On Friday 2 August, the 2019 International Festival burst into life with the Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event: LA Phil at Tynecastle. The LA Phil with Gustavo Dudamel brought us a brilliant selection of movie music from films including Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Vertigo, E.T. and many more. The whole audience was enjoying the music and even the seagulls joined in...

Let's take a moment to relive some of the unforgettable moments from the evening.

The sun came out to join us

After keeping our fingers crossed all week, the stars aligned (literally) and we were blessed with beautiful blue skies all evening. The audience were treated to the movie music of Hollywood as the sun set behind Tynecastle Park stadium.

Our audience were encouraged to get into the spirit by dressing up as their favourite film characters.

We had some very special guests strutting the red carpet and Edinburgh Police even brought in extra reinforcements. We had Kylo Ren, the shark from Jaws, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, and even dinosaurs all join Darth Vader and his Storm Troopers for a photo.

Families gathered to celebrate the occasion

'Great night at @TynecastlePark_for the Opening Event of @edintfest with @LAPhil so brilliant for the kids to be able to experience some top class classical music & to see their faces light up at Harry Potter especially' @clairg

'We really enjoyed ourselves at the EIF opening event. The children loved hearing LA Phil play some of their favourite songs #edintfest' @GillyHerbert

'#edintfest kicking off with @LAPhil @GustavoDudamel @JamTarts - people of all ages and backgrounds enjoying world class performance for free. I especially liked the little girls pretending to be Darth Vader during the imperial march' @Cat__Thomas

We even had some future artists-in-the-making in the audience. Take a look at the videos below.

We had our own Walk of Fame

As well as the red carpet, we had our own Walk of Fame as part of our Heart of Hollywood project. Pupils from local schools around Tynecastle Park worked with us to design a unique symbol to become part of their own individual star on a Hollywood-style Walk of Fame. Find out more about our Learning & Engagement work and check out Ethan with his fantastic design below.

We brought communities together

Community groups from across the city joined us for the celebrations. Thanks to everyone from the Broomhouse Centre, Gig Buddies, the Gorgie Collective and the many other Edinburgh organisations that enjoyed the concert in the sunshine with us, and a big hello to the staff and pupils from our residency school Leith Academy too!

There were some very talented young musicians

YOLA National joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra on stage for two songs while maestro Gustavo Dudamel gave a shout out to Scotland's own Big Noise project.

'What an awesome concert! So inspiring to hear and see the young people that were part of the #ElSistema program. We all loved every minute of it.' @MCFB1

'Hugely generous and welcoming opening to @edintfest, courtesy of @LAPhil. Particularly touching to see young people from the #YOLANational programme taking the stage. Great to know that @sistemascotland are doling similarly excellent work, here.' @c_i_dobson

'The amazing LA Philarmonic & young musicians from El Sistema programme around the world get a mention from @GustavoDudamel #edintfest' @lesleyjudge

The seagulls joined in

'I just saw the magical @LAPhil at Tynecastle and discovered that seagulls go doolally for the ET and Casablanca scores. #edintfest' @gsoutar

Seagulls swooped to the sounds of the orchestra and many were thankful that they didn't play the theme from Hitchcock's The Birds...

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Supergirl!

But the highlight of the evening for many was Supergirl and her Superdad rousing the crowds during the encore of John Williams' Superman March.

And what an evening it was. Thank you to everyone who came along, we hope you all enjoyed the Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event: LA Phil at Tynecastle.

A huge thank you to our sponsors, supporters and collaborators Aberdeen Standard Investments, Event Scotland, Tynecastle Park and the Dunard Fund USA, as well as Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and YOLA National. In partnership with Classic FM, you can relive the wonderful experience again right now by watching our Facebook live stream.