The 2023 edition of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe welcome Luxembourg productions for the first time among the 3,553 shows from 67 countries. The Fringe, is an arts festival inaugurated in 1947 taking place every August in Edinburgh, Scotland, for three weeks. It’s currently the largest arts festival in the world. The Fringe – whose name refers to fringe theatre – is a non-juried festival with no selection committee, allowing any type of show to take part, and often featuring experimental work that would probably not have been presented at other festivals of its kind.
The Fringe is a recognised festival by international programmers who are looking for international creation. The festival is the ideal platform for showcasing contemporary work from the UK and 17 other countries in 2023, including the Luxembourg selection, which has been set up with the support of Kultur | lx.
Four Luxembourg productions took center stage at some of the festival’s most prestigious venues: stark bollock naked by Larisa Faber and Shoot the Cameraman by AWA – As We Are at Assembly, Lovefool by Gintare Parulyte at Summerhall and This is a scam. by Anne Klein at The Space UK.
This enabled them to confront a whole new audience and reach out to their peers from all over the world, as the festival registered 1,359 professionals from 49 countries. In the light of the public, professional and critical feedback, the Fringe should prove to be a career accelerator for the shows presented and their creators.
Kultur | lx will therefore continue its efforts in the years to come to support other companies as they explore the world’s largest platform for the performing arts.
Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg is thrilled to support for the first time the presence of Luxembourg productions both in dance and theatre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which will take place from 2 to 28 August.
The Luxembourg performing arts scene, just like the country itself, is rich in languages, influences and aesthetics, and has long been open to the international scene and involved in numerous creative and cooperation networks. Presenting at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is therefore an obvious milestone on its development path.
Luxembourg’s official selection at Festival Fringe
Larisa Faber question motherhood in her play Stark bollock naked. An international smash hit about our reproductive shelf life and what (not) to do with those (ageing) eggs. Featuring stunning video mapping, comedy-infused storytelling and a live score of gynaecological instruments, Stark bollock naked is a multimedia show with a real naked body and an honest conversation about reproduction, abortion and the biological clock presented from, 02 to 28 August at 15:10 (excluding Tuesdays) at The Assembly. Game ovaries.
In Shoot the Cameraman, AWA – As We Are blend the instinctive and spontaneous quality of live performance with the possibilities of the seventh art by joining camera operators with live dancers on stage. The audience will thus be offered a permanent double reading of the piece and have the opportunity to simultaneously attend a live performance on stage and on screen. By forcing the audience to choose where to focus their attention, AWA – As We Are challenges them and plays with perspectives. If what we see with our own eyes seems unfalsifiable, it quickly becomes clear that the framing of a shot can be a matter of pure manipulation. Shoot the Cameraman questions the omnipresence of the image in our lives and ingeniously sharpens the critical gaze of the audience. An essential production to discover in the age of fake news from 02 to 28 August at 15:00 (excluding Wednesdays) at The Assembly Roxy Central.
Extend your discovery of Luxembourg creation
In the wake of these two shows of the Luxembourg selection, take time to also discover Lovefool by Gintare Parulyte performed from 02 to 27 August at 19:15 in Summerhall and This is a scam. by Sølve Sundsbø and Anne Klein from 21 to 26 August à 11:50 at The Space.
Detailed programme here.
An initiative of the renowned Edinburgh Jazz & Blues festival, the SPARK festival took place from March 24th to 26th. It was a privileged time to introduce Luxembourgish jazz to Scottish jazz audience and sector. Fiona Alexander, the producer of the festival, explains that the strategy of the festival consists in giving Edinburgh’s audiences a broad view on European jazz scene through small focuses, instead of one-shot concerts. It is thanks to this reflexion that SPARK, a mix of concerts and artistic collaborations, has come to life in order to put light on existing relationships between Scottish and Luxembourgish jazz. Artists from both territories were gathered for short residencies.
Double bass player Marc Demuth and saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski revived their long-standing collaboration that started when they were part of the European Youth jazz orchestra and showed again the scope of their musical friendship. Resulting from the Criss-Cross Europe project, the collaboration between drummer Michel Meis and double bass player David Bowden could go further after a first residency in Summer 2022. After this second residency in the frame of SPARK, they presented their respective compositions on stage. Last but not least, committed to foster the development of emerging artists, SPARK invited trumpet player Daniel Migliosi to collaborate with pianist and teacher Pete Johnstone and his trio.
These after-residency concerts were positively received by the public and made it possible to maintain, revive or build musical encounters that are a necessary breeding ground for creation within the jazz sector.
In addition to these fruitful artistic collaborations which led to tailormade concerts, SPARK also gave the bands Tele-Port and Dock in Absolute the opportunity to present their latest projects.
The musicians from Dock in Absolute, who played at a previous edition of the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, presented their latest compositions at Glasgow’s MacKintosch Church, Aberdeen’s Blue Lamp, and Edinburgh’s St Brides Centre. This three-dates tour allowed them to extend their fanbase on the Scottish territory.
Tele-Port made their Scottish debut, which marked a significant step in their establishment on the British territory.
On the Scottish side, SPARK featured pianist Dave Milligan, bands AKU!, Helena Kay Trio, NooVision, and the Kershaw, Stephen, Dick trio.
This kind of operation is a precious tool to allow Luxembourgish artists to be active on foreign jazz scenes and pursue their identification on the international level. In the thinking that such focuses have got virtuous effects, Kultur | lx intends to form close ties with further international partners to repeat such initiatives.
Dedicated to promote and ensure the export of Luxembourgish artists abroad, Kultur | lx joined forces with the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival to organise SPARK – Jazz from Luxembourg. This small festival aims to put light on Scottish and Luxembourgish jazz scenes, and will take place from March 24th to 26th at the St-Brides Centre in Edinburgh (UK).
The Festival will feature projects by leading Luxembourgish and Scottish musicians, like Tele-Port and AKU! on March 24th, and Dock in Absolute and Dave Milligan Solo on March 25th.
SPARK also seeks to favour artistic encounters by reviving some existing collaborations and ties between Luxembourgish and Scottish musicians, but also by creating new synergies. This takes the form of two- or three-days residencies, during which musicians will be able to work and create together. The results of these collaborations will be presented on March 25th and 26th.
Marc Demuth and Konrad Wiszniewski, whose collaboration was largely acclaimed in the press some years ago, will return in a quartet setting, whereas Michel Meis will continue his companionship with David Bowden, whom he met in the frame of Criss Cross Europe. Last but not least, willing to develop the career of young jazz musicians from Luxembourg, the trumpet player Daniel Migliosi will start a brand-new collaboration with the pianist Pete Johnston, in a trio with Andy Robb (bass) and Dough Hough (drums).
For more information: https://www.edinburghjazzfestival.com/