This year Underbelly who have the contract to organise Edinburgh’s Christmas for the City of Edinburgh Council have lit up the High Street with 60,000 LEDs.
At the first performance earlier tonight the crowd of 5,000 were entranced by the lights and the music provided this evening by Edinburgh Festival Chorus.
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This stunning new addition to Edinburgh’s Christmas runs till Christmas Eve, with a specially designed architectural installation stretching along the Royal Mile, from City Chambers to the Tron Kirk.
Audiences enter this stunning canopy of light, rising up to 19 metres high and listen to specially commissioned recordings from choirs from across Edinburgh – all synchronised to the lights.
- The music comes from the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, the Edinburgh Gay Men’s Chorus, the Edinburgh Police Choir and the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union.
- The Edinburgh Festival Chorus will sing extracts from Stella Natalis and Joy To The World (Karl Jenkins) accompanied by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Bell.
- The Edinburgh Gay Men’s Chorus will sing Gaudete (Traditional), The Flood (Take That), Suddenly I See (KT Tunstall), Jolene (Dolly Parton), I Wanna Hold Your Hand (The Beatles) and Deck The Halls (Traditional).
- The Edinburgh Police Choir will sing One Day Like This (Elbow), Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen), Get Lucky (Daft Punk/Pharrell Williams) and Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen).
- The Edinburgh Royal Choral Union will sing extracts from The Messiah (Handel) accompanied by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Michael Bawtree.
- The event runs for 25 days from 30 November to 24 December 2015. There are two shows a day, Monday – Saturday at 6.30pm and 8.15pm, Sunday at 5.30pm and 7.30pm each lasting approximately 20 minutes. The schedule of choirs and performances is at the end of this release.
- Tickets are free of charge, and 5,000 tickets will be issued for each show, giving a total capacity over the event of 250,000 people.
- Virgin Money Street of Light is made possible with the support of Virgin Money and is part of Edinburgh’s St Andrew’s Day celebrations with support from Scotland’s Winter Festivals. The Virgin Money Street of Light is supported by the Royal Mile Business Association.Charlie Wood, director of Underbelly said: “We are delighted to be extending Edinburgh’s Christmas this year into the Old Town with an installation that has been specially designed for this historic site, with music sung by some of
Edinburgh’s finest choirs and which offers something truly unique, not just to Edinburgh but to the whole of Scotland and the rest of the UK. Tickets are FREE and demand will be high, so please pre-book to avoid disappointment. I would also like to thank Virgin Money and Scotland’s Winter Festivals for their incredible support.”
The City of Edinburgh Council funds Edinburgh’s Christmas and it is also supported by Essential Edinburgh, Marketing Edinburgh and Scotland’s Winter Festivals.
Event Sponsors: Citroen Retail Group, Diageo, Heineken UK, Lidl, Scottish Gas, Thistly Cross Cider, Transport For Edinburgh, Virgin Money.
Event Partners: Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens, Hotel Du Vin, Edinburgh Airport.
Event Media Partners: Edinburgh Evening News, Forth 1, Forth 2.
Monday – Saturday: 6.30pm & 8.15pm
Sunday: 5.30pm & 7.30pm
The event lasts for 20 minutes
Free event
Reserve a ticket to ensure entry at virginmoneystreetoflight.com
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
