The Edinburgh International Festival, 1947-1996

This new reference work tells the story of the development of the largest and most comprehensive arts festival in the world. This book is published to mark the 50th anniversary of the Edinburgh International Festival, which has, over the years, played host to many of the world’s most gifted performers, such as Marlene Dietrich, Kathleen Ferrier, Claudio Abbado, Margot Fonteyn and Daniel Barenboim as well as championing the work of some of the 20th century’s most important composers and playwrights. The Festival’s progress is charted with chapters devoted to each of its eight directors. The economic, political and artistic challenges faced by them and the committees they worked woth , and sometimes against, provide an insight into the particular problems and rewards of arts administration on an international scale.