The orchestra will play symphonic works in Usher Hall on August 23 and 25 and chamber pieces in Queen's Hall on August 24 and 26. The theme of the concerts - in line with the theme for this year's festival - will be the relation between classical music and folk music. The programme on August 23 will present the influence of Gypsy music on classical music in the second half of the 19th century as seen in the works of Brahms, Sarasate and Liszt. The programme on August 25 will focus on the folk music roots of works by Dvorák and Bartók. The programme on August 24 will feature Hummel's Piano Quintet in E flat and Bartók's Contrasts for Violin, Piano and Clarinet as well as his Piano Quintet. The August 26 concert will feature Seiber's Serenade for Winds, Enescu's Dixtuos and Dohnányi's Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor.
The programme of this year's Edinburgh International Festival includes Dresden's Staatskapelle Orchestra, the London Symphonic Orchestra, the Les Arts Florissants orchestra, Collegium Vocale, Alfred Brendel, Valery Gergiyev, Leonidas Kavakos, Mischa Maisky, Fasil Say, Gustavo Dudamel, Dmitrij Hvorosztovsky, Sakari Oramo, The Monteverdi Choir - Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, Ilan Volkov, John Eliot Gardiner, a Saint Petersburg's Marinski Opera, Anne Sofie von Otter, the Beaux Arts trio, Ivan Moravec, Oliver Knussen, Charles Mackerras, Karita Mattila, Roby Lakatos, Helene Grimaud, Keith Lewis and Fabio Luisi.
