We’re fast approaching the end of the year and with that comes our final list of recommendations for 2022. Mixing some familiar Festival faces with a sprinkling of festive fun, we hope you’ll find the ideal event to wrap up a year of spectacular music, dance and theatre.

Christmas Concert by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

In addition to reliving the RSNO’s wonderful performance at the 2022 Closing Concert as part of our At Home series, you can join them in person this December for a spot of classic Christmas music. The concert features all sorts of family-friendly singalong Christmas carols and festive songs. The centrepiece of the concert is The Snowman soundtrack, which will be performed while the classic film plays on the big screen. The concert is presented by Aled Jones, famous for his 1985 cover of ‘Walking in the Air’, recorded when he was just 15.

RSNO Christmas Concert is being performed in Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh from 15–18 December.

Niteworks

Niteworks’ International Festival gig this summer was the perfect finale for our Leith Theatre series, so why not make them the finale to your year of live music? Hailing from the Isle of Skye, Niteworks are known for their unique blend of traditional Gaelic music with electronica, creating music you can’t help but dance to. Layering bagpipe solos over heavy bass and beats, Niteworks create an electric live atmosphere amongst the crowd.

They’re finishing this year’s tour with gigs around Scotland – tickets have been snapped up quickly, but you can keep an eye out for any returns!

Niteworks are performing in Aberdeen, Perth, Glasgow and Inverness throughout December.

An Edinburgh Christmas Carol at The Lyceum

As we’ve discovered through Hannah Lavery’s poem, 'Edinburgh is a Story', Edinburgh is an intrinsically literary city with a storied (forgive the pun) past. One of the most notable examples of Edinburgh's ability to serve as a muse is the story that it was on a stroll through Canongate kirkyard that Charles Dickens first noticed a tombstone for one Ebenezer Scroggie, inspiring his classic novel A Christmas Carol.

Writer and director Tony Cownie has taken this as the inspiration for his retelling of the novel, bringing the story back to its birthplace for An Edinburgh Christmas Carol. The play is a quintessentially Edinburgh experience, set in the snowy streets of the Old Town and even featuring a guest appearance from Greyfriars Bobby.

An Edinburgh Christmas Carol is at The Lyceum from 24 November – 31 December 2022. Relaxed, captioned, BSL interpreted and audio described performances and touch tours are available.

SCO: Israel in Egypt

Handel’s Saul was a highlight of the 2022 Festival, earning rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. Fortunately, there’s plenty more oratorios where that came from as Handel wrote a whole series of these dramatic choral pieces inspired by the Bible, designed to be performed in concert but with all the musical drama of an opera. Israel in Egypt is taken from the Book of Exodus, telling the story of Moses and the Children of Israel fleeing Egypt and making their perilous crossing of the Red Sea.

The oratorio is performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Richard Egarr, a Baroque expert who brought The Brandenburg Concertos to life in The Queen’s Hall this August. The performance is completed by the SCO Chorus and six brilliant soloists.

If you can’t make it to one of the performances, you can still watch highlights from Saul as part of our At Home programme to get your Handel fix, or watch the full concert of The Brandenburg Concertos to see Richard Egarr in action.

SCO: Israel in Egypt is at Usher Hall, Edinburgh on 1 December and at City Halls, Glasgow on 2 December.

BBC Singers: A Christmas Carol

There’s yet another version of A Christmas Carol coming to a UK stage this month, and this time it’s classical. Performed by the BBC Singers, who filled The Queen’s Hall with Macbeth’s witches’ spell this summer, this is the UK premiere of composer Benedict Sheehan’s musical retelling of Dickens's festive masterpiece.

The first half of the concert is a programme of the choir’s favourite seasonal choral music to get you into the Christmas spirit. That’s then followed by Sheehan’s take on A Christmas Carol, which mixes new music with traditional carols in a brilliant combination of undiscovered and familiar festive charm. The choir is joined by Mel Giedroyc as the narrator to bring Dickens’s story to life in the Barbican this winter.

BBC Singers: A Christmas Carol is being performed at Milton Court Concert Hall on 14 December. An accessibility guide to the venue is available on the Barbican website.

My Fair Lady

Wouldn’t it be loverly to treat yourself to a musical this December? Lerner & Loewe’s beloved musical My Fair Lady is coming to the Edinburgh Playhouse for a four-week run. The production is on tour from the Lincoln Center Theater in New York and has spectacularly lavish sets and costumes, transporting you straight into the absorbing world of Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle.

My Fair Lady is known for its charming score, with songs including ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’, ‘Get Me to the Church on Time’ and ‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly’. The original cast recording was even the best-selling album in the United States in 1956. This production is directed by Bartlett Sher, following the success of his take on To Kill A Mockingbird, which transferred from Broadway to the West End earlier this year.

My Fair Lady is at Edinburgh Playhouse from 14 December – 7 January. Audio described, BSL interpreted and captioned performances are available.

Age of Rage by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam

Internationaal Theater Amsterdam received five-star reviews for their production of A Little Life at the Festival this summer. If you want more from innovative director Ivo van Hove, or weren’t able to catch them this August, you can catch a livestream of their Age of Rage online this month.

Epic in the truest sense, Age of Rage is another ambitious, sweeping narrative from the pioneering Dutch theatre company. Taking the Trojan War and the royal Atrid family as its inspiration, the play is a cautionary tale about the destructive and lasting effects of revenge. It also offers timeless political commentary on the impact of war and violence, with van Hove observing: ‘We see how ... leaders turn to murder and revenge rather than deliberation. A royal family that runs the country but never comes to a vision or approach for a better future.'

Watch Age of Rage at 6pm GMT on 11 December. The livestream will have English subtitles.

Kae Tempest

Kae Tempest is a ground-breaking spoken word and rap artist, whose tour of their critically acclaimed album The Line is a Curve included a joyous performance at the International Festival this summer. They’re teaming up with HERE at Outernet, a progressive new venue in London, to showcase their music in a new light for their final gig of the year.

The gig will pull influences from music genres that have been significant to Tempest throughout the course of their life – from jungle and garage, to drum and bass and house music – to show their work through the lens of the dancefloor. The night will also include support from exciting fresh talents, selected by Tempest themselves. Rounding off a year-long tour for their boldest and most personal album to date, this is sure to be a celebratory night to send off 2022.

Kae Tempest is performing at HERE at Outernet at 7pm on 13 December.

How are you saying goodbye to 2022? We’d love to hear about it! Share your cultural explorations with us on social media using #EdIntFest.