Preview: Edinburgh Festival 2025
Following on from our coverage of the Britten Pears 2025/26 season yesterday, here are details of this year's Edinburgh Festival:
The Edinburgh International Festival opens on 1 August and features 1700 artists from 42 countries across a curated programme of music, theatre, dance and opera
World premiere stage performances
- Make It Happen, an eye-opening take on the 2008 financial crisis set in Edinburgh, starring Brian Cox (Adam Smith) and Sandy Grierson (Fred Goodwin) written by one of Britan’s most in-demand playwrights James Graham (1-9 August, Festival Theatre)
- Mary, Queen of Scots, an iconic story of one of Scotland’s most famous women, unconventionally told with choreography by Sophie Laplane, blending classicism with modernity, and costuming that nods to the haute couture and punk, performed by Scottish Ballet (15-17 August, Festival Theatre)
- Dance People, Maqamat and Omar Rajeh take performance outside to Edinburgh’s University College Quad, blurring the boundary between stage and reality, merging movement with activism (7-10 August, Old College Quad)
- Breaking Bach, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and combine hip hop with Bach, with choreography by Kim Brandstrup (20 August, Usher Hall)
Programme highlights
- The Opening Concert features the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Monteverdi Choir and the National Youth Choir of Scotland performing John Tavener’s The Veil of the Templein all its eight-hour glory, featuring over 250 singers (2 August, Usher Hall)
- Operatic works include a fully staged Australian reimagining of Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice featuring acrobatics (13-16 August, Edinburgh Playhouse), the UK premiere of Book of Mountains and Seas from Chinese composer Huang Ruo (14-16 August, The Lyceum) and two operas in concert – Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito (9 August, Usher Hall) and Puccini’s Suor Angelica (16 August, Usher Hall).
- Residencies from London Symphony Orchestra and Antonio Pappano, Poland’s NFM Leopoldinum and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra 2, each attending for an extended, more sustainable stay that features multiple performances and community engagement.
- Intimate morning recitals at The Queen’s Hall from artists including María Dueñas, Emily D’Angelo, Dunedin Consort and Colin Currie with The King’s Singers, and evening orchestral concerts at Usher Hall with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, NCPA Orchestra from Beijing, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Budapest Festival Orchestra.
- Nederlands Dans Theater present the Scottish Premiere of Figures in Extinction in collaboration with Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney, confronting the hard truths about humanity’s impact on the world and art’s meaning in the face of mass destruction.
- The Hub, the International Festival’s headquarters on the Royal Mile, brings together a hand-picked variety of global musical styles and traditions, experienced up close in an intimate performance space, including Up Late gigs from Kathryn Joseph (9 August), Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith (16 August) and Endea Owens (24 August).
- Family events including Art of Listening for Families interactive workshops (4-9 August, Church Hill Theatre Studio), The Ceilidh Sessions (4 August, Ross Bandstand) and NYO2’s Family Concert for children aged 7-11 (4 August, Usher Hall).
Affordable ticket pricing
- Ensuring cost is not a barrier to live performance, over 50,000 tickets (more than half of all tickets available for 2025) are priced at £30 or under.
- Thousands of free tickets are available for young musicians, NHS staff and community groups.
- £10 Affordable Tickets are available for all performances for anyone who needs them.
Full listings available here