Five operas to lead 2024 Edinburgh International Festival

The Edinburgh International Festival has announced details of next year's programme.

The second festival under director Nicola Benedetti will feature five opera productions - including a new version of Carmen created by the French company that first staged it in 1875.

The month-long event will also play host to a new work from a three-time Olivier Award-winning choreographer.

The 2024 festival will follow the theme of the "Rituals That Unite Us".

The theme responds to an overwhelming desire for togetherness from artists and audiences following on from 2023's question "Where Do We Go From Here?".

Organisers say the theme reasserts "the need for reconciliation and the value of shared experiences in today's increasingly disconnected world, the curated programme of live music, theatre, opera and dance celebrates the practices, traditions and festivities that bring people together".

Next year's programme - from 2-25 August - will be popular with opera lovers as five operas are to feature in the 2024 programme, three fully staged and two in concert.

The first of these to be announced is the iconic Carmen, from globally celebrated Parisian opera house Opéra-Comique, the venue in which the opera premiered in 1875.

This production, led by German director Andreas Homoki, celebrates Carmen's 149-year legacy on a replica stage of the Opéra-Comique itself, complete with seven iron doors constructed by Gustave Eiffel, the creator of Paris's famous tower.

The score also remains true to the "Opéra-comique" style, where musical pieces are interspersed with dialogue, emphasising the comedic elements of Georges Bizet's visionary writing.

A major dance work will make its Scottish premiere at the month-long event.

Assembly Hall was created by Canadian choreographer Crystal Pate, described by the Guardian as "a 21st-century dance genius".

Set in a community centre, Assembly Hall follows a group of medieval re-enactors coming together for their annual general meeting, a tradition that for the group serves as a bridge between the past and the present.

The event they are organising has fallen on hard times, and unless they take bold measures, the venerable order faces dissolution.

As well as a programme of live performances and discussions with the world's finest artists and rising stars, the festival continues its commitment to stage large-scale events, inviting participation from communities across Scotland.

In 2023, 500 amateur and professional musicians performed in Princes Street Gardens for thousands of audience members.

In 2024, the festival will collaborate with the World Health Organization and Scottish Ballet to host the first nationwide Healing Arts campaign, Healing Arts Scotland.