How does the Festival choose who performs?

The Edinburgh International Festival is a curated Festival - artists are invited to perform by the Festival Director, currently Jonathan Mills.

The planning of each year's Festival - an exhilarating mix of classical music, theatre, opera and dance from the world's leading artists - is an ongoing process. Projects and programmes are developed with companies and individual performers often several years in advance.

Jonathan keeps in touch with what's happening in the arts around the globe, travelling the world in search of artists and performances to bring to Edinburgh. In Festival 2011 we welcomed artists from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, as well as North America, Germany, Belgium, Russia, the UK and across the Arab speaking world.

If you think you or your company have something exciting that the Edinburgh International Festival is missing then email performing@eif.co.uk or send invitations and information to:

Artistic Administrator
Edinburgh International Festival
The Hub
Castlehill
Edinburgh EH1 2NE

Please note that we receive a lot of information and unfortunately are not able to acknowledge receipt or return material.

How you can take part

Sing!
The Festival Chorus offers opportunities for enthusiastic amateur singers to work with the world's top conductors and orchestras in Festival concerts.For more details see here.

If you are interested in joining the Chorus please contact Helen MacLeod, Chorus Administrator, chorus@eif.co.uk or 0131 473 2027.

Working for the Festival
The Festival adds to its core team of staff in the run up to and during the Festival itself, mainly in the technical department, artist liaison, press office and ticketing services.

All opportunities, temporary and permanent, are advertised in the job section of our website. If you've got the skills and are up to the challenge, take a look!

Performing outside the Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe happens in Edinburgh at roughly the same time as the International Festival. It began as a small group of performers inspired by the International Festival to put on a show and, in contrast to the International Festival, isn't curated - anyone can take part.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a separate organisation so anyone interested in taking part should visit their website.