Another Festival ends with a bang

Published on Friday 3 September 2010 19:22

AN estimated 220,000 people gathered across the city to watch the climax of the Edinburgh International Festival in the annual breath-taking spectacle of fireworks set to a live orchestra.

The Capital's skyline was lit up with more than four tonnes of explosives in a 45-minute display that attracted thousands of residents to vantage points in Inverleith Park and Princes Street as well as the ticketed Princes Street Gardens.

Ten-year-old Tomas Brough and fencing champion Lisa McKenzie, 21, had the privilege of hitting the big red button to kickstart the Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert.

From there, more than 100,000 fireworks rocketed from Edinburgh Castle into the night sky, expertly sequenced to a toe-tapping score of classic Hollywood movies provided by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Conductor Clark Rundell, back in the hotseat having the masterminded the festival finale in 2007, was gushing in praise for firework team Pyrovision and his instrumentalists.

"The orchestra is brilliant and the guys that do the fireworks are excellent at (harmonising] them with the music."