Edinburgh’s old Royal High School set to become biggest new Fringe addition as musical ‘melting pot’

It is one of Edinburgh’s most celebrated historic landmarks, which was once earmarked as a home for the Scottish Parliament, but has hardly been used for more than half a century.
Brian Ferguson
By Brian Ferguson
Published 2nd Aug 2022, 04:55 BST
Updated 2nd Aug 2022, 12:17 BST
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Now the old Royal High School on Calton Hill is set to burst into life as the biggest new venue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in its 75th-anniversary year.

Dozens of acts are set to appear in three separate performance spaces in the building, which has been lying virtually unused since the school relocated in 1968.

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Musicians who have taken over the building in the past few weeks hope it will become a “melting pot” for local and international talent over the next few weeks.

Although the Fringe officially gets underway on Friday, shows and performances are still being booked into the venue, which will include a terrace bar overlooking Arthur’s Seat and Edinburgh’s Old Town. It is hoped the venue will be able to host impromptu performances by acts appearing elsewhere in the festivals.

Two Edinburgh-based musical institutions – Pianodrome and the Tinderbox Collective – have joined forces to programme acts in the venue. The building is being made available for the Fringe before work begins in the autumn on a project to transform the landmark into a National Centre for Music.

The venue was previously earmarked to become a luxury hotel, only for those plans to be rejected by councillors following protests over their potential impact on views of Calton Hill. The local authority gave its approval to the new music centre vision in October after examining the rival proposals for the site, near the east end of Princes Street.

Initial plans to use it for a pop-up amphitheatre made out of recycled pianos have since been expanded to bring the Parliament’s planned debating chamber created in the 1970s into use, while free performances and sessions will be staged in an adjacent “residency bar”.

Jack Nissan, artistic director of the Tinderbox Collective, and Matthew Wright, co-creator of the Pianodrome, at the old Royal High School, which will be used for this year's Fringe.Jack Nissan, artistic director of the Tinderbox Collective, and Matthew Wright, co-creator of the Pianodrome, at the old Royal High School, which will be used for this year's Fringe.
Jack Nissan, artistic director of the Tinderbox Collective, and Matthew Wright, co-creator of the Pianodrome, at the old Royal High School, which will be used for this year's Fringe.

The A-listed building was brought back into use earlier this year for the annual Hidden Door festival, which featured the latest incarnation of the Pianodrome, a venue made from “upcycled pianos”, which has been kept open since then for regular concerts.

The company behind the Pianodrome had previously been in discussion with St Mary’s Music School, which will be moving into the redeveloped building and the charitable trust behind the National Music Centre, about being able to stage performances on site before work gets underway on the project.