Perth Festival of the Arts is one of the longest-established independent arts festivals in Scotland and this year maintains its uncommonly diverse programme, again encompassing comedy, classical, international, jazz, opera and folk music, a programme of community involvement, and myriad unique stagings, over ten days. Balancing contemporary arts with long-established tradition, the Festival is central in developing and promoting the city of Perth on the arts stage.
Tickets go on sale from 24th March for a wide-ranging and exciting programme comprising over 40 shows, with internationally renowned performers alongside Scotland’s rising stars in Perth’s leading cultural and historical venues: the ever-popular Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, Britain’s most popular soprano Lesley Garrett in A Diva and a Piano, and Grammy-nominated a cappella choir VOCES8. Comedy favourite Fred MacAulay makes a much-anticipated appearance, the extraordinary improvised musical Showstopper!, plus the five-star Secret Byrd starring The Gesualdo Six, and Jazz in Perth – an entire day of the best in jazz – to close the Festival, featuring Rhapsody in Blue: An Afternoon of Gershwin and Scottish virtuoso guitarist Martin Taylor.
Chamber ensemble Resol Quartet and Pontardulais Male Voice Choir complement the classical element of the Festival, alongside the acclaimed Scottish-Egyptian instrumentalists and composers The Ayoub Sisters. Other theatre highlights include Titanic: The Last Hero and The Last Coward, and David Benson’s acclaimed one-man show My Life with Kenneth Williams.
Poetry performance has enjoyed a revival in recent years: Long Water, Soft Shadows is a powerful immersive theatre performance with rising stars in Scottish poetry, looking at the precious resource of water. Meanwhile, the Scotland Trending strand returns with performances from the best emerging performing arts stars in Scotland.
And, always of interest to Artmag readers, one of the largest annual exhibitions of contemporary Scottish art, ArTay in Partnership with Lindsays is set to return by popular demand 21st – 24th May, with an exciting curated exhibition of established Scottish artists and fresh new talent – an unmissable pop-up gallery in the outdoor plaza of Perth Concert Hall, organised in conjunction with Frames Gallery.
As always there is a strong programme of children’s and schools’ events, such as a Family Picnic Concert, a series of Lunchtime Concerts, Children’s Classic Concerts, the Scottish Opera original performance marking this year’s Commonwealth Games (as well as their special Pop-Up Opera performances), plus an exhibition by Perthshire Photographic Society. A series of community concerts takes place around the city, while Perth Youth Orchestra play at the Cathedral, where there are Choral Evensong and Organ Recital.
Images courtesy Perth Festival of the Arts. Note that Jools Holland appears on 21st July (outwith the regular Festival timespan), and Scotland Trending is 6th June. Some events are free, some with ticketed admission – check the Festival’s website.
