From 1 - 24 August 2025, Edinburgh International Festival presents a hand-picked selection of leading international and local artists in the world’s Festival City, with 24 days of world-class opera, dance, music and theatre.

The Truth We Seek is the timely theme underpinning the 2025 International Festival, as contemporary reflections on the world are presented alongside time-honoured tales, a place where fact meets faith and fiction.

With an exciting line-up of 133 performances, the festival boasts seven world premieres, eight UK and Scottish premieres, and two European premieres. Programme highlights include the world premiere of a gripping new play by James Graham starring Brian Cox, a new narrative ballet from Scottish Ballet, and Festival debuts from rising classical stars - violinist María Dueñas, mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo, and 2024 BBC Young Musician of the Year Ryan Wang.

Orpheus & Eurydice © Keith Saunders

This year’s programme is defined by world-class artists bringing audiences and artists closer together in creative and unexpected ways. Audiences can experience an opera incorporating circus performers for a breathtaking fusion of music and acrobatics in Orpheus and Eurydice, a site-specific promenade dance work that transforms Edinburgh's Old College Quad into a stage for Dance People and enjoy Bach through a new lens in Breaking Bach, where hip-hop meets 18th-century period instruments.

María Dueñas © Tam Lan Truong

Audiences can also actively participate in performances - whether by shaping the repertoire in a real-time Classical Jam or sharing their dreams to inspire Hanni Liang’s piano recital, Dreams. For those seeking deep immersion, eight-hour choral epic The Veil of the Temple invites audiences to sit on beanbags and lose themselves in waves of harmonies, and a choral workshop welcomes amateur singers that will preview a powerful performance at the Festival’s Closing Concert, Mendelssohn's Elijah.

Breaking Bach © Courtesy of the company

Now in its third year under Festival Director and celebrated Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti, the 2025 programme welcomes over 1,700 artists from 42 nations to Edinburgh - including 600 from Scotland.

The Edinburgh International Festival, which takes place each August, was founded in 1947, the inspired idea of Rudolf Bing, a cultural pioneer and Jewish refugee, working with a group of civic and artistic leaders. Together, they created a festival that transcends political boundaries through a global celebration of the performing arts. Over the following 77 years the International Festival’s programme of world-leading dance, opera, music and theatre has continued to bring people of different cultures and viewpoints together.

Brian Cox in Make It Happen © Colin Hutton

Meanwhile, the International Festival’s sister festivals have grown up around it and also take place in August. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival contribute to the atmosphere of unparalleled excitement that transforms the city each summer. Together, the festivals are one of the world’s leading ticketed events, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup.

Nicola Benedetti (photo by Laurence Winram)

Festival Director Nicola Benedetti said: "Our 2025 Edinburgh International Festival invites you to explore The Truth We Seek—a journey into the elusive nature of truth, in our personal and public lives. In an era of ‘alternative facts’ and manipulated narratives, the arts offer us something deeper: a poetic and metaphorical wisdom that is both more nuanced and more precise.

“This Festival - born in the city of the Enlightenment - has championed artistic expression as a means of discovery, insight, and mutual understanding. This year, we proudly present seven world premieres, exceptional international and Scottish artists, and celebrate 60 years of our Festival Chorus as well as the brightest emerging talent.”

Find out more about this year’s Edinburgh International Festival at www.eif.co.uk.

If you or your group would like to visit Edinburgh International Festival as part of a tailor-made tour of Scotland or the United Kingdom, please do contact our friendly team today. Or perhaps you would like to enjoy a dedicated culture tour, taking in the best of British and Irish culture to suit your tastes? If so, we can help!