Edinburgh festivals get underway
The begins with a music and light event in the city centre tonight
The Edinburgh festivals are getting underway with celebrations to mark their 70th anniversary.
The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe run over three and half weeks in August and has become the largest arts jamboree in the world every year.
This year's EIF begins with a light and music event entitled 'Bloom'.
The outdoor event in St Andrew Square will use illuminations and projections to celebrate "the explosion of colour, vibrancy and optimism'' that came with the arrival of the festival in 1947 in the aftermath of the Second World War, organisers have said.
Overall, this year's international festival will bring more than 2,000 artists from 40 nations together to perform between August 4 and 28.
The line-up features a diverse range of artists across theatre, dance and music, including singer-songwriter Jarvis Cocker, Mercury Prize winner PJ Harvey, violinist Nicola Benedetti, playwright Alan Ayckbourn and renowned Milan orchestra Filarmonica della Scala.
Nine operas are in the expanded opera programme, with highlights including Puccini's La Boheme, Verdi's Macbeth and Mozart's Don Giovanni.
Famous names hitting the Fringe include Ruby Wax, Sue Perkins, Sean Hughes and impressionist Jan Ravens.
Craig Ferguson, who last performed at the Fringe 24 years ago before leaving Scotland to find fame in the US, returns to the capital.
Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society said: "This is a very special year for the Fringe as we celebrate 70 years of defying the norm, of championing artistic freedom and providing a platform for artists around the world to come and present their work in a truly unique environment that is inclusive, inspiring, and often life-affirming.''
EIF director Fergus Linehan said: "We have a very large programme because it's our 70th anniversary, but I think it's also a really interesting year for us because we've really delved into the history of the festival.
"It just brings you back to the fact that this was never really intended purely as a festival of the arts, it was intended as a statement of reconciliation at the end of the Second World War. I think that's very heartening and really explains to a large degree why it's had this capacity to grow."