The opening of the 2024 Edinburgh International Festival by Nicola Benedetti marks the beginning of an exhilarating 24 day, 160 event celebration of opera, dance, music and theatre in the Scottish Capital. Following last years’ tentative, ‘Where do we go from here?’, we start this year with the more upbeat, ‘Rituals that unite us. And the opening concert tonight could hardly be a better example of the statement.
Spaniard, Osvaldo Gilijov’s extraordinary reinterpretation of Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion was commissioned in 2000 to mark the composer’s 250th anniversary. Now, almost a quarter of a Century old and having been performed around the globe, it (finally!) has its first Scottish outing. But this is no Solemn biblical narrative, no, this is a shock of rhythm and colour, in multiple languages, but primarily drawn from the Spanish Vernacular, hot salsa is set side by side with haunting Kaddish.
Portuguese conductor Joana Carneiro is an animated ball of movement propelling the piece forward. Members of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra sit side by side with guests brought together especially for the Scottish premiere of this extraordinary work. This one-off performance is truly epic in scale, and brings to Scotland the Caracas-based choir, Schola Cantorum of Venezuela, integral to the piece, and included in every performance since its 2000 premiere. They are joined by the National Youth Choir of Scotland and a mass line-up of soloists from jazz, popular and classical backgrounds. Too numerous to mention here, the stand out performer for me being alto soloist Gioconda Cabrera who had several piercing interventions.
Not to be outdone the collected choristers are central to the success here and look like they are having a whale of a time! Swaying sometimes, breaking into two ‘gangs’ at others, gesticulating frantically, and at one point, during the Last Supper section almost coming to blows amid a cacophony of sound. Fantastic!
At just short of two hours uninterrupted, this is a long sit by any measure. Testimony to the success of the show was that time simply flew by and the night ended with a sustained and uninterrupted standing ovation, and tears!
The EIF opening concert has rightly garnered an international reputation for fantastic music, invention, joy complexity and delight. Tonight’s Passion can only add to that reputation. This was certainly all of the above!
Reviewer: Greg Holstead
Reviewed: 3rd August 2024
North West End UK Rating:
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Running time – 1 hr 45mins