Festival Fireworks Concert
The Edinburgh Festival goes out each year with literally many, very large bangs, in its annual 45-minute Festival Fireworks Concert, this year, on Sunday 4 September at 9pm.
Buying Edinburgh Festival Fireworks tickets
Beneath Edinburgh Castle, the world-renowed Scottish Chamber Orchestra will play while a fireworks team based in the castle provides synchronised visual accompaniment.
You need a ticket to hear the SCO playing at the Ross Band Stand in Princes Street Gardens, but the majority of spectators tune into local radio to hear the live broadcast and watch the pyrotechnians paint the sky in explosive colour.
Vantage points can be found around the city, from up close on Princes Street or Castle Street to Calton Hill. Inverleith Park's free Family Viewing Area is also popular, not just for its great views of the castle, but also the fact that there is a live video link and top notch sound system to capture the Concert in the Gardens that accompanies the fireworks display. It's not as exciting as being up close, under the castle, but you can avoid the uptown crush of Princes Street. Get there earlyish - proceedings start at 7pm - to bag a good spot.
Naturally, the weather is also expected to play its part. Ideal weather conditions are clear skies and a slight breeze to blow the clouds of smoke from the masses of exploded fireworks away. Check the weather forecast.
2011 Programme
The 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fireworks Concert programme sees fiery, passionate music from Asia, Arabia and the East.
- Overture from Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmilla, which tells the story of the abduction of a Russian Princess on her wedding day
- Oriental Procession from Belshazzar’s Feast by Sibelius, a musical interpretation of a prophecy from the Book of Daniel
- Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia, composed to celebrate the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Emperor Alexander II
- The Blackmoor’s Dance from Nielsen’s Aladdin Suite, written as the finale for a performance of the Arabian tale
- Extracts from Tchaikovsky’s most famous ballet The Nutcracker, the instantly recognisable Russian, Chinese and Arabian dances
- As a finale, a second offering from Borodin, the Polovtsian Dances from the unfinished opera Prince Igor.
2010 Programme
The 2010 Fireworks Concert was a celebration of Music from the Movies. The evening opened with extracts from Kings Row, the 1942 drama composed by the “Father of Film Music”, Erich Korngold, before moving through Leonard Bernstein’s score for On the Waterfront.
This was followed by Bernard Herrmann’s score for Marnie, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 thriller considered by many to be his last masterpiece.
Franz Waxman’s music from Taras Bulba provided the rousing finale to the 2010 concert. Waxman was one of the greats of Hollywood composition and was nominated for 12 Oscars over his illustrious career.
2009 Programme
Conductor Matthew Halls led the the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus in renditions of Handel Zadok the Priest, excerpts of Music for the Royal Fireworks, Hallelujah Chorus, Messiah, and Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, Solomon
Ticket sales are through EIF box office at The Hub and online. Due to the popularity of this event, you should note the special ticket sales arrangements. There are three issues of Fireworks tickets.
Seated Ross Theatre tickets (£27.50)(sold out) and standing Princes Street Gardens tickets (£12.50) go on sale on Saturday 2 April until Saturday 30 April with all other Edinburgh International Festival tickets.- A second allocation of tickets goes on sale on Monday 18 July online, by phone, and over the counter at The Hub.
- A final, limited allocation of tickets will go on sale on Saturday 3 September at 10.00am. These will only be available over the counter at The Hub.
