Welcome to Edinburgh 2017

In 1947, the Edinburgh Festival opened its doors to the world. Conceived as a cultural event where great art would transcend political and cultural boundaries, it helped reunite the divided continent of Europe. Seventy years later it is as vibrant and provocative as ever.
Kirsty Wark presents the best of this year's Edinburgh Festival and looks at how the idealism and bravura of the first festival held in 1947 continues today. She talks to world-renowned sitar player Anoushka Shankar, whose most recent album Land of Gold is a personal response to the international refugee crisis; discovers two extraordinary transgender stories in the National Theatre of Scotland's production of Adam and Eve, two plays performed by actors who tell their own real-ife stories; and meets the acclaimed American novelist Paul Auster, now also in his seventieth year, to discuss his life and work and the importance of speaking out.
The programme also features Don Giovanni, performed by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, a solo performance by FK Alexander, If I Could Go On Singing (Over the Rainbow), and Ehsan Abdollahi, an award-winning illustrator of children's books.