The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

) and the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfo ...

are invited to join the festival. Visual art exhibitions, talks and workshops are also hosted. The first 'International Festival of Music and Drama' took place between 22 August and 11 September 1947. Under the first festival director, the distinguished Austrian-born impresario

Rudolf Bing Sir Rudolf Bing, KBE (January 9, 1902 – September 2, 1997) was an Austrian-born British opera impresario who worked in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, most notably being General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York ...

, it had a broadly-based programme, covering orchestral, choral and chamber music,

Lieder In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

and song, opera, ballet, drama, film, and Scottish 'piping and dancing' on the Esplanade of

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

, a structure that was followed in subsequent years. The Festival has taken place every year since 1947, except for 2020 when it was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. A scaled-back version of the festival was held in 2021.

Festival directors

*1947–1949: Sir

, Austrian-born opera impresario who became General Manager of the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is opera ...

*1950–1955:

Sir Ian Hunter Sir Ian Bruce Hope Hunter (2 April 19195 September 2003) was an English impresario of classical music. Known as 'Mr. Festival' to many in the arts world, Hunter was one of the most important figures in a post- World War II cultural renaissance i ...

, British impresario of classical music *1956–1960:

Robert Ponsonby Robert Noel Ponsonby (19 December 19263 November 2019) was an arts administrator and director of the Edinburgh International Festival from 1956 to 1960. After two years at the Independent Television Authority and eight years as head of the Scot ...

, British music administrator and BBC programmer *1961–1965:

George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood George Henry Hubert Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, (7 February 1923 – 11 July 2011), styled The Honourable George Lascelles before 1929 and Viscount Lascelles between 1929 and 1947, was a British classical music administrator and author. He ...

, British opera administrator, who worked for the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

, and

Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and ...

*1966–1978: Peter Diamand, Berlin-born arts administrator *1979–1983: Sir John Drummond, British arts administrator and BBC Radio 3 Controller *1984–1991: Frank Dunlop, British theatre director *1992–2006: Sir Brian McMaster, British arts administrator who worked at the

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) ( cy, Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its ...

*October 2006–2014: Sir Jonathan Mills, Australian composer and arts administrator *October 2014–2022: Fergus Linehan, Irish theatre producer and music administrator *October 2022–: Nicola Benedetti, Scottish-Italian violinist

Creation of the festival

The idea of a Festival with a remit to "provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit" and enrich the cultural life of Scotland, Britain and Europe took form in the wake of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The idea of creating an international festival within the UK was first conceived by

, the General Manager of Glyndebourne Opera Festival, the arts patron Lady Rosebery, theatre director Sir Tyrone Guthrie, and

Audrey Mildmay Grace Audrey Laura St John-Mildmay (19 December 1900 – 31 May 1953) was an English and Canadian soprano and co-founder, with her husband, John Christie, of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' describes her voice "as a li ...

(wife of John Christie) during a wartime tour of a small-scale Glyndebourne production of ''

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

''. Rudolf Bing conceived of the festival to heal the wounds of war through the languages of the arts. This is its principal ''raison d’être''. It was first financed by Lord Rosebery with the £10,000 winnings of his horse Ocean Swell that won the only two major horse-races run in wartime including the

Jockey Club Cup A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

in 1944. This sum was matched by Edinburgh Town Council and then some money in turn was matched by the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council ( ...

under the chairmanship of

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...

. Bing also co-founded the Festival with Henry Harvey Wood, Head of the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

in Scotland, Sidney Newman, Reid Professor of Music at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

, and a group of civic leaders from the City of Edinburgh, in particular Sir John Falconer. Bing had looked at several English cities before shifting his focus to Scotland and settling on Edinburgh, a city he had visited and admired in 1939. In particular, Edinburgh's castle reminded him of Salzburg where he had been the festival director before the war. Harvey Wood described the meeting at which the idea was hatched:

The Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama was first discussed over a lunch table in a restaurant in Hanover Square,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, towards the end of 1944. Rudolf Bing, convinced that musical and operatic festivals on anything like the pre-war scale were unlikely to be held in any of the shattered and impoverished centres for many years to come, was anxious to consider and investigate the possibility of staging such a Festival somewhere in the United Kingdom in the summer of 1946. He was convinced and he convinced my colleagues and myself that such an enterprise, successfully conducted, might at this moment of European time, be of more than temporary significance and might establish in Britain a centre of world resort for lovers of music, drama, opera, ballet and the graphic arts.

Certain preconditions were obviously required of such a centre. It should be a town of reasonable size, capable of absorbing and entertaining anything between 50,000 and 150,000 visitors over a period of three weeks to a month. It should, like Salzburg, have considerable scenic and picturesque appeal and it should be set in a country likely to be attractive to tourists and foreign visitors. It should have sufficient number of theatres, concert halls and open spaces for the adequate staging of a programme of an ambitious and varied character. Above all it should be a city likely to embrace the opportunity and willing to make the festival a major preoccupation not only in the City Chambers but in the heart and home of every citizen, however modest. Greatly daring but not without confidence I recommended Edinburgh as the centre and promised to make preliminary investigations.

Wood approached Falconer, who enthusiastically welcomed the initiative on behalf of the city. As it was too late to finalise arrangements for 1946, plans were made for the following year.

Features of the festival

The first International Festival took place between 22 August and 11 September 1947, and it remained an event straddling August and September until 2015, when the dates of the Edinburgh International Festival was brought forward, to begin and end in August, to coincide with the

Fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...

Classical music

From the beginning, the festival had a broad coverage, but with an emphasis on classical music, a highlight of the first season being concerts given by the

Vienna Philharmonic The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

, reunited with their erstwhile conductor

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the U ...

, who had left Europe after Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938. The full list of musicians at the festival during the late 1940s and early 1950s read like a ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a group of not ...

'' of mid 20th-century international music. Great figures of pre-war music included, besides

, the conductors

Wilhelm Furtwängler Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...

Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Roya ...

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in Londo ...

, Fritz Busch,

Josef Krips Josef Alois Krips (8 April 1902 – 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist. Life and career Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips, a medical doctor and amateur singer, and his mother was Aloisia, née Seit ...

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in ...

and

Vittorio Gui Vittorio Gui (14 September 188516 October 1975) was an Italian conductor, composer, musicologist and critic. Gui was born in Rome in 1885. He graduated in humanities at the University of Rome and also studied composition at the Accademia Naziona ...

, the pianist

Artur Schnabel Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-American classical pianist, composer and pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th centur ...

, the violinist

Joseph Szigeti Joseph Szigeti ( hu">Szigeti József, ; 5 September 189219 February 1973) was a Hungarian violinist. Born into a musical family, he spent his early childhood in a small town in Transylvania. He quickly proved himself to be a child prodigy on ...

, and the singer Lotte Lehmann all appeared in Edinburgh in the twilight of their careers. Rising stars of post-war Europe, such as the conductors

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...

, Rafael Kubelík, Charles Munch,

Wolfgang Sawallisch Wolfgang Sawallisch (26 August 1923 – 22 February 2013) was a German conductor and pianist. Biography Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Munich, the son of Maria and Wilhelm Sawallisch. His father was director of the Hamburg-Bremer-Feuerversich ...

, and

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

, the pianists

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and B ...

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

, and

Rudolf Serkin Rudolf Serkin (28 March 1903 – 8 May 1991) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century. Early life, childhood debut, and education Serkin was born in t ...

, the string players

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

Pierre Fournier Pierre Léon Marie Fournier (24 June 19068 January 1986) was a French cellist who was called the "aristocrat of cellists" on account of his elegant musicianship and majestic sound. Biography He was born in Paris, the son of a French Army gen ...

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...

, and Amadeus String Quartet, and the singers

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's Lieder, ...

, Victoria de los Ángeles,

Boris Christoff Boris Christoff ( bg, Борис Кирилов Христов, Boris Kirilov Hristov, ; 18 May 1914 – 28 June 1993) was a Bulgarian opera singer, widely considered one of the greatest basses of the 20th century. Early life He was born ...

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (9 December 19153 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the op ...

, and

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career starte ...

were all present in Edinburgh concert and recital halls from the beginning of their careers, while the long-lived pianist

Artur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.

had a career that seemingly spanned both eras. Some of the most impressive performers of the early years had their careers tragically cut short in the 1950s, notably

Kathleen Ferrier Kathleen Mary Ferrier, CBE (22 April 19128 October 1953) was an English contralto singer who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the cl ...

Guido Cantelli Guido Cantelli (; 27 April 192024 November 1956) was an Italian orchestral conductor. Toscanini elected him his "spiritual heir" since the beginnings of his career. He was named Musical Director of La Scala, Milan in November 1956, but his promis ...

Ginette Neveu Ginette Neveu (11 August 191928 October 1949) was a French classical violinist. She was killed in a plane crash at the age of 30. Early life Neveu was born on 11 August 1919 in Paris into a musical family. Her brother Jean-Paul became a class ...

and

Dennis Brain Dennis Brain (17 May 19211 September 1957) was a British horn player. From a musical family – his father and grandfather were horn players – he attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. During the Second World War he served in the Roya ...

. Edinburgh remained at the centre of the musical world during the second decade (1957–1966) of the festival. Leading conductors who performed in the city at that time included

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (14 May 18856 July 1973) was a 20th-century conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the US, Hungary and finally Britain. His early career was in opera houses, but he was later better known as a concer ...

Ernest Ansermet Ernest Alexandre Ansermet (; 11 November 1883 – 20 February 1969)"Ansermet, Ernest" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 435. was a Swiss conductor. Biography Ansermet ...

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...

Carlo Maria Giulini Carlo Maria Giulini (; 9 May 1914 – 14 June 2005) was an Italian conductor. From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conserva ...

Yevgeny Mravinsky Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Mravinsky (russian: Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Мрави́нский) (19 January 1988) was a Russian conductor, pianist, and music pedagogue; he was a professor at Leningrad State Conservatory. Biog ...

, István Kertész,

Bernard Haitink Bernard Johan Herman Haitink (; 4 March 1929 – 21 October 2021) was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to Lon ...

George Szell George Szell (; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He is widely considered one of the twentieth century's greatest condu ...

and

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...

Opera

The founders of the Edinburgh Festival had been closely connected with the

Glyndebourne Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

and from the beginning opera was an important part of the programme. The city did not have, and still doesn't have, the facilities for creating original staged opera productions, so guest companies were invited to the festival. In the early years, Glyndebourne fulfilled this role, bringing two productions a year between 1947 and 1951.

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

took over in 1952, with no less than six productions. Glyndebourne returned from 1953 to 1955, now with three operas each year, with Hamburg coming again in 1956 with four productions. During the second decade (1957–1966), Edinburgh received a series of different opera companies, starting with La Scala (Piccola Scala), and continuing with the Stuttgart State Opera,

Royal Opera Stockholm Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm (borough), Norrmalm, ...

, Glyndebourne Opera,

Covent Garden Opera The Royal Opera is a British opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Cov ...

, Belgrade Opera, the English Opera Group, Teatro San Carlo, Naples, Budapest Opera and Ballet, National Theatre, Prague, the

Holland Festival The Holland Festival () is the oldest and largest performing arts festival in the Netherlands. It takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theatre, music, opera and modern dance. In recent years, multimedia, visual arts, film and ...

and the

Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

, with an average of four or five productions each year. Major artists came to Edinburgh during the first twenty years, such as the conductors

, Fritz Busch, Ferenc Fricsay,

Rafael Kubelik Rafael may refer to: * Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin * Rafael, California * Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israeli manufacturer of weapons and military technology * Hurricane Rafael, a 2012 hurricane Fiction * ' ...

Alberto Erede Alberto Erede (8 November 190912 April 2001) was an Italian conductor, particularly associated with operatic work. Born in Genoa, Erede studied there before studying at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan, then with Felix Weingartner at Basle, and ...

, Oliviero De Fabritiis, János Ferencsik, John Pritchard, Carlos Kleiber, and

Lovro von Matačić Lovro von Matačić (14 February 1899 – 4 January 1985) was a Croatian conductor and composer. Early life Lovro von Matačić was born in Sušak to a family that was granted a noble title in the early 17th century. Growing up, he was always s ...

, and the directors

Carl Ebert Carl Anton Charles Ebert (20 February 1887 – 14 May 1980), was an actor, stage director and arts administrator. Ebert's early career was as an actor, training under Max Reinhardt and becoming one of the leading actors in his native Germany duri ...

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the ...

Giorgio Strehler Giorgio Strehler (; ; 14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was an actor, Italian opera and theatre director. Biography Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste; His father, Bruno Strehler, was a native of Trieste with family roots in Vienna and died ...

Wieland Wagner Wieland Wagner (5 January 1917 – 17 October 1966) was a German opera director, grandson of Richard Wagner. As co-director of the Bayreuth Festival when it re-opened after World War II, he was noted for innovative new stagings of the operas, depa ...

and

Günther Rennert Günther Rennert (1 April 1911 – 31 July 1978) was a German opera director and administrator. Rennert was born in Essen, Rhine Province. Starting as a film director in 1933, he then became involved in the operatic theatre, becoming an assistant ...

. Star singers appearing in staged operas included

Maria Callas Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...

, Lisa della Casa,

Sena Jurinac Srebrenka "Sena" Jurinac () (24 October 1921 – 22 November 2011) was a Bosnian-born Austrian operatic soprano. Biography Jurinac was born in Travnik, Bosnia-Herzegovina (then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), the daughter of a Croatian fa ...

Birgit Nilsson Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano. Although she sang a wide répertoire of operatic and vocal works, Nilsson was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner ...

Anneliese Rothenberger Anneliese Rothenberger (19 June 191924 May 2010) was a German operatic soprano who had an active international performance career which spanned from 1942 to 1983. She specialized in the lyric coloratura soprano repertoire, and was particularly adm ...

Victoria de los Angeles Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychell ...

Ljuba Welitsch Ljuba Welitsch (''Veličkova''; bg, Люба Величкова 10 July 1913 – 1 September 1996) was an operatic soprano. She was born in Borisovo, Bulgaria, studied in Sofia and Vienna, and sang in opera houses in Austria and Germany in ...

Joan Sutherland Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s. She possesse ...

Magda Olivero Magda Olivero (née Maria Maddalena Olivero) (25 March 1910 – 8 September 2014), was an Italian operatic soprano. Her career started in 1932 when she was 22, and spanned five decades, establishing her "as an important link between the era of th ...

Renata Scotto Renata Scotto (born 24 February 1934) is an Italian soprano and opera director. Recognized for her sense of style, her musicality, and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation. Since ...

, and Elisabeth Söderström, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Geraint Evans,

, George London,

Luigi Alva Luis Ernesto Alva y Talledo, better known as Luigi Alva (born 10 April 1927 in Paíta, Peru) is a Peruvian operatic tenor. A Mozart and Rossini specialist, Alva achieved fame with roles such as Don Ottavio (in ''Don Giovanni''), Count Almaviva ( ...

, Nicolai Gedda,

Alfredo Kraus Alfredo Kraus Trujillo (; 24 November 192710 September 1999) was a distinguished Spanish tenor from the Canary islands (known professionally as Alfredo Kraus), particularly known for the artistry he brought to opera's bel canto roles. He wa ...

, Fritz Wunderlich,

Wolfgang Windgassen Wolfgang Windgassen (26 June 1914 – 8 September 1974) was a heldentenor internationally known for his performances in Wagner operas. Life and career Born in Annemasse, France, he was the son (and pupil) of a well known German Heldentenor, Frit ...

Fernando Corena Fernando Corena (22 December 1916 – 26 November 1984) was a Swiss bass who had a major international opera career from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. He enjoyed a long and successful career at the Metropolitan Opera between 1954 and 19 ...

Sesto Bruscantini Sesto Bruscantini (10 December 1919 – 4 May 2003) was an Italian baritone, one of the greatest buffo singers of the post-war era, especially renowned in Mozart and Rossini. Biography and career Bruscantini was born in Civitanova Marche, Marche, ...

Hermann Prey Hermann Prey ( Berlin, 11 July 1929 – Krailling, 22 July 1998) was a German lyric baritone, who was equally at home in the Lied, operatic and concert repertoires. His American debut was in November 1952, with the Philadelphia Orchestra an ...

, and

Ballet

Fonteyn Helpmann Sleeping Beauty Sadler's Wells US tour (2)

Ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

was inaugurated at the festival with performances of '' The Sleeping Beauty'' with

Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE (''née'' Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet (formerly the Sadler's Wells ...

Robert Helpmann Sir Robert Murray Helpmann CBE ( Helpman, 9 April 1909 – 28 September 1986) was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director, and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet ( ...

and the

Sadler's Wells Ballet Company Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the five major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside The Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Founded as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the company ...

at the Empire Theatre. They returned in subsequent years, together with companies including the Ballets des Champs-Élysées from Paris, American National Ballet Theatre from New York, the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas (Le Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo), the Spanish Ballet of Pilar López, the Yugoslav Ballet and the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and originates from 1748, when the R ...

Drama

Drama was an important feature of the Edinburgh International Festival from its inception and right through the successful early years of the event.

The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...

Theatre Company, like

Glyndebourne Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hun ...

for opera and

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...

for ballet, gave their strong support to the festival, and they were joined by a series of Scottish, English, French and German companies, such as the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre,

Henry Sherek Jules Henry Sherek (1900–1967) was a British theatrical manager, known for producing the plays of T. S. Eliot. Sherek was born on 23 April 1900, at 2 Guilford Street, London, to Bernard a merchant (and later an international theatrical agent), ...

and Tennent Productions, Le compagnie Jouvet de Théâtre de l'Athénée, Le Théâtre National Populaire, Paris, Le compagnie de mime

Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", and he performed professionally worldw ...

, Le Comédie Française,

Edwige Feuillère Edwige Feuillère (born Edwige Louise Caroline Cunatti; October 29, 1907 – November 13, 1998) was a French stage and film actress. Biography She was born Edwige Louise Caroline Cunatti to an Italian architect father and an Alsace-born mo ...

and her company, and Düsseldorf Theatre Company. One of the festival's first dramatic success came in 1948 when an adaptation of Sir David Lyndsay's '' The Thrie Estaites'' was performed to great acclaim for the first time since 1552 in the Assembly Hall on the Mound. Noted directors included

E. Martin Browne Elliott Martin Browne CBE (29 January 1900 – 27 April 1980) was a British theatre director, known for his production of twentieth century verse plays. He collaborated for many years with T. S. Eliot and was first producer of many of his plays in ...

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

, Gustav Gründgens, Tyrone Guthrie and Michael Benthall. Well-known actors included Ralph Richardson, Alec Guinness, John Gielgud, Sybil Thorndike, Lewis Casson, Emlyn Williams, Claire Bloom, Alan Badel, Peter Finch, Richard Burton, Fay Compton, Ann Todd, Eric Porter and

Visual arts

The visual arts were not featured in the first two festivals in 1947 and 1948, but from 1949 they became an important part of the events. There were major exhibitions at the Scottish National Gallery, National Gallery of Scotland and Royal Scottish Academy. These included Rembrandt in 1950, Spanish Paintings (El Greco to Francisco Goya, Goya) in 1951, Edgar Degas, Degas in 1952, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Renoir in 1953, Paul Cézanne, Cézanne in 1954, Paul Gauguin, Gauguin in 1955, and Georges Braque, Braque in 1956. The second decade of the festival began with Claude Monet, Monet in 1957, followed by two exhibitions, Masterpieces of Byzantine Art and the Moltzau Collection (Paul Cézanne, Cézanne to Pablo Picasso, Picasso) featured in 1958, Masterpieces of Czech Art in 1959, German Expressionist Painting in 1960, and an Jacob Epstein, Epstein Memorial Exhibition together with a selection from the Foundation E. G. Bührle, Bührle Collection (Zurich) in 1961. Modern Primitive Paintings from Yugoslavia and Henri Matisse, Matisse and After (from the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Sonja Henie — Niels Onstad Collection in Oslo in 1962. Amedeo Modigliani, Modigliani and Chaïm Soutine, Soutine were shown in a double exhibition, together with Music and Dance in Indian Art, in 1963. There was an exhibition of Eugène Delacroix, Delacroix in 1964, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Corot in 1965, and Georges Rouault, Rouault in 1966. The third decade began with André Derain, Derain in 1967, followed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Fritz Wotruba, Wotruba, a ''Eugène Boudin, Boudin to Pablo Picasso, Picasso'' exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, and ''Canada 101'', a focus on contemporary Canadian art, all in 1968. ''Sixteenth century Italian drawings from British private collections'' (at Merchants' Hall), ''Contemporary Polish art'', and ''Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, Jack Coia gold medallist'' were shown in 1969. For 1970, the exhibitions were ''Early Celtic art'' and ''Contemporary German art from Düsseldorf''. ''The Belgian contribution to surrealism'', ''Walter Scott, Sir Walter Scott Bicentenary'' and ''Contemporary Romanian art'' exhibitions were offered in 1971. In 1972 the Scottish painter Alan Davie was featured at the Royal Scottish Academy, followed in 1973 by ''Permanences e l'Art Francais'' in the same gallery, as well as ''Objects USA at the City of Edinburgh Art Gallery, and a ''Tyrone Guthrie exhibition''.

World premieres

Many works have received their world premieres at the Edinburgh International Festival, from T. S. Eliot's ''The Cocktail Party'' and ''The Confidential Clerk'' in 1949 and 1953, to James MacMillan's 2018 version of ''Quickening (MacMillan), Quickening'' and Symphony No. 5 (MacMillan), Symphony No. 5, both in 2019.

Festival venues

The principal venues of the Festival are: * Usher Hall (capacity approximately 2,200), concert hall, built in 1914, used by the festival since 1947. * King's Theatre, Edinburgh, Kings Theatre (1,300), opened in 1906, used by the festival since 1947, notably for opera. * Royal Lyceum Theatre (658), opened in 1883, used by the festival since 1947, mainly for drama. * Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Festival Theatre (1,915), dating back to 1892, originally a variety, musical and opera house called the Empire Theatre. Used by the festival since 1947, at first for ballet. Remodelled in 1994 and now used for festival opera and ballet. * Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, The Queen's Hall (920), converted chapel, opened as a concert hall in 1979, performance home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. * The Hub (Edinburgh), The Hub (420), originally built as the Tollbooth Church (1842–44) to house the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. This is on Royal Mile#Castle Esplanade and Castlehill, Castlehill, directly below

, with its tall Gothic architecture, Gothic spire, the highest point in central Edinburgh (outside of the Castle). Used since 1999 as the central box office and information centre for the festival, as well as a separate venue. * The Dunard Centre (1000), a new concert hall, due to be opened in 2023-4. The Queen's Hall Wideshot (credit Alastair Wight)

The Queen's Hall Wideshot (credit Alastair Wight)

Other venues that were sometimes used in the past include: * General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, used for drama performances from 1949 * Freemasons' Hall, Edinburgh, Freemasons' Hall (approximately 500), opened in 1912, used by the festival from 1947 for recitals and chamber concerts. * Leith Theatre (also known as Leith Town Hall and, briefly, Citadel Theatre), used as a medium-sized concert and recital hall by the festival from 1961 to the end of the 1970s. It closed completely in 1988, and is now being once again restored. * The Edinburgh Playhouse (3,059), opened in 1929, Britain's largest theatre, formerly a cinema. * Gateway Theatre (Edinburgh), Gateway Theatre, built in 1882 as a veterinary college, used for drama performances during the festival, but eventually converted to student housing.

Other festivals in Edinburgh

Former Tolbooth Church, Castlehill, Edinburgh

About ten other festivals are held in Edinburgh at about the same time as the International Festival. Collectively, the entire group is referred to as the Edinburgh Festival or Edinburgh Festivals. Most notable is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which started as an offshoot of the International Festival in the first year of its operation (although not known as such at the beginning), and has since grown to be the world's largest arts and media festival. The Edinburgh International Film Festival also began in August 1947 with a programme of documentary films. In the 1990s this festival moved into June. The 1966 Writers' Festival begun by John Calder, Richard Demarco, Jim Haynes, founders of the Paperback Bookshop and Traverse Theatre, eventually led to the Edinburgh International Book Festival also staged in August. The British Army's desire to showcase itself during the festival period led to the independent staging of the first Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Edinburgh Military Tattoo, featuring displays of piping and dancing, in 1950. This annual event has come to be regarded as a part of the official festival, though it continues to be organised separately.Bruce, ''Festival in the North'' (1975), p. 31. The result is a collection of festivals with more than 2,500 performances and events every day in Edinburgh in August, which is said to be many times larger than any similar conglomeration of arts and media festivals anywhere in the world.

References

External links

*
Edinburgh Festival City
Guide to 10 festivals
Listings and reviews
at The List (magazine), The List
ThreeWeeks
a guide to the Edinburgh Festival
A History of the Edinburgh FestivalsNational Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE
(selection of archive films about the Edinburgh Festival) {{Authority control 1947 establishments in Scotland Edinburgh Festival Classical music festivals in Scotland Theatre festivals in Scotland Opera in Scotland Annual events in Edinburgh Music festivals established in 1947 Early music festivals hu:Edinburgh-i Fesztivál

Festival directors

Creation of the festival

Features of the festival

Classical music

Opera

Ballet

Drama

Visual arts

World premieres

Festival venues

Other festivals in Edinburgh

See also

References

Further reading

External links