The flagship Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) is a high-brow assembly of some of the world's best music, opera, theatre, and dance companies.
The festival was launched in 1947 as a stage for peace and unity in Europe after the Second World War. It was out of the Festival that the now massive Edinburgh Fringe sprung and grew in subsequent years.
The EIF 2026 programme
The Festival launched its 2026 programme in early March. It's the fourth under the lead of Festival Director and violinist Nicola Benedetti and takes the theme of "All Rise".
The Festival has traditionally started and finished with a large-scale, populist event, although the it hasn't held its crowd-pleasing Fireworks Concert finale since 2019 and is not expected to reinstate it anytime soon.
In 2024, its Opening event Where to Begin introduced a fee for the event (where before tickets were free) and the EIF Opening Event was cut in 2025 due to budget constraints.
There'll still be an EIF Opening Concert in 2026, which this year is Wynton Marsalis’s jazz symphony "All Rise", at the Usher Hall. It's also the inspiration for the Festival theme.
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- Festival Fireworks Concert The Grand Finale to Edinburgh's Festivals (last held in 2019)
Box Office: EIF Tickets 2026
Public booking of EIF 2026 tickets is from 26 March. Booking for EIF members and supporters goes on sale before that.
Festival tickets have been set using a dynamic pricing model since 2023, but there are also many tickets available at a lower based price (half were set at £30 or under, in 2024), with free tickets available for young musicians.
In 2026, a limited number of £10 Affordable Tickets will be available when tickets go on sale. For more info, go here.
There is priority booking for EIF Friends staggered between the 19th and 24th March 2026.
Friends is the membership scheme run by the Edinburgh International Festival which starts at £60 per year for a "basic" friend membership and rises to the top tier of £1,200 for an "ambassador" level friend. The higher your level of subscription the earlier your access to tickets.
Return after Covid-19
After a year out due to Covid-19 in 2020, the EIF returned in 2021 with a music-heavy festival line-up in outdoor pavilions at Edinburgh Park and Old College Quad and a handful of its usual venues.
The EIF also introduce a an online programme of free shows - including concerts and theatre recorded at the festival, and specially commissioned dance films from around the world. The strand EIF At Home featured 18 full length performances, available on-demand through the EIF web site.
Traditionally, the festival climaxed with the Festival Fireworks Concert, although the opening and closing events were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions and lack of sponsorship meant that, after 40 years, the Festival Fireworks Concert was not resumed in 2022 and subsequent years.
Previous years ticket deals
In 2023, the Festival carried ticket deals such as 50% off for under-18s on selected performances as soon as tickets go on sale; 30% off deals for concession card holders (from July); and £8 on the day for under 26-year-olds for selected performances.
In 2022, the EIF marked its return to strength with 35,000 free festival tickets.