67th Annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival Concludes Tonight

The 67th Edinburgh International Festival draws to a close tonight with the Virgin Money Fireworks Concert gathering approximately 250,000 Edinburgh residents and visitors across the city to share in the annual spectacular performed live by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Pyrovision.

Over 2,200 artists from 36 nations, almost 800 of them from Scotland, have filled Edinburgh's stages over the last 24 days in 220 performances and events.

Overall, the Edinburgh International Festival has sold over 80% of all available seats for performances, with nearly half (48%) sold out.

Festival Director, Jonathan Mills said 'I would like to thank all those audiences who have joined us over these three heady weeks who have helped to create such a fantastic atmosphere in theatres and concert halls, and around the City. Edinburgh International Festival 2013 has been enjoyable, exciting and thought provoking. Artists have joined us from around the world, bringing fresh perspectives on ideas and technologies familiar or strange, old and new.

'Audiences have flocked to an epic Chinese version of Coriolanus and to intimate late night rare live performances of Stockhausen and Stroppa. We've been proud to present numerous world premieres including Leaving Planet Earth and the wonderful showcase of new choreographers in Dance Odysseys. The International Festival has once again brought a mix of large scale, high profile events and artists unfamiliar in the UK, with world premieres, commissions and partnerships which continue to reinforce the Festival's uniqueness and provide Festival-goers with a magical summer experience. A special thanks must go to all the funders, sponsors and supporters who made this Festival possible.'

It is estimated that overall attendance at this year's Festival will be over 400,000 with Scottish ticket buyers joined by those travelling to Edinburgh from 66 nations. Approximately158,500 tickets have been issued and the total box office income reached over £2.43million.

China's Beijing People's Art Theatre gave an epic, heavy metal laden performance of Coriolanus to over 4,000 people over two nights and attracted media interest from around the world including MTV, China Central Television (CCTV) and BBC China.

Incredible performances from Valery Gergiev, Daniil Trifonov, Michael Gambon and Barry McGovern, Patti Smith reading the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, Frankfurt Opera and Scottish Ballet's intimate yet vast undertaking in Dance Odysseys, as well as visual arts exhibitions based on the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Nam June Paik have all excited critics and audiences alike.

Young people signed up in their hundreds to access concerts and music events at the Festival for free. In the pilot year of this partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council over 670 young musicians became Young Musicians Passport holders. The most popular events among passport holders were City Noir, La Belle et la Bête and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

In the virtual world the Festival was visited by people from 154 countries with 63% being new visitors to the website, eif.co.uk. Thousands of users interacted with the Festival's three new mobile and social media apps.

48,772 minutes of Festival footage were watched on the Festival's YouTube channel, on Facebook 4.9m brand impressions were seen by 2.3m users and 60,740 people actively engaged with the Festival.

The Festival's social media followers doubled last year's numbers and reached 54,905.

Over the autumn the Festival will release a series of audio and video podcasts online showcasing highlights of this year's programme, and particularly the talks and conversations which explored the ideas and the artists that underpinned it. The Festival will also continue its year round work in Edinburgh's schools.

Concerts still to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 include those of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the closing concert from the Usher Hall, Verdi's Requiem.

The Edinburgh International Festival in 2014 will run from 8 to 31 August and will be launched on Tuesday 11 March 2014.

Continue to enjoy highlights of Festival 2013 online at www.eif.co.uk.

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