HUGH Kerr's assertion that the Edinburgh International Festival neglected Scottish arts is contradicted by Scottish Opera's back-to-back presentation of four new operas (Letters, September 3).
Scottish writers were teamed with Scottish composers, resulting in the utterly moving emotional journey of Craig Armstrong's The Lady from the Sea, pictured; the searing strings and voices of James MacMillan's Clemency and the hard-hitting critique of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by Stuart McCrae and Louise Welsh in Ghost Patrol.
I would have hoped that the latter, with its anti-war message delivered over complex but compelling music, would have brought the series to Mr Kerr's attention. With the inclusion of Welsh-born composer Hugh Watkins, librettist David Harsent (who describes himself as British), English-born Michael Symmons Roberts and co-production team Music Theatre Wales, a really successful artistic "team GB"has emerged. With this successful embedding of contemporary opera into our culture – and displaying it on the world stage – the need to support it becomes obvious. I'm sure Mr Kerr will join me in calling for the eventual restoration of full-time status for Scottish Opera's orchestra, who played magnificently in this series.
Eddie McGuire,
13 Lawrence Street, Glasgow.
BOYCOTTS always get a bad press and meet with ministerial disapproval. It is worth remembering that without the heavily criticised cultural, sporting, and economic boycott of South Africa there would still be Whites-Only park benches and couples held in separate prisons for daring to marry each other. It would seem to me that interrupting a show sponsored by the Israeli government makes very good sense to anybody who has queued outside the checkpoint to enter the walled ghetto that is Bethlehem, or been held waiting to enter the Palestinian city of Hebron because of a minor Jewish celebration. I imagine that anyone shot at for ferrying medical supplies into Gaza would feel even more strongly. I welcome the boycott proposed by the group of Scottish authors who wrote to The Herald, and hope it spreads further (Letters August 29).
Martin Axford,
18 Bonar Crescent,
Bridge of Weir.
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