OVERSHADOWED by an English rival and with a programme described as a "risk" by its own director, the Edinburgh International Festival has nevertheless sold out several shows.

In addition, several more shows in the 2011 programme only have a handful of tickets left before they are also sold out.

Jonathan Mills, the artistic director of the festival (EIF) who packed this year’s programme with lavish productions from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, told The Herald in March that the festival was a “risk” -- but it seems his choices are proving intriguing -- at least to festival-goers.

Several of the Gamelan Orchestra performances, two of The Legendary Music of Rajasthan concerts, and the National Ballet of China’s The Peony Pavilion are now sold out, as is the con- cert by Yundi, the Chinese pianist.

Also sold out are the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s concert of Mahler’s second symphony conducted by Donald Runnicles, and the second of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s concerts, in which it will play works by Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Berlioz.

The first release of tickets for the annual Fireworks Concert are also sold out, with the second allocation going on sale on Monday.

Only a handful of tickets are available for Ravi Shankar, The Sixteen, the Belcea Quartet, and the dance class with the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble.

The EIF say “hot tickets”, or those selling quickly, include the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Philip Glass’s Qatsi Trilogy, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, One Thousand and One Nights, Thais, Semiramide, Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Princess Bari and The Tempest.

However, concerts that are not selling as well include the opening concert, Das Paradies und die Peri, Scottish Ballet, The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan, The Re-Triptych by Shen Wei, and the two-hour, one-man King Lear by Wu Hsing-Kuo.

A spokeswoman for the EIF said that ticket sales were “tracking” in line with previous years but they were happy with the response to the programme, which some experts thought might be a “tough sell”.

She added: “We are delighted audiences appear to be intrigued and prepared to take risks at the International Festival.

“There are of course tickets still available to many exciting and spectacular shows including Tim Supple’s One Thousand and One Nights, Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Opera and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, all offering a great night out.”

Mills told The Herald earlier this year: “There is no doubt that I have taken a little risk with this festival.

“Some people will say that there is a lot of Asian work -- and there is no doubt about that.

“My response to that is that it is very accessible, very approachable.”

This week the EIF was compared unfavourably with one of its English rivals for arts audiences, the Manchester International Festival (MIF).

However the EIF, which opens in Scotland’s capital next month, said it is not worried about the success of the MIF -- whose director Alex Poots used to run the Flux festival in Edinburgh.

And the organisation has insisted that “a bit of competition is a good thing”.

It remains to be seen whether this year’s Eastern-themed festival can attract more ticket buyers than last year.

In 2010 it sold 134,444 tickets. The festival had recorded box office sales of £2.67 million, a 3% rise on 2009.

 

  • This year’s EIF runs from August 12 to September 4