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BBC Radio 3 and Edinburgh International Festival celebrate 70 year partnership

2017-03-15T11:00:03+00:00

Announced today, the programme for the 2017 Edinburgh International Festival promises three weeks of the finest performances from the worlds of opera, music, theatre and dance.

Committed to virtuosity and originality, the Edinburgh International Festival was the inspired idea of Rudolf Bing, then the General Manager of Glyndebourne Opera, Henry Harvey Wood, the Head of the British Council in Scotland, and leaders from the City of Edinburgh. It was established in 1947 as a world class cultural event to bring together audiences and artists from around the world and, 70 years later, it continues to serve as a beacon for the very best in the arts.

As the official broadcaster of the International Festival, through live and recorded concerts available on radio and online BBC Radio 3 will bring the best of the Edinburgh International Festival to audiences at home and across the world in 2017, introducing the artists and their programmes to those unable to be at the concerts in person.

Radio 3’s predecessor the Third Programme broadcast from Edinburgh at the very first International Festival in 1947 and with both cultural institutions in their 70th year, Radio 3 will once again make the International Festival’s music offering available to everyone through a major series of broadcasts in 2017.

Lindsay Pell, Senior Producer for Music at BBC Scotland, tells us more about Radio 3’s long-standing relationship as the official broadcast partner of one of the world’s greatest arts festivals, and talks through what’s in store for radio listeners in the Festival’s 70th anniversary year:

When did the BBC first start broadcasting from the Edinburgh International Festival?

I have in my hand the original leaflet for the inaugural 1947 Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama as it was named them. It is a modest eight-page paper leaflet and a far cry from some of the very glossy publications that have existed in later decades but there are some impressive names.

The 1947 Edinburgh International Festival of Music & Drama souvenir programme

The BBC was involved right from the outset and I’ve found a recording from that first Festival year of A recital of Scottish Lowland Songs (Burns etc) given by the soprano Marie Thomson and tenor John Tainsh with Ian Whyte on the piano. The BBC Scottish Orchestra (sic) also makes an appearance with Ian Whyte as conductor and Cyril Smith on the pianoforte playing the first performance of the conductor’s own concerto. Clearly it was a good year for Ian Whyte.

Bruno Walter and Kathleen Ferrier performing at the first festival in 1947

What have been some of the standout BBC broadcast moments since the International Festival began in 1947?

This is a question I have asked various people including former Artistic Directors of the Festival and we are lucky to have had some truly historic moments from over the past 70 years captured forever thanks to Radio 3 and our predecessor The Third Programme. Today I discovered a recording of the famous tenor Fritz Wunderlich singing Schumann’s Dichterliebe at the 1966 Festival, literally days before he tragically died in an accident. I was also particularly excited to find a number of great composers had attended the Festival to perform their own works. There are recordings of Francis Poulenc and Pierre Bernac (who premiered so many of his songs at the Festival) performing the song cycle Le Travail du Peintre and the great Hungarian composer Ernő Dohnányi performing a solo piano recital of his own works. Benjamin Britten of course made several appearances as have other great luminaries including Pierre Boulez. Some of the greatest artists of the last 70 years have been captured on tape at the International Festival including singers Maria Callas, Kathleen Ferrier, Jessye Norman; instrumentalists including cellist Pierre Fournier, violinist Moskowsky (also famous as a composer of many showpieces), violinist Isaac Stern, the Amadeus Quartet, the Orpheus Choir and…the list goes on.

Maria Callas performing with La Piccolo Scala at the festival in 1957

Can you talk us through an average day for the Radio 3 team during the International Festival?

It’s quite a conveyor-belt of production as we are a fairly small team with usually two producers alternating concerts every day for three weeks. The team arrive at the Queen’s Hall at about 8am to re-rig and check the equipment and the communications to London. The presenter, (either Donald Macleod or Jamie MacDougall) arrives at around 9am to meet the producer, check over the script, make any last minute changes that have occurred recently. The trickiest thing here is when the repertoire changes at very short notice, which creates a flurry of activity including changes to the online and digital radio information and not least some speedy re-scripting to introduce the new piece. The producer meets and talks to the artist to finalise any last details that affect the broadcast including when they might come off stage between pieces, any changes or concerns and often a short interview for inclusion in the broadcast.

Before the concert begins we’ve normally tweeted, Facebooked and shared stories and pictures about the concert. The producer keeps in close touch with Radio 3 via telephone and ISDNs to make sure we dovetail into the morning's programming. This often includes a short ‘two-way’ conversation between our presenter and the presenter on-air before the concert begins. At 11am the presenter and concert go live on air whilst we monitor the performance and audio. We make notes for future reference and are ready to take action in case something happens like a string breaking or in case anything happens inside the hall that disrupts the concert. In the interval we stay on air with script, conversation or music and we finally hand back to Radio 3 as the applause comes to an end.

What can listeners look forward to in this year’s Radio 3 coverage of the International Festival?

Radio 3 continues in its role as partner with the International Festival, broadcasting live, fifteen morning concerts from the Queen’s Hall and recording six Usher Hall concerts for later broadcast. There will also be live editions of programmes such as Breakfast, Record Review and In Tune from the BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals hub and two documentaries looking at the history and founding of the festival – one which will use archive recording and new interviews to trace an oral history of the early years of the festival, and the second, which will tell the story of how after 1945 arts festivals such as Edinburgh were created across Europe to re-establish a spirit of international co-operation. We’ll also be delving into our archive, looking back at some of the great moments captured on the radio over the past 70 years – these moments will include twelve concerts featuring some of the finest artists to appear at the International Festival.

In a year in which both the Festival and Radio 3 are 70 years young it’s set to be a brilliant three weeks of music making and recording - stay tuned!

Lindsay Pell is Senior Producer for Music at BBC Scotland.

Listen to BBC Radio 3 and keep up to date with the station on twitter and facebook.
Find out more about the Edinburgh International Festival 2017.
Watch Donald McLeod at work at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2015.

BBC Four reveal plans at Edinburgh International Television Festival

2015-08-27T15:45:47+00:00

I’ve been at the Edinburgh Television Festival this week and wanted to share the main things we at BBC Four are announcing. I’m pleased that the channel’s going from strength to strength; we’ve had an incredibly successful year with Slow Week, India’s Daughter from Storyville, and some very popular science programmes including Inside Sellafield with Jim Al Khalili. There’s also been strong arts programming, and the Proms have been really popular, so it’s fair to say the channel is thriving.

How are we going to keep up that momentum? Well, we are bringing back Slow TV, which proved so popular earlier this year, with a Christmas twist – The Sleigh Ride. We’re also going to do a big music competition called Britain’s Best Part-time Band. There’s also going to be the first live BBC broadcast from Television Centre since we moved out, in Live From Television Centre, we’ve got four regional theatre companies doing innovative theatre pieces – we are working with BBC Two on that as I’ll explain. There’s also good news for Scandi drama fans, we’ve three series coming this autumn: a new one called Beck, the return of Arne Dahl and the new series of The Bridge. Other Christmas treats on BBC Four include Frank Skinner doing a history of popular entertainment with Suzy Klein.

For me the core thing that BBC Four is always about is innovation: it’s about innovation in form, with seasons things like Slow TV; it’s about innovation in content; and it’s about innovation in talent which is what Britain’s Best Part Time Band is about – opening the doors of the BBC to new talent who don’t normally get to appear on our channels.

Over the last year I’ve been working closely with Kim Shillinglaw, Controller of BBC Two, building a productive, effective and, again, fiercely innovative relationship with BBC Two. The plan is more combined seasons, like the India season earlier this year; next we’re doing one around theatre – which is what Live from Television Centre is about and there are other things coming down the line as well. There’s now a really close and clear relationship between the two channels where BBC Two brings the audience the universe: big things, big subjects, and what BBC Four does is bring you the atom, a deep dive down into content in a way that no other channel will do.

We also want to build ever closer relationships with our audience – so what I’m very keen on, in the course of 2016, is that the audience be able to get more involved with BBC Four. As part of this we’ve got an exciting project around Land Art where we’re going to invite the audience to contribute to build a piece of art in the landscape. We’re also doing some interesting work around social media and music: we’re bringing back Brian Pern, who is our comedy music guru, and he’ll be tweeting and talking about our Friday night music output and building a conversation with the audience around that.

Cassian Harrison is Channel Editor, BBC Four.

Find out what Charlotte Moore, Controller of BBC One and Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three spoke about at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.
Read the press release about upcoming programmes on BBC Four.
Read Cassian's blog 'Song and Dance on BBC Four and beyond'.
Discover more about 'Live from Television Centre' on the BBC Media Centre website.

Rolling up the astro-turf on Edinburgh 2014

2014-08-26T09:48:22+00:00

And so, goodbye Edinburgh Festivals. We said we'd do you bigger and better than ever before - and we did. Thanks to our teams across the city and down at the BBC site at Potterrow. Some just passing through for a night or two with one production, some in it for the full 24 days, but everyone working long hours, through all weather (including, and I'm not joking, an actual 'hurricane'), to bring Edinburgh to audiences at home and to make Potterrow (pictured) a fabulous production base and focal point for festival visitors with events and outreach programmes. Sure, stacked portacabins don't immediately scream 'fun' for some people, but we paint them bright colours and smile a lot. And there are tents, a ping-pong, a big screen, bands, family events, food stalls and a bar too.

One of the best things about Potterrow is the way it brings the whole BBC together. Here you find teams from Television, Radio, News, Learning, Nations and Regions, World Service and Online all working together with that warm, gooey collaborative spirit that defines the BBC at its absolute best. I even saw three different presenters come together in the same five-metre radius - the broadcasting equivalent of crossing the beams - and the world didn't end.

How do we know this was our best Edinburgh yet? Well, it was terrific having The One Show, Newsnight, Radio 1Xtra and World Service's Newsday join the party for the first time, bringing the best of Edinburgh to new and larger audiences. We also had a new flagship BBC Two show - Edinburgh Nights with Sue Perkins and Edinburgh Extra with Kirsty Wark on BBC Four. And we not only fulfilled, but surpassed our pledge to deliver a performance a day through BBC Arts Online. But the success also lay in the continuing support of friends like Fred MacAulay, Just a Minute, Radio 1, and the Asian Network. I sat in on as many broadcasts as I could and particularly enjoyed seeing shows like Front Row, Radio 2 Arts Show, Newsnight, In Tune, the Culture Studio, Simon Mayo Drivetime, Edinburgh Nights, recorded before large and enthusiastic audiences - and you could feel that energy translating on air.

It's not just Potterrow, of course. Radio 3 broadcast 19 concerts from the Edinburgh International Festival and teams from Scotland and Comedy were out and about capturing the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Seann Walsh's Late Night Comedy Spectacular, and the hottest shows across the city. Between us all, we ensured that the best of Edinburgh - the world's largest and finest arts and comedy festival - reached millions upon millions of people. It's something only we can do.

As for the art... The International Festival pulled a blinder with Rona Munro's extraordinary James plays. Seeing Sofie Grabol's (of The Killing and 'that' jumper fame) electrifying performance as Queen Margaret in James III - in this city at this time - felt like seeing history in the making. Other highlights included Akram Khan's wonderful Gnosis, where he heroically and masterfully improvised for twenty minutes because his female principle was off sick. The Book Festival goes from strength to strength and has emerged as one of the world's most important literary gatherings. My favourite Fringe plays were at Summerhall: Britannia Waves the Rules, The Man Who Almost Killed Himself and Standby for Tape Back-Up. There was weird and wonderful music with the Song of the Goat's Return to the Voice and Wyckham Porteous' Songs of Orwell Farm. And BBC Arts Online partnered with HiBROW on a brilliant series of productions including Alison Jackson's La Trashiata - a model for how we can be curators within the festivals as well as reporters.

As I write, the astro-turf is being rolled up at Potterrow, the deckchairs stacked, the tents let down and the portacabins taken to wherever portacabins go when not in use. Edinburgh is Christmas for anyone who loves art and comedy, and we're already talking to our partners and developing new ideas on how to work even closer and more effectively with the festivals next year.

Jonty Claypole is Director, BBC Arts

Catch up with the best of the festivals at BBC Arts

BBC at the Edinburgh TV Festival 2014

2014-08-21T06:50:24+00:00

Over the next few days, the BBC is taking part in a wide range of sessions at this year’s Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. I’ll be speaking in several sessions – sitting in for BBC Two Controller Kim Shillinglaw to talk about her strategy for the channel, joining fellow broadcasters on a panel to debate issues around commissioning, and discussing the plans we announced in July for changes to BBC Productions in “BBC – The New Super Indie?” (Read Director General Tony Hall’s speech outlining the proposals on the Media Centre website.)

BBC One Controller Charlotte Moore will be talking about her ambitions for the channel as well as joining a debate about diversity in television, and BBC Four Channel Editor Cassian Harrison makes his Edinburgh debut to explain what he sees as the big moments for the channel over the next 12 months.

Full details of all BBC related announcements will appear on this blog over the next few days, linked to below. I’ll also be joining Richard Bacon’s Radio Five Live show at 2pm live from the Festival on Thursday.

I’m excited by the new BBC Television programmes announcements we’re making this week at the Festival – I’m proud that we offer such a wide range of compelling, world-class programming.

Danny Cohen is Director of BBC Television

BBC One Controller Charlotte Moore introduces new drama, comedy and factual programming.
New drama, comedy and factual programmes for BBC Two.
Sam Bickley announces new commissions for BBC Three.
BBC Four Channel Editor Cassian Harrison unveils new content for the channel.

Edinburgh TV Festival 2013: Looking forward to even more from BBC Three

2013-08-23T14:13:28+00:00

In comedy, new sitcoms like Bluestone 42 (pictured) proved a big hit with our audiences

We’ve had a great year on BBC Three. Whether we’ve been giving politicians GCSE maths text books, feeding people slabs of horsemeat, seeing what new drivers really get up to, bringing women’s football to the nation or whiling time away at the Wishy Washy Laundrette, we’ve continued to innovate and originate in every genre. As a result we’re still the most watched non-terrestrial channel in the hours we transmit. We reached an average of 12.6 million people a week and over 4 million of these were 16-34 year olds.

In comedy, new sitcoms on the home front and the front line proved a big hit with our audiences, Bad Education, Cuckoo, Some Girls, Badults and Bluestone 42 will all be returning. We’ve also commissioned Siblings, a brand new scripted comedy series from the producers of The Inbetweeners.

In entertainment Nick Grimshaw and his quiff are sweating more of the small stuff with a second series of his panel show Sweat The Small Stuff, and there will be plenty of chat thanks to Staying In With Greg and Russell, and Jack Whitehall’s Backchat, where Jack’s biggest headache won’t be the guests, but having to cope with his disparaging Dad, Michael.

In factual we’ve continued to explore and raise awareness of issues facing young people across the UK and abroad, reflecting their life experiences. We highlighted the problems with being a woman in India and being gay in the US. It’s A Mad World was an agenda-setting season of thought-proving and often uplifting programmes dedicated to debunking the myths and taboos around mental health issues and it received a great response from audiences, critics and Mental Health charities alike, really making a difference in young people’s lives. Next year we will continue to tackle emotive issues with our Justice Season, reflecting on crime and punishment in the UK and the US and asking whether young adults are treated fairly.

Call Centre's Nev poses for the camera

And who could forget the impact that The Call Centre made? We saw that happy people do indeed sell, and thanks to Nev we got involved with the lives and loves of the very entertaining employees of a Welsh call centre. Series two will air next year but in the meantime there’s a Christmas special to look forward to. Bring on the Santa suit.

We also commissioned successful, fast turnaround documentaries on the Cleveland kidnappings, the horsemeat scandal and the Oscar Pistorius arrest. New series Don’t Just Stand There I’m Having Your Baby, Barely Legal Drivers and Unsafe Sex in the City saw young people’s birthing skills, driving ability and sexual health being tested and all will be returning. We continued to see how our audience can party abroad, plan a wedding and eat 26 Krispy Kreme doughnuts in one sitting. And later this year the parents will be getting suspicious and cold when the ski season hits in Snow Sex and Suspicious Parents.

On the awards front there were BAFTA and Broadcast Awards for the satirical hit The Revolution Will Be Televised (and I can promise you the boys will continue to pack a punch with series two hits on high-profile people including leading politicians), a second BAFTA and a Freesat Award for Our War, a Comedy Award for Jack Whitehall and a Broadcast Award for the single drama My Murder. Our zombie thriller In The Flesh will be returning and the good news is we’re looking for more dramas, two a year from next year.

Fresh Documentary, Knight Club

Innovation is nothing without new talent and we’re still providing a pipeline for rising stars in all genres. Our Comedy Feeds, Fresh Documentaries and Online Drama Pilots will continue to act as a springboard for talent both on and off the screen. We have already commissioned three full series as a result of our Comedy Feeds Pilots and Fresh has nurtured an expanding array of great documentary makers. And as always we’re working with online and iPlayer, making our content as quickly and widely available as possible.

So, keep watching and we’ll keep making stand-out programmes that get you talking. Or in the words of Nev, “we promise to keep putting even more glide in our stride.”

Zai Bennett is Controller, BBC Three

New BBC Three programmes announced as part of Zai Bennett's Edinburgh International TV Festival 'Meet the Controller' session can be found on the Media Centre website.

Zai also marked BBC Three's 10th birthday with a special post here on the About the BBC Blog.

Edinburgh TV Festival 2013: A year of highs for BBC Two

2013-08-22T09:28:44+00:00

Vicky McClure in acclaimed BBC Two drama The Line of Duty

I’m at the Edinburgh TV Festival today and have just finished my ‘Meet the Controller’ session with Cathy Newman from Channel 4 News. It’s been a chance to look back at what has been a fantastic year for BBC Two as well as look ahead to another exciting year to come. (You can read a summary of some of the points discussed here.)

It has been a year of real highs for the network, winning Broadcast Channel of the Year and MGEITF (Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival) Channel of the Year. BBC TWO also won more BAFTAs than any other channel this year including awards for: 7/7, Murder, Twenty Twelve and Great British Bake Off plus eight RTS Programme Awards. Drama has continued its resurgence, from the acclaimed series Line of Duty, which was the biggest new drama series on the channel since 2005 (peak of 4.2m) to The Fall (4.7m watched the final episode).

Great British Bake-Off (l-r: Paul Hollywood, Sue Perkins, Mel Giedroyc and Mary Berry)

In factual, one of my guiding principles has been to make the intelligent popular, and the popular intelligent. I believe the success of programmes like Great British Bake Off, Great British Sewing Bee, The Last Days of Anne Boleyn and The Secret Life of The Cat is down to the fact that they are content rich and informative, but also compelling and they ‘feel’ distinctively BBC Two.

‘Talent’ has continued to be central and I’ve been delighted to see the success of new expert presenters such as Joann Fletcher and Michael Scott as well as the on-going popularity of established faces such as Mary Beard, Lucy Worsley, Mary and Paul, Dara O Briain and Brian Cox.

Of course, the DQF (Delivering Quality First) cuts have been challenging, but BBC Two is still ahead of its main competitors in peak, and audience appreciation is as high as ever.

On top of all this, I’ve relished the challenge of taking on responsibility for BBC Four, following the departure of Richard Klein in May. I was Controller of BBC Four for four years, and the channel has always held a really special place in my heart.

My ambition is to find ways to increase collaboration between the channels whilst ensuring that BBC Four retains the unique and distinctive voice that I know its viewers love. Today I announced two examples of this new collaborative approach: a major season looking at the art and music of the 18th century and an exciting science moment taking us closer to the Earth’s atmosphere, as well as a number of other new commissions which demonstrate the confidence and range of both channels.

Over on the BBC Media Centre website, you can find out more about the announcements I made including a landmark factual drama about the countdown to the First World War; a major new season about the 18th century across both channels and new series fronted by Ian Hislop, Lucy Worsley, Kate Humble and Fern Britton.

Janice Hadlow is Controller BBC Two and Interim Controller, BBC Four.

A summary of tweets posted during Janice's 'Meet the Controller' session can be found on Storify.

For more information about the BBC's TV announcements follow @BBCPress on Twitter or find full details about Janice's announcements on the BBC Media Centre website.

The BBC Academy will be running free 'EdTalks' sessions throughout the day. More information about those industry sessions can be found on the Academy website.

Danny Cohen introduced the Edinburgh International TV Festival coverage on the About the BBC Blog earlier today.