Annual fireworks concert closes Edinburgh festival
- Published
The Edinburgh International Festival has closed with its annual fireworks concert.
More than four tonnes of explosives and 400,000 fireworks lit up the skies around Edinburgh Castle.
The international festival has had its most successful year, taking more than £4m in ticket sales for the first time.
Fringe box office figures were also up with a 7.7% rise on 2015. Almost two and a half million tickets were issued for shows across the city.
Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: "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.
"We are now looking forward to our 70th anniversary celebrations in 2017 and hope that as many people as possible will join us to mark this fantastic milestone in the history of Edinburgh's festivals."
In what was another record-breaking year for the international festival, classical music was particularly strong - with events at the Queen's Hall achieving its highest-ever sales.
International Festival director Fergus Linehan said: "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."
About 250,000 people were expected to gather in Princes Street Gardens and other points around Edinburgh, Fife and the Lothians to watch the fireworks.
Live music by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra accompanied the display.
This year's concert continued the festival's Shakespearean celebrations, commemorating 400 years since the poet's death.
Estonian conductor Kristiina Poska directed the orchestra as they performed Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and Dmitri Shostakovich's Festive Overture.