The Australian philanthropist who’s backing the Scottish festival

An Australian philanthropist who once rescued a production by the Mariinsky Opera was last night revealed as the benefactor behind one of the most eagerly anticipated productions at this year's Edinburgh International Festival.

Harold Mitchell, 69, who is credited as a “supporter” of Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten in the Festival programme, in fact donated the £300,000 that made possible the four-hour production by the Mariinsky company. Yesterday, he indicated that he would continue investing in the festival, at least until 2014, the year Scotland hosts the Commonwealth Games.

via The Times

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.