The 2026 International Festival Comes to a Close

After 24-days of spectacular music, theatre, dance and opera, the 2026 Edinburgh International Festival has wrapped up in spectacular style. 

This year's programme, All Rise, put America in the spotlight, featuring the largest representation of American artists in the Festival's history. With over 2,000 artists from 46 countries, the 2026 Festival was defined by extraordinary artists and thinkers who presented a range of contemporary perspectives, and a vision for the future. 

You joined us to Feel, Marvel, Delight and Reel. We can’t wait to do it all again with you next year.

‘Culture Gives Hope’

A major new global poll unveiled at the 2026 Edinburgh International Festival found that 68% of people worldwide say culture gives them hope.

Focaldata surveyed 35,000 people across 34 countries and found that 68% say culture gives them hope, with a single cultural moment, whether a live performance, a book, a film or a piece of theatre, helping them feel more hopeful about an uncertain future. 

Cultural Discovery

This year, we tackled barriers that keep audiences from world-class live performance.

• 2,000 opportunities for Edinburgh secondary school pupils to encounter opera, dance, music and theatre at performances and in their own schools, many for the first time.
• 3,000 Young Musician Pass tickets issued, giving Scottish young musicians free access to the International Festival and creating pathways into transformative cultural experiences
• YMP holders were given opportunities to meet and ask questions of artists including members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Colin Currie & Nicola Benedetti
• More than 50,000 tickets across the programme were priced at £30 or under
• 4,894 £10 Concession tickets were offered across every single performance. More than a third of these were bought by audiences who had never attended the Festival before.

Lights Down Phones Off

This year, we asked you to switch off distractions during all performances, creating a deeper connection between audiences and artists. Over a third of performances had no distractions!

2026 Reviews 💛

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “one of the most visceral experiences opera has to offer...musicians of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra tore through Strauss’s score as though their lives depended on it”
– The Times on Strauss's Elektra

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "You could barely imagine a more fiercely committed advocate for the work"
– The Scotsman on Voices of Canada: Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Its approach is startlingly original.”
– The Edinburgh Reporter on HANG TIME

★★★★★ "one of the greatest operas of the century"
— The Times on The Galloping Cure

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “some of the world’s best performers”
– The Scotsman on First Night at The Hub

★ ★ ★ ★  “truly sensational”
– The Scotsman on Mere Mortals

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "a triumphant finale and much-deserved standing ovation from a packed house"
– The Scotsman on Berliner Philharmoniker: Elgar and Tchaikovsky

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “a monumental meditation"
– The Herald on Angels in America

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “a defining opera of our time” 
– The Telegraph on The Galloping Cure

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “It had heart. It had joy. It had heartbreaking lyricism. It had everything.”
– The QR on LA Phil, Beethoven & Ortiz

★ ★ ★ ★  “fascinating and beguiling...the type of commission that the festival does so brilliantly.”
– The Scotsman on Scottish Ensemble & Brìghde Chaimbeul

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "There aren't enough words to properly praise Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s beautiful, multi-layered, five-star dance masterpiece"
– The Scotsman on Ihsane

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “vocal performances and characterisation of the first rank”
– The Herald on Mozart's Don Giovanni

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "riotous exuberance and often breathtaking excess"
– The Arts Desk on Clown Show

Behind the Scenes 👀

We'll be releasing music sessions and encores across our channels over the next few months. Stay tuned.

Join us on socials for more behind the scenes content.

That’s a Wrap

Thank you for being a wonderful audience. Until next time 💛