31 July, Edinburgh: Tomorrow the curtain rises on the 2025 Edinburgh International Festival, welcoming over 2000 artists from 42 countries to Edinburgh for a 24-day global celebration of world-class performing arts.
The third year under Festival Director and celebrated Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti, this year’s International Festival welcomes audiences to explore opera, music, theatre and dance through the lens of the theme The Truth We Seek, a journey into the elusive nature of truth in our personal and public lives.
This year’s programme invites audiences to experience bold, thought-provoking performances in fresh and unconventional ways. The opening weekend features large-scale participatory events The Big Singalong and The Ceilidh Sessions, celebrating the collective joy of singing and dancing outdoors in Princes Street Gardens, set against the iconic backdrop of Edinburgh Castle.
Elsewhere, the historic Old College Quad becomes the stage for the world premiere of Dance People, an outdoor dance performance, and a classic opera is reimagined with a twist in Orpheus and Eurydice, bringing together world-class musicians and performers with breathtaking acrobatics from Australia’s Circa.
The 2025 programme also opens up barriers to cultural discovery: more than 50,000 tickets are priced at £30 or less, £10 Affordable Tickets have been made available to all performances, and wide-reaching initiatives offer free tickets to NHS workers, young people and community groups to a range of Festival performances.
Stand-out performances across the International Festival include:
Make It Happen (1–9 August, Festival Theatre)
The world premiere of a gripping new drama by James Graham, tackling the 2008 financial crisis in Edinburgh. Starring Brian Cox as Adam Smith and Sandy Grierson as Fred Goodwin, this timely co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep reframes the collapse of global markets through a distinctly Scottish lens.
Opening Concert: The Veil of the Temple (2 August, Usher Hall)
A spiritual epic: over 250 singers from the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Monteverdi Choir and National Youth Choir of Scotland perform John Tavener’s The Veil of the Temple in its complete eight-hour form with the audience seated on beanbags. This year also marks the first performance in the Festival Chorus’s 60th anniversary year.
Dance People (7–10 August, Old College Quad)
Lebanese choreographer Omar Rajeh and Maqamat company present an open-air activation of dance, movement and activism. Performed outdoors in the heart of the city, it dissolves the lines between performance and real life.
Orpheus and Eurydice (13-16 August, Edinburgh Playhouse)
A highlight of the 2025 Festival’s opera programme, a fully staged Australian reimagining of Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice fuses together circus, acrobatics and world-class opera, in its European premiere.
Figures in Extinction (22-24 August, Festival Theatre)
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 and informal performance space, including Up Late gigs from Alabaster DePlume (8 August) and Kathryn Joseph (9 August), and an interactive concert from Hanni Liang (7 August) inviting audience members to share their dreams, with a live response created on the piano.
Events for families include 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 (4 August, Usher Hall).
Residencies bring London Symphony Orchestra, Poland’s NFM Leopoldinum and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra 2 to Edinburgh for an extended, more sustainable stay that features multiple performances and community engagement. Highlight performances include NYO2’s Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony, NFM with Bizet’s Carmen Suite and Beethoven and Shostakovich from the LSO, presented with insight from Sir Antonio Pappano and Festival Director Nicola Benedetti.
Intimate morning recitals at The Queen’s Hall return with artists including María Dueñas, Mark Simpson and Richard Uttley and Bomsori Kim and Thomas Hoppe and spectacular evening orchestral concerts at Usher Hall with NCPA Orchestra from Beijing and pianist Bruce Liu, the Monteverdi Choir and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
Edinburgh International Festival Director, Nicola Benedetti said:
“This year’s International Festival is a bold invitation to question the world around us – to seek, challenge and reflect on truth through the extraordinary lens of live performance. We’re honoured to welcome artists and audiences from across the globe to Edinburgh, and we remain deeply committed to making that experience more accessible than ever. Whether you’re here for an intimate recital, a powerful play, a mass singalong or an eight-hour choral epic, you’ll encounter connection, curiosity, and the power of great art to shift perspectives. This year’s Festival offers the possibility of truly transformational encounters and I look forward to sharing this with you.”
Councillor Margaret Graham, Culture and Communities Convener said:
“Each year the International Festival offers a real variety of innovative and striking art and performance. 2025 is no different, with the programme encouraging Deep Thinkers, Social Butterflies, The Curious and Romantics. The range, from outdoor ceilidhs to epic opera, means there is truly something for everyone, bringing together world class performers from around the globe and here in Scotland. There are several different price options that will let even more people discover the magic of the International Festival too. These include Young Musician’s Pass, Tickets for Good and substantial discounts for art workers and under 30s.”
Multi-Artform Manager at Creative Scotland, Lorna Duguid, said:
“The Edinburgh International Festival continues to be a beacon for artistic excellence and cultural exchange, bringing the world to Scotland and showcasing Scotland to the world. This year’s theme, The Truth We Seek, speaks powerfully to the times we live in- inviting artists and audiences alike to explore, question and connect through extraordinary performances. With a third of this year’s programme featuring artists based in Scotland and an unwavering commitment to accessibility, the International Festival exemplifies how world-class culture can be both globally relevant and locally rooted.”
Tickets to world-class performances across a hand-picked programme of music, theatre, opera and dance at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2025 are available at www.eif.co.uk.
