Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

VIDEO: Fireworks light up the Edinburgh sky as festival season comes to an end

Post Thumbnail

EDINBURGH certainly likes to celebrate the end of the festival season with a bang, as hundreds of thousands of fireworks lit up the castle last night.

It is the largest annual fireworks concert in the world, with more than 400,000 fireworks shooting up into the sky, choreographed to live orchestral music from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Kristiina Poska.

The Virgin Money Fireworks Concert, which provides the finale to the Edinburgh International Festival, commemorated 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare with excerpts from Romeo And Juliet and Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.

(David Cheskin/PA)
(David Cheskin/PA)

Setting up the event is no mean feat, with a team of 15 people taking six days to lay out the whopping four tonnes of fireworks. It marks the end of Edinburgh International Festival, the Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh International Television Festival and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo which all happened in August making the city a hive of activity with 50,266 performances over 25 days.

VIDEO: Watch breathtaking footage from a drone flying through a fireworks display – click here to read more

Almost 2.5 million tickets have been issued for 50,266 Fringe events, an increase of 7.7% on last year, while the Edinburgh International Festival has generated £4 million in ticket sales, surpassing last year’s record.

(David Cheskin/PA)
(David Cheskin/PA)

This year marked Shona McCarthy’s first as chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe society. “The Fringe plays an essential role in the global arts community, providing a platform for artists from around the UK and the rest of the world to showcase their work and make new connections. With 48 countries represented in this year’s programme, the breadth and diversity of talent on offer has been astounding,” she said.

Festival director Fergus Linehan, said: “At the end of three incredible weeks, all that remains is for us to thank the hundreds of artists and hundreds of thousands of audience members who continue to make the Edinburgh International Festival one of the wonders of the arts world.

(Andrew Milligan/PA)
(Andrew Milligan/PA)

“The International Festival has always been a place for people of all nationalities to meet and exchange ideas and we’ve seen that everywhere across the city these past three weeks.

“In uncertain times, events like this feel ever more important, and we at the International Festival are honoured to have been able to host, inspire, entertain and moreover welcome so many artists and visitors from all over the world to our city.”


READ MORE

Edinburgh Festival comedian Lucie Pohl sworn to secrecy over Harry Potter role

10 Questions for Edinburgh Fringe comedian Jason Byrne