We had a photographer in the Ross Bandstand yesterday evening to capture some more angles of the Virgin Money Festival Fireworks. 100,000 fireworks were used in the 45 minute display.
The spectacular Virgin Money Fireworks Concert entertained residents and visitors alike across the city of Edinburgh tonight, with thousands gathered in Princes Street Gardens, Princes Street, Inverleith Park, at vantage points around the city and throughout the Lothians.
It is estimated that 250,000 people across the Scottish capital and the surrounding area enjoyed the dazzling finale to this year’s Edinburgh International Festival and the summer festival season.
Celebrated conductor Garry Walker led the Scottish Chamber Orchestra through a spectacular programme of exotic music inspired by Asia, Arabia and the East.
The concert opened with the overture from Ruslan and Ludmilla composed by Mikhael Glinka in the late 1830s. The sky above the Castle blushed with candy-pink globes and red-hot pokers pierced the sky.
Following on The Oriental Procession from Belshazzar’s Feast by Jean Sibelius, danced to life with disco-ball sparks and weeping willows of gold.
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra forged forward with In The Steppes of Central Asia by Alexander Borodin, which saw the Castle light up with a chartreuse glow and the hypnotic waterfall cascaded down the crags with phosphorescent sparks.
Blackmoor’s Dance from Carl Nielsen’s Aladdin Suite saw bold rainbow fans pierce the night sky like peacock tails.
A favourite amongst children of all ages, extracts from Tchaikovsky’s most famous ballet The Nutcracker featured next in the programme. The Arabian Dance brought tones of the desert heat with choreographed flame throwers and golden snakes tracing sand dune curves. Veils of gold sparks tumbled down the facade before red jets accompanied the trilling flutes of the Chinese dance. The acrobatic Russian dance provided the perfect soundscape for whizzing rockets and shimmering sparks.
The Virgin Money Fireworks Concert 2011 concluded with a second offering from Borodin. The Polovtsian Dances are a contrasting succession of pieces from the unfinished opera Prince Igor. The strong and bold melody was fittingly celebratory as the sky erupted with the grandest of grand finales.
Thomas Haywood is a freelance photographer producing great royalty-free images in Scotland.
