Edinburgh · Stage
Edinburgh International Festival
The curated half of August: orchestras, opera and theatre invited rather than self-selected
Founded in 1947 to reunite European culture after the war, and still the reason the world's major orchestras and theatre companies come to Scotland in August. The Usher Hall handles the orchestral programme, the Festival Theatre the opera and dance, the Lyceum the drama.
It is a completely separate organisation from the Fringe that surrounds it, with a completely different booking rhythm: plan this one, improvise the other.
Edinburgh
While you are in Edinburgh
MuseumFreeEdinburgh · New Town
Scottish National Gallery
A neoclassical temple on the mound between the old and new towns, free since 1859
TheatreEdinburgh · Leith Walk
Edinburgh Playhouse
The largest working theatre in Britain by seat count, and the fringe's biggest room
LandmarkFree galleriesEdinburgh · Southside
Summerhall
A former veterinary school with thirty rooms, running the sharpest end of the fringe
Stage
More stage festivals
JulAvignon · Stage
Festival d'Avignon
Theatre in a papal palace courtyard, plus a thousand fringe shows in every other room in town
Jul / AugSalzburg · Stage
Salzburger Festspiele
Six weeks of opera, concerts and drama in a small Baroque town that doubles its population
AugFreeEdinburgh · Stage
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The largest arts festival on earth, with no selection committee and no quality control