In our 75th anniversary year, we are offering audiences across the world the opportunity to experience world-leading artists from the comfort of their homes. Five specially commissioned performances filmed in iconic locations around Edinburgh will be free and available online from November. Presented in partnership with global investment brand abrdn, our At Home programme also features two full-length concerts, a series of exclusive music sessions and behind-the-scenes interviews.

We have commissioned Glasgow-based production company Forest of Black to produce five short films in unique Edinburgh locations, each creating an intimate portrait of an artist featured in this year’s Festival programme. Audiences will experience bespoke performances from Edinburgh Makar Hannah Lavery, Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska, British pianist and conductor Wayne Marshall, Australian didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton, and Scottish Ballet performing a new commission choreographed by Nicholas Shoesmith. Locations will range from the ancient winding city streets to the wild Salisbury Crags and the historic Palace of Holyroodhouse.

During this year’s Festival, two concerts will be captured in full at broadcast quality, including the joyfully epic Closing Concert. For this, Sir Andrew Davis will conduct the Royal Scottish National Orchestra performing Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius from the Usher Hall, featuring the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the National Youth Choir of Scotland.

A series of exclusive music sessions captured backstage throughout the Festival will feature: a vivid and passionate performance from the Takács Quartet, early-music pioneer Jordi Savall with members of his Hespèrion XXI ensemble, Gaelic vocal trio Sian performing as part of Niteworks: Comann, Iranian classical musician Aref Ghorbani, and the Scottish indie rock duo Arab Strap.

The At Home programme will be released in November 2022, freely available to be watched from anywhere in the world.

Fergus Linehan, our Festival Director, said:

“Following the success of our At Home programme in 2021, we are thrilled to continue our digital work with this programme of work created especially for online audiences. I hope our At Home programme gives audiences at home the opportunity to engage with the Festival in a different way and discover their new favourite artist or piece of music.

“We are hugely grateful to abrdn, whose commitment to connectivity and inclusivity has made the At Home programme possible, enabling us to offer these extraordinary performances free of charge.” 

Judith Kynaston, Head of Global Brand at abrdn, said:

“We’re delighted to continue our support of Edinburgh International Festival’s At Home programme for a second time. At Home gives global audiences the opportunity to experience a diverse programme of live performances for free, and we’re excited to continue our association with the world’s leading performing arts festival in 2022. Looking forward to watching!”