THE outgoing director of the Edinburgh International Festival has mounted a spirited defence of his 15 years in the post, insisting it faces no financial crisis and calling for the event to remain open to the widest possible audience.

Brian McMaster, who steps down at the end of this year’s Festival, also warned against any reduction in its Scottish talent, saying he would be “surprised and bloody angry” if that happened.

McMaster said the line-up for this year’s Festival is prompting record sales. Almost £130,000 worth of tickets were sold in the first 12 hours, a 25% increase over the period last year.

His stewardship of the Festival recently came under scrutiny when a £1m deficit in 2005 was revealed. The Festival commissioned six co-productions in what was widely considered its most financially ambitious programme ever.

Speculation has been rife that Jonathan Mills, who takes over in 2007 after successfully running the Melbourne Festival, will want to cut the number of co-productions and reduce ticket discounting.

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