Edinburgh International Festival

Edinburgh International Festival
Nicola Benedetti, Director of the Edinburgh International Festival from 2023
Date(s)	2024: 5–28 August (exact dates vary each year)
Frequency	Annual
Location(s)	Edinburgh, Scotland
Inaugurated	1947
Patron(s)	Queen Elizabeth (1947–1952) Queen Elizabeth II (1952–2017) Prince Edward (2017–present)
Website	www.eif.co.uk

The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially classical music) and the performing arts 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, it had a broadly-based programme, covering orchestral, choral and chamber music, Lieder and song, opera, ballet, drama, film, and Scottish 'piping and dancing' on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle, a structure that was followed in subsequent years.^[1]

The Festival has taken place every year since 1947, except for 2020 when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] A scaled-back version of the festival was held in 2021.