As Edinburgh's festival season edges closer, music, theatre, art and comedy programmes across the board are beginning to take shape. Let's take a look at the week's biggest programme announcements:

Pianodrome in Old Royal High School / Picture: Douglas Robertson

Pianodrome

Hot off the heels of this year’s Hidden Door, the Fringe will be making use of the newly refurbished Old Royal High School on Calton Hill to house a series of events. Pianodrome will be taking over one of the rooms with their iconic amphitheatre constructed from recycled pianos and have this week released a varied programme of music, theatre, art and more.

Harpist and singer Esther Swift features on the music programme, performing a fabulist classical/folk fusion show commissioned by Celtic Connections called Sound Effect along with violinist Emma Lloyd, trombonist Patrick Kenny, drummer Owen Williams and composer Mathew Collings. Mezzo soprano Andrea Baker will perform music from the African diaspora in Sing Sistah Sing! Tales Of Transatlantic Freedom, while pianist Sean Logan shares stories about his neurodivergence between masterful keyboard acrobatics in Sean Logan: Full Spectrum. 

Continuing on the piano theme, Clara: Sex, Love And Classical Music tells the story of piano virtuoso Clara Schumann in a show fusing music, monologue and plenty of irony, and I Piano follows a little girl who is trying to help her companion (a piano) find its lost music, using puppetry and audience involvement to present the magical story. Combining music, dance and spoken word to create an immersive dialogue about menstruation and period poverty, Kenyan Cultural Dancers presents Pamoja, and if you fancy more physical theatre, award-winning director Lucy Hopkins showcases her dazzling clowning skills in Ceremony of Golden Truth. 

Visit pianodrome.org for the full programme. 
 

An Audience With Stuart Bagcliffe

ZOO Southside and ZOO Playground

ZOO returns to the Southside (Nicholson Street) and Playground (Cowgate) this year, to showcase 50 contemporary theatre and circus events. Highlights include The Triptych Theatre’s An Audience With Stuart Bagcliffe, an autobiographical one-man play that may get a bit meta; Jaz Woodcock-Stewart and Morgann Runacre-Temple’s 2019 show Civilisation returns, combing theatrical realism and contemporary dance at Zoo Southside’s Main House venue; and The Relentless Approach Of Better Times performed by bass player Emma Smith about her time working in Palestine and El Salvador with Musicians Without Borders, which combines live performance with film and recordings. 

International circus events also make it onto this year’s programme, with Czech performers Cirk La Putyka and Cirque Company bringing their acrobatic spectacles Heroes and Runners to the festival, respectively. And finally, ZOOTV (a digital programme offering) will carry over to 2022’s event with hello!earth’s Tuesday Night Sleeping Club which will livestream immersive audio works into speakers around the world. 

Discover more events taking place in ZOO venues at zoofestival.co.uk.

The Gruffalo takes a walk with Oona Dooks, Bemz and Nick Barley

Edinburgh International Book Festival

With the theme All Together Now as its rallying call, this year's Edinburgh Book Festival will continue the hybrid format developed over the past two years with more than 600 live events, many of which will be available to stream or watch at a later date, featuring 550 authors. Highlights from the crammed roster of talent include ex-Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, who’ll discuss his new memoir Good Pop Bad Pop, PJ Harvey in conversation with Don Paterson, and Scottish author Douglas Stuart as he celebrates the success of his new best-selling novel Young Mungo. 

Other major writers launching new books at the festival include Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 winner Maggie O'Farrell, Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh, Marlon James, Damon Galgut, Howard Jacobson and Julian Barnes. 

Nick Barley, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said: ‘The world has changed immeasurably since 2019: we’re learning to live with the effects of the pandemic and war in Europe – but we’re also beginning to imagine what a better future should look like. 

‘Exploring these issues in inspiring conversations with scientists, historians, poets and novelists is exactly where the Book Festival comes into its own.’

The Edinburgh International Book Festival programme can be seen in full at edbookfest.co.uk.