The last 24 days brought world-class opera, dance, music, and theatre to over 125,000 of you! With more than 160 performances from internationally renowned artists, we celebrated the Rituals That Unite Us.

Rituals that Unite Us

The 2024 Edinburgh International Festival explored Rituals That Unite Us, celebrating the practices, traditions and festivities that bring us together.

Our curated programme reimagined ways in which live performance could bring audiences and artists closer. Here are just some of the ways we brought audiences and artists closer together through the ritual of live performance.

Beanbag Series

Audiences sat on beanbags to enjoy six informal concerts at the Usher Hall, including Brazil’s Ilumina Ensemble who held a residency at the Festival, The Hallé, and the European Union Youth Orchestra. The Hub series once again welcomed audiences into our International Festival home for intimate and unforgettable performances from around the world.

Accessibility

We believe cost shouldn’t be a barrier to cultural discovery. That’s why we tripled the number of free tickets given to NHS staff, charity workers and low-income benefit recipients through Tickets for Good. This is the highest uptake since the International Festival committed to the initiative.

We issued more than twice the number of tickets to under 18s, young musicians, and D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent audiences compared to last year and twice as many people signed up to the Access Pass!

The Premieres

We played host to 21 World, European, UK and Scottish premieres: from Assembly Hall by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young, to Fire in My Mouth by Julia Wolfe, Nigamon / Tunai from Indigenous artists Émilie Monnet and Waira Nina, to The Outrun, a production from Royal Lyceum Theatre Company and Edinburgh International Festival.

Rising stars

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Rising Stars of Brass (The Scotsman)

"It was an outstanding achievement for the five young Rising Stars of Brass...to pull together such a wide-ranging and musically demanding recital as the one that filled this intimate and resonant venue." (The Scotsman)

Continuing from 2023, this year’s International Festival also focused on talent development. The Rising Stars initiative provided early career artists with invaluable opportunities to work and perform alongside professional mentors such as the Leonore Piano Trio and Yura Lee.

Scotland and the world

As an international festival deeply rooted in Scotland, 50% of our artists were from Scotland in 2024, highlighting the exceptional calibre of local talent alongside their international peers. This included approximately 250 multigenerational performers in the world-first Healing Arts Scotland Opening Celebration at the Scottish Parliament.

The Festival featured representation from all five Scottish national performing arts companies:

National Theatre of Scotland, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

The Team

The International Festival employs over 200 specialist freelancers and relies every year on a pipeline of talented writers, actors, musicians, dancers, singers, producers, facilitators, technicians and cultural workers.

In the precarious funding landscape currently faced by the Scottish arts sector, we remain committed to supporting and advocating for the indispensable community of creative individuals and organisations of which Scotland can rightly be proud.

Behind the Scenes

How does an acclaimed conductor get ready to perform? How does an ensemble connect to become one? How do you prepare for a solo performance?

We've been busy creating behind the scenes content for you, offering a deeper look into the Festival’s inner workings. Stay tuned, full versions of these videos will be released in the autumn.

That’s a wrap

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