Hailing from Washington D.C. and known as ⅓ of the 85 South Show, Chico Bean knows how to deliver a well-executed joke. Born Anthony Bean, Chico Bean has the uncanny ability to memorize almost instantly the words to an old song or create a new quirky jingle on the spot. Chico contributed his skills to the long-running sketch-variety television show "Wild N' Out" hosted weekly by Nick Cannon and helped catapult the show to high viewership. Other credits include the Freestyle Funny Comedy Show and MTV 2's Guy Court. More recently, you can see Chico Bean on set with the entire 85 South Show cracking jokes and speaking on topics that matter. Writing and acting are other talents that Chico Bean showcases throughout his career, and more recently on E! His myriad of skills and "comedic improvisation" is what keeps the fans coming back for more. If you are looking for a fresh, funny, relative, and stand out comedian, look no further than Chico Bean.

PART OF THE ANDERSON OPERA SERIESZurich Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi’s stunning opera, A Masked Ball, filled with desire, treachery and political peril.Love and deception swirl at the center of Giuseppe Verdi’s stunning opera A Masked Ball (Un ballo in maschera) from Zurich Opera House. Riccardo, the Governor of Boston, is in love with his best friend’s wife. Caught between love and loyalty, Riccardo risks everything – his political standing and even his life. Verdi’s exquisite music comes to life with Gianandrea Noseda conducting Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House. Noseda’s passionate conducting style is perfectly suited for the high-stakes drama central to A Masked Ball. Two stellar casts alternate between performances, with ill-fated lovers Riccardo and Amelia played by Stephen Costello and Elena Stikhina (26 and 30 August), and Piero Pretti and Erika Grimaldi (27 and 29 August).Originally inspired by the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden, Verdi’s subject matter proved too controversial, forcing him to relocate the opera's setting from Sweden to Boston. Now, ‘razor-sharp’ (The Guardian) Welsh director Adele Thomas adds a fresh twist, transporting it to the opulent American Gilded Age, where sinister rumours threaten to spin this ordered world into chaos.Supported byThe Anderson Opera Series, made possible by James and Morag Anderson, allows the Festival to bring internationally acclaimed opera to Edinburgh and ensures these unmissable performances remain accessible to the widest possible audience.With additional support from the Embassy of Switzerland in the UK, the Swiss Cultural Fund UK and the Consulate General of Italy in Edinburgh.Performed in Italian with English surtitlesWhere two performers are listed for one role, the second person named will perform that role on 27 and 29 August.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s choral masterpiece is performed for the first time at the Festival, with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and conductor Rafael Payare.Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's monumental cantata trilogy, The Song of Hiawatha (1899), became a sensation in the early 20th century, regularly selling out the Royal Albert Hall. Inspired by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem about an Ojibwe warrior, the now rarely performed piece is one of Coleridge-Taylor's greatest achievements.  With colourful orchestration and imaginative choral writing, the work explores themes of celebration (Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast), mourning (The Death of Minnehaha) and transcendence (Hiawatha’s Departure). Among the memorable solo numbers are the tenor’s romantic ‘Onaway! Awake, beloved!’ and the baritone’s impassioned ‘Farewell, said he, Minnehaha’. Join the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, conductor Rafael Payare, a trio of star soloists including Scottish tenor Nicky Spence, and the Edinburgh Festival Chorus for the first Festival performance of this choral masterpiece. We have invited Uchenna Ngwe, a specialist in Black British classical music, to introduce its fascinating history.  The orchestra’s second concert, Voices of Canada, features Canadian Indigenous voices and contemporary compositions – their two concerts truly in conversation with each other. with additional support from The Québec Government Office in London Sung in English with surtitles

Rediscover Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, alongside new vocal works paying tribute to Canada’s Indigenous peoples and work by Gabriela Ortiz.In the second concert of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM), Rafael Payare invites audiences to a conversation across time with a powerful programme of music culminating in Richard Strauss’s sumptuous tone poem Ein Heldenleben. With a stirring battle episode, ardent love music and playful quotations from the composer’s earlier works, it is a musical self-portrait both mischievous and deeply moving that takes full advantage of the possibilities of a large orchestra.This monumental staple of the late Romantic period is paired with carefully selected contemporary pieces. Indigenous Canadian sopranos Emma Pennell and Elisabeth St-Gelais join the orchestra for two powerful new vocal works confronting history, memory and the lived experience of Indigenous communities in Canada today.Alongside these, Gabriela Ortiz’s cello concerto Dzonot summons an evocation of the subterranean rivers, caves and stunning wildlife of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. Ortiz, also featured in the LA Phil’s programme, described it as a ‘form of protest’ responding to our neglect of these valuable ecosystems. It was written for cello soloist Alisa Weilerstein, who plays with ‘directness and insight… technical prowess and depth of feeling’ (The Guardian).Together, they encourage audiences to approach Strauss anew, inviting questions on voice, identity, and our relationship to the natural world.Supported by Léan Scully Endowed Fund with additional support from The Québec Government Office in London

Internationaal Theater Amsterdam reimagines Tony Kushner’s masterpiece in an epic performanceTony Kushner’s Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is an epoch-defining work of American theatre. Set at the height of the AIDS crisis, yet enduringly relevant, we follow the story of two very different people grappling with their diagnoses – former drag queen Prior and vindictive lawyer Roy Cohn.Kushner has credited this radical reworking from director Ivo van Hove and Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA) as his favourite version of the play. Taking place on a minimal set accompanied by a David Bowie soundtrack, both parts of the play are combined into one epic performance.    Returning to the Festival after their innovative works, A Little Life (2022) and Penthesilea (2024), ITA presents another pioneering production showcasing their signature wit, stagecraft and incisive storytelling. Angels in America is a gripping and hilarious work reminding us that while change and death are inevitable, the choice to love can be transformative.   Supported by Sir Ewan and Lady Brown with additional support from Robin and Vivienne† Menzies and Performing Arts Fund NL Performed in Dutch with English surtitles 

Kiki Katese returns to the Festival with her groundbreaking Rwandan women’s drumming group for a joyful performance of music and stories. In Rwanda, ‘power’ and ‘drum’ are the same word: ingoma. In 2004, a group of women, seeking to heal after a genocide, made a revolutionary choice. They broke a centuries-old taboo and formed Ingoma Nshya (New Power/ New Drum) – the first all-women drumming ensemble in Rwandan history.  This is their story – a joyous narrative concert featuring an electrifying collection of rhythms, songs and dances from both West and East Africa – some traditional, some brand new.Following Katese’s inspirational The Book of Life (2022 International Festival), this performance delivers its message through music: that discrimination cannot stand in the face of joyful determination. with additional support from Canada Council of Arts and Ontario Arts CouncilPerformed in English with songs in Kinyarwanda  

Journey through music from Europe, Africa and the Americas, from the Baroque period and beyond.Jordi Savall has dedicated decades to the rediscovery and appreciation of early music, and his many accolades now include the 2026 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (often called the Nobel Prize of Music), recognising a lifetime of outstanding contributions.  He returns to the Festival after previous performances with his versatile Hespèrion XXI ensemble.Hespèrion XXI is known for pioneering interpretations of repertoire from the medieval to the Baroque periods. They join Jordi Savall’s Catalan singers, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, and Mexican trio, Tembembe Ensamble Continuo, to connect musical languages and influences across Europe, Africa and the Americas.  The ‘sea of music’ honours the millions of victims of the global slave trade and speaks to the cultural legacy of migration and diaspora that shapes our world today. The programme explores Mexican and Spanish repertoire from the Baroque period and expands outwards to embrace music from the 15th to 19th centuries.Supported by the Embassy of Spain in London

New show presenting the great Lady Day's joyful and upbeat early repertoire – including some of her best-loved songs (and a few of her signature ballads too)! Award-winning Ali, 'Scotland’s queen of vintage jazz’ (OC Weekly), with an international all-star band, promise heartfelt, respectful homage full of fun facts about Billie Holiday. 'Affleck is not a household name yet – but she soon will be' (BBC Sounds). 'A musical storyteller' (Scotsman). 'Astounding vocals' ***** (San Diego Union-Tribune). 'Outstanding' ***** (Edinburgh49.org). ‘Vivacious stage presence’ (Herald) and acclaimed band.

Kat has it all figured out: a rent-stabilized Brooklyn apartment, a clinically tight pussy and a business built on knowing what men want. She's the witchy brunette you hooked up with in college and remember. The downtown art girl you pay to look you in the eye. Until she meets Logan. Masculine. Sexy. A boxer who understands women better than other men. The problem is Logan only wants to be friends. So Kat decides if she can't have him, she'll heal him. And what's more romantic than refusing to take no for answer?

Along Highway 401, as you approach Kitchener from Toronto, you will see two notable billboards. One, an icon, an idol and a symbol of home. The other, a distant figure, often passed without a second thought. When Catherine’s car spins out in a snowstorm, she is launched into the world of Schneider and Jesus Saves. She stays at their house, eats wieners with them and listens to their marital problems. Wiener Beacon explores themes of selfishness, greed, love and power and begs the question: What does it take for a giver to start taking?

Who are you when everything you were suddenly gets taken away? Sophie was once a Los Angeles it-girl, living a life of enviable, aspirational chaos. Now on the eve of her 30th birthday, she's stuck in a treatment facility with only one VIP on the birthday party guest list: her 18-year-old schizophrenic roommate Molly. ROOMIES is a darkly funny solo show based on a true story about friendship, identity and the fragile line between control and collapse, where glamour, madness and survival all crash the same table. Written and performed by Julia Stephens (Really It's Rita, Ctrl+Alt+Underground).

Fitzgerald’s classic is reimagined for the Edinburgh Fringe in a bold, multi-perspective adaptation that shatters the myth of the American Dream. Told through shifting viewpoints, the story unfolds in dynamic vignettes seamlessly stitched together. An immersive party atmosphere give ways to moments of raw intimacy, revealing the contradictions, illusions and social barriers that drive – and destroy – its characters. As desire, wealth and identity collide, the pace builds relentlessly toward the devastating deaths of three central figures, exposing the true cost of dreaming too big.