to stress that the job covers more than just a radio station. The Radio 3 family broadcasts hundreds of live concerts a year – classical music, world, jazz and roots music, as well as drama and speech programmes that reflect culture and ideas. Showcasing the musical riches of the EIF is a key part of our public service mission and a crucial and unique offering to the British audience.
This year we broadcast 23 concerts from the Queen’s Hall, Usher Hall and Playfair Library– some live and some pre-recorded to continue our summer of music into September. With the Proms going on at the same time, Britain is humming with a rich cultural life that we can reflect in our schedule to bring the highlights of the concert hall, whether the Royal Albert Hall or Usher Hall, to many thousands of people to experience in their own homes. This morning we broadcast the Scottish premiere of Scottish percussionist Colin Currie’s performance of a piece by American composer Steve Reich, especially created for him live from the Queen’s Hall in this his first EIF season, and I urge you to listen if only to marvel at how such a sound can be created at such a pace. He shares the Radio 3 stage with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo exploring Sibelius and Beethoven live from the Royal Albert Hall this evening, and it is bringing this richness of culture from the across the best UK’s concert hall platforms simultaneously which I find is one of the most exciting things about the ability of radio.
Radio conveys not just the great art, but something of the excitement and atmosphere of being here, with presenters such as Donald Macleod and Jamie MacDougall broadcasting live from the middle of all the action. With the online streaming of Edinburgh International Festival Conversations by BBC Arts it has never been easier to go backstage and find out more about artists and their craft, and why and how they do what they do.
Radio 3 also explores the best of modern jazz through Jazz on 3 and Jazz Line-Up, eclectic music that is connected by being interesting in Late Junction, and cabaret of the spoken word with guests reflecting on the festival in The Verb to represent a wide breadth of all there is to discover here in Edinburgh, with World on 3 broadcasting from the BBC Potterrow site for the very first time.
Reflecting the remarkable riches that are the warp and weft of the Scottish cultural scene is a vital mission for Radio 3 – at festival time and all year round. We broadcast throughout the year from the St Magnus Festival, the East Neuk Festival, Celtic Connections in Glasgow and around 75 programmes a year featuring the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra – who wowed the Proms last weekend with some excellent Sibelius from Ilan Volkov and their incoming principal conductor Thomas Dausgaard. Radio 3 is crucial in bringing the enlightened musical and cultural life of Scotland to a UK wide audience, and further onward through transmission within the European Broadcasting Union.
I’m proud of our partnership with the EIF and thrilled Radio 3 can be part of the biggest arts festival in the world. As we head into the third week of our stay in Edinburgh, I hope our broadcasts will continue to bring pleasure and enlightenment to listeners the world over.
BBC Radio 3 broadcasts from Edinburgh International Festival until August 28 with highlights of the festival broadcast from September 15-18 and available to catch-up for 30 days. For more information visit bbc.co.uk/radio3
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