Edinburgh International Festival

The Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of music, theatre, opera, dance, visual arts and literature that takes place every year in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Each year it is held for about three weeks in late August and early September.

The festival started in 1947. A key person was Rudolf Bing, who was then the manager of the Glyndbourne Opera Festival. Bing was later General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1950 to 1972. He was naturalized as a British subject in 1946 and knighted in 1971. His idea was to heal the wounds of war through the languages of the arts. Since 2014 the director of the festival has been Fergus Linehan.

At first the Festival concentrated on classical music. Its later events were based on the traditional arts: classical music, ballet, sculpture and fine art. Since 1999 the permanent home of the festival is at The Hub, near Edinburgh Castle. Several large theatres, concert halls and churches in Edinburgh are used for the events, e.g. Usher Hall, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Playhouse, The Queen's Hall and The Hub.

About ten other festivals are held in Edinburgh at the same time as the Edinburgh Festival. The result is festivals with more than 2,500 performances and events per day in Edinburgh in August, many times bigger than the next biggest arts festivals anywhere in the world.

2020 is the only year the Festival has not been held. The reason was the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

Edinburgh International Festival Media

• Bruno Walter Wien 1912.jpg

  Bruno Walter, who appeared at the festival in 1947, 1949 and 1953.

• John Barbirolli.jpg

  The conductor John Barbirolli appeared at seven festivals between 1947 and 1966.

• King's Theatre, Edinburgh (1981).JPG

  The King's Theatre in 1981. This venue was used for opera in the early years of the festival.

• Fonteyn Helpmann Sleeping Beauty Sadler's Wells US tour (2).jpg

  Fonteyn and Helpmann, The Sleeping Beauty, Sadler's Wells 1950

• Frank Dunlop colour Allan Warren.jpg

  Frank Dunlop, theatre director and also director of the festival itself from 1984 to 1991.

• The Usher Hall, Edinburgh.JPG

  The Usher Hall, the leading venue of the Edinburgh International Festival

• The Queen's Hall Wideshot (credit Alastair Wight).jpg

  Interior of the Queen's Hall, performance home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra

• Freemasons' Hall in Edinburgh, 24 September 2023.jpg

  Freemasons' Hall was frequently used for musical concerts and recitals from 1947 until the early 1970s.

• Former Tolbooth Church, Castlehill, Edinburgh.JPG

  The 240-foot-high spire of The Hub, ticket office, information centre and performance venue of the Edinburgh International Festival, seen from Johnston Terrace

Related pages

• Edinburgh Fringe

Other websites

• Official web site
• Edinburgh Festival Guide full listings and reviews for all the Edinburgh festivals