For three weeks in August, Scotland’s capital becomes an unparalleled celebration of the performing arts and an annual meeting point for people of all nations. The International Festival presents a programme featuring the finest performers and ensembles from the worlds of dance, opera, music and theatre.
Our impact extends beyond the annual programme: our community learning and engagement and professional development programmes run throughout the year, reaching the widest possible audiences and contributing to the cultural and social life of Edinburgh and Scotland.
The 2025 Festival invites audiences to examine their relationship with truth through a curated programme of music, dance, theatre and opera. The pursuit of truth is an essential part of being human, but today this search for meaning is precarious, fractured and abused. Through the lens of this year’s theme The Truth We Seek, the International Festival presents contemporary reflections on the world alongside time-honoured tales, a place where fact meets faith and fiction.
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Want to be the first to hear about what's happening in Edinburgh? Follow us on Facebook and join the What's On Scotland Group!Zurich Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi’s stunning opera, A Masked Ball, filled with desire, treachery and political peril.
READ MORESan Francisco Ballet presents a provocative myth for the AI age, in their futuristic retelling of Pandora’s Box at Edinburgh Playhouse.
READ MOREThe Berliner Philharmoniker and Chief Conductor Kirill Petrenko open the Usher Hall series with Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’.
READ MOREExperience ‘the world’s greatest orchestra’ (LA Times) performing with award-winning soloist Augustin Hadelich in the closing concert of their residency.
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Dr Bonk, Scotland's silliest surgeon, presents the Macarbaret: a madcap hour of drag, burlesque, music, comedy, and medical mayhem!
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Join Madame Mabh for her haunted house party at the Banshee Labyrinth, featuring both classic cabaret acts and unusual happenings!
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Kevin Quantum invites you to an intimate and quite astonishing evening of magic, mystery and wonder in one of Edinburgh’s most historic and enchanting hotels - The Caledonian!
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Improvised, macabre tales featuring (voluntary!) members of the audience as actor, writer and tour guide Alex Staniforth invents a horror story every night at Stand Up Horror!
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Come along to this alternative cabaret presenting local artists who love to express their weird 'n' wonderful talents at The Banshee Labyrinth!
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Join Allan Stewart, Grant Stott and Jordan Young for the GIANT of a pantomime we've all BEAN waiting for!
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TuFlamenco is back with its traditional Christmas performance “Zambomba Flamenca” – an authentic flamenco Christmas party right in the heart of Edinburgh on Sunday 14th December!
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What happens when two members of the Unseelie court find themselves in need of a winter job? Join us by the hearth for a story of comedy, horror and yuletide folklore.
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Glasgow's longest running variety show brings you a deliciously dark variety hour to The Banshee Labyrinth!
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