We have just launched the 2025 Edinburgh International Festival programme under the banner of “The Truth We Seek” and once again there is an urgency to hear from artists as we reflect on
the world.
We are currently caught in a bewildering swirl of “my truth” and “alternative facts”, of manipulated language disguised as facts. We look to our artists—across music, theatre, opera and dance—for their perspective, because they speak the language of allegory, and of a truth more nuanced and precise than literal fact.
Edinburgh International Festival is the original festival in Edinburgh, the spark that ignited Edinburgh as the Festival City, and internationalism is our driving force. This August, 1,700 artists from 42 countries will join over 600 Scottish artists on our stages. It truly makes Edinburgh the ultimate summer destination to experience world-class live performances, to discover new and innovative work as well as the classics.
As Creative Director, I lead on the artistic programme, collaborating with Festival Director Nicola Benedetti, and I oversee the programming team to curate the annual festival. The festival is a wonderful genre-spanning artistic celebration. However, producing a four-week festival of this scale, across 12 venues each year is an enormous undertaking. Our spirit of internationalism is often challenged by the practicalities of the world, and whilst the double whammy of COVID and Brexit is hopefully fading into history, bringing ideas to fruition still feels just a little harder.
This year’s festival has, once again, been put together amid a challenging funding climate, with some decisions for this August’s programme only confirmed in January. Given our planning horizon is always two to three years ahead, we shaped the 2025 programme during a period of uncertainty, requiring us to adopt a more cautious financial framework. As a result, it is a more compact festival, yet we have worked hard to preserve our artistic ambition. This does mean that some elements of the programme have been reduced, others more focussed, but we have maintained a programme with the breadth, depth and artistic excellence that defines us.
To that end, this year’s festival is awash with premieres, commissions and co-productions, including the world premiere of Make It Happen, a large-scale theatre work from James Graham, with Scotland’s producing theatres the National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep Theatre. Other highlights include Dance People, a dance commission from Lebanon’s Maqamat; the European premiere of Opera Queensland’s Orpheus and Eurydice with Circa, presented with Opera Australia; the European premiere of Huang Ruo’s contemporary opera Book of Mountain and Seas; and the UK premiere of Works and Days from FC Bergman.
We are also presenting all of Scotland’s national performing arts companies and are celebrating the 60th anniversary of our Festival Chorus. They feature throughout the programme, from the opening concert in the monumental eight-hour The Veil of the Temple by John Taverner, to Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah, which closes this year’s concert series.
Our orchestral residency programme offers a more sustainable model for presenting large-scale orchestras. We invite leading orchestras for an extended stay in Edinburgh, featuring multiple performances and community engagement, and they offer audiences the opportunity to engage with orchestras on a deeper level. This model also helps us reduce the environmental impact through scaled-back travel. This year’s resident orchestras include NYO2, a youth orchestra from Carnegie Hall making its European debut—a first international performance for many of its musicians; the world-renowned London Symphony Orchestra; and NFM Leopoldinum, leading our Focus On Poland.
This year, we explore unconventional ways of presenting our programme. Audiences can settle into a comfy beanbag for a classical music concert, raise their voices with our Festival Chorus in the Come & Sing Elijah, and join our lively Ceilidh Sessions in the lush surroundings of the city’s Princes Street Gardens. Dance People is performed under the stars in the stunning setting of Edinburgh University’s Old College Quad, and our acclaimed flagship music education workshop, Art of Listening, is now part of our families programme. We are also proud to present our first dementia-friendly concert as part of our main programme.
“The Truth We Seek” theme is further animated in a series of works exploring the climate emergency, colonialism and politics. These include the Scottish premiere of Figures in Extinction from Nederlands Dans Theater, a collaboration between visionary choreographer Crystal Pite and ground-breaking theatre maker Simon McBurney. Faustus in Africa! directed by William Kentridge, with Handspring Puppet Company, reimagines the timeless tale of Faust to confront the catastrophic costs of colonialism and the climate crisis. Meanwhile, As You Like It: A Radical Retelling by Cliff Cardinal challenges audiences with an interpretation strictly for the open-minded!
Accessibility and openness is reflected in our ticket pricing and concessions, which are setting a new industry standard. We continue with the commitment that half of all our tickets will be available for £30 or under, and £10 tickets will be offered for every performance to those who need them most.
Of course, young people are always welcome—under 18s can enjoy half-price tickets, and young musicians aged between eight and 18 can access free tickets. (A full list of affordability initiatives can be found at https://www.eif.co.uk/affordability).
Founded in the wake of World War II—alongside Festival d’Avignon and Holland Festival—the Edinburgh International Festival will celebrate its 80th anniversary in 2027. While that milestone is something to look forward to, this year alone brings over 130 performances and 1,700 incredible artists to Edinburgh—cementing its reputation as the ultimate destination for the best opera, theatre, dance and music.
The Edinburgh International Festival takes place from
1 to 24 August 2025.
For more information, visit https://www.eif.co.uk/