Edinburgh Festival. 3-week annual int. fest. of the arts held in Scottish capital Aug.–Sept., with strong emphasis on opera, concerts, and recitals. Founded 1947 with Rudolf Bing as dir.; he was succeeded by Ian Hunter 1949–55, Robert Ponsonby 1955–60, Earl of Harewood 1961–5, Peter Diamand 1966–78, John Drummond 1979–83, Frank Dunlop 1984–91, Brian McMaster from 1992. Many distinguished visiting cos. have supplied opera, incl. Glyndebourne, Stuttgart, Stockholm, Hamburg, Prague, Belgrade, La Scala, Florence, Deutsche Oper, Bavarian State, and Scottish. Visiting orchs. and soloists incl. virtually all the most celebrated. Several works have had f. Brit. ps. at fest., incl. the following operas: Mathis der Maler (1952); The Rake's Progress (1953); La vide breve (1958); La voix humaine (1960); Love for Three Oranges and The Gambler (both 1962); From the House of the Dead (1964); Intermezzo (1965); The Excursions of Mr Brouček (1970); Die Soldaten (1972); Mary, Queen of Scots (1977); The Lighthouse (1980); Juha (1987); Nixon in China and Greek (both 1988).

A feature is the very lively ‘fringe’, events outside the official programme, some of which have ‘stolen the show’.

Edinburgh Festival an international festival of the arts held annually in Edinburgh since 1947. In addition to the main programme a flourishing fringe festival has developed.