Here you can discover previous International Festival events
with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Unforgettable orchestral classics and 400,000 fireworks launched from Edinburgh’s iconic Castle make this one of the biggest fireworks concerts in the world.
Intricate songcraft, virtuoso fingerpicking and ear-catching melodic electronica combine in Villagers' astonishing music.
Free Outdoor Event
The LA Phil play music from the Golden Age of Hollywood by Korngold, Herrmann, Waxman and a selection by John Williams.
This event has been cancelled due to unforeseen scheduling issues.
Scottish Ballet / Helen Pickett / Peter Salem
Based on the play by Arthur Miller, a brand-new narrative ballet, given its world premiere at the International Festival as one of the highlights of Scottish Ballet’s 50th anniversary year.
Steven Osborne takes the place of Beatrice Rana with a programme of Messiaen and Schubert.
Mahler: Symphony No 2 ‘Resurrection’
The exceptional orchestra launch the 2019 Usher Hall Series with one of the grandest and most gripping of symphonies.
Yuja Wang plays John Adams
The LA Phil bring their residency to a stirring conclusion with pieces by Barber, Tchaikovsky and John Adams
Musicians from YOLA, Big Noise and Gustavo Dudamel invite you to a free ticketed open rehearsal.
Scottish Chamber Orchestra / Sir John Eliot Gardiner
A timeless love story; an electrifying spectacle. Jets versus Sharks. Loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story is a cultural phenomenon.
Trisha Brown Dance Company
The dance company create beautiful, often surprising works of art across outdoor spaces.
A fun family workshop for children aged 7-12 and an accompanying grown up.
Iván Fischer conducts the Budapest Festival Orchestra
Revered Hungarian conductor Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra have built one of the world’s most cherished musical partnerships, with Fischer’s intense, passionate direction matched by the orchestra’s thrilling, highly characterful performances, exquisitely blending its individual players’ distinctive sounds.
18 August 2015
Recomposed | Memoryhouse
Pioneering British musician Max Richter inhabits an indefinable realm between contemporary classical and indie pop, creating achingly gorgeous soundscapes that combine the icy purity of minimalist composers Steve Reich and Arvo Pärt with the richness of contemporary electronica.
24 August 2015
Conductor Iván Fischer’s renowned Budapest Festival Orchestra is prized for the vivid, characterful performances of its individual musicians: here, respected soloists step out of the orchestra for three vibrant chamber works.
14 August 2015
Budapest Festival Orchestra | Iván Fischer
Iván Fischer conducts and directs a specially staged concert of one of opera’s most beloved comic creations.
13-16 August 2015
Complicite | Simon McBurney
“…my hand, groping around the universe, has torn a corner open… why did I tear the corner open, if I’m not prepared for the encounter?”
7-23 August 2015
Includes Lieder by Schubert, Clara Schumann and Strauss, and a selection of 20th-century American songs
22 August 2015
Colin Currie makes his Festival debut
For composer James MacMillan, Scottish percussionist Colin Currie’s captivating playing combines accuracy, sensitivity and a real sense of emotion – alongside a deep musicality and natural showmanship.
14 August 2015
Vox Motus | National Theatre of Scotland | Tianjin Children’s Art Theatre
Dragon is a story for adults, teenagers and children with vivid imaginations, told without words and featuring fast moving physical theatre, puppetry and original music.
14-16 August 2015
Anne-Sophie Mutter plays Bach and Vivaldi
Anne-Sophie Mutter has for decades been revered as one of the world’s pre-eminent violinists, as respected for her invaluable education work and championing of new music as for her sparkling, searching performances.
26 August 2015
Songwriter Sufjan Stevens puts his expressive voice and exuberant orchestrations in the service of unabashed wonder at the world.
29 August 2015
A screening of a film produced by young people from Castlebrae Community High, inspired by King Creosote’s From Scotland with Love, as part of the Festival’s current arts residency at the school.
15 August 2015
Featuring Alexi Murdoch, James McAlister, Stephen Moore and Richard Reed Parry
27 August 2015
Experimental American composer Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) performs a new live soundtrack to accompany a screening of the Katsuhiro Otomo film Magnetic Rose.
22 August 2015
Each of its players an eminent soloist in their own right – violinists Antje Weithaas and Daniel Sepec, violist Tabea Zimmermann and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras – the remarkable Arcanto Quartet has risen rapidly since its founding in 2002 to a position as one of the world’s outstanding ensembles.
28 August 2015
Reconstructed by Untitled Projects
In 1987, Paul Bright, a rebellious young Scottish director set out to stage James Hogg’s cult novel Confessions of a Justified Sinner in a series of radical productions across Scotland.
19-22 August 2015
Celebrated Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder has been performing complete cycles of the Beethoven piano sonatas since the 1970s, and has been widely acclaimed for his remarkable technical abilities, his exquisite taste and his astonishing, sometimes provocative insights into what form one of the greatest bodies of music ever composed.
26 August 2015
Celebrated Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder has been performing complete cycles of the Beethoven piano sonatas since the 1970s, and has been widely acclaimed for his remarkable technical abilities, his exquisite taste and his astonishing, sometimes provocative insights into what form one of the greatest bodies of music ever composed.
25 August 2015
Pappano conducts Italian operatic and choral masterpieces
The fiery drama of Italian operatic and choral treasures launches the Edinburgh International Festival’s 2016 Usher Hall concerts, in the first of a two-concert residency from Rome’s world-renowned Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano.
6 August 2016
Bach, Tchaikovsky and Chopin
Combining poetry and pyrotechnics, intensity and introspection, pianist Lang Lang is one of classical music’s global stars, held in awe for his unashamedly flamboyant performances yet equally renowned for his insights and fresh perspectives.
21 August 2015