Geneva, Switzerland, 19 March 2025 - The Aga Khan Music Programme (AKMP) and the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) are deepening their collaboration in 2025, co-presenting three landmark performances and two community projects this August.

These performances reflect a vision expressed by His Late Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV: “To transcend old boundaries of time and place, reminding the world that every individual can respond to art and music, whether it emanates from a different culture or not. For, after all, art is a matter of humanity, just as much as it is a matter of identity.”

The Aga Khan Music Series at the Edinburgh International Festival brings together fresh perspectives on devotional Quranic recitation; a groundbreaking melding of visual art, music, movement and improvisation; and a pioneering collaboration between Asian, Middle Eastern and European musicians.

The three events represent the latest collaborations in a long-standing partnership between the Aga Khan Music Programme and the Edinburgh International Festival, one of the UK’s most prestigious and prominent arts events. They bring some of the AKMP’s most exciting projects and artists to audiences from right across the world who congregate in the Scottish capital in August, transforming it into the world’s festival city.

Yahya Hussein Abdallah & Jasser Haj Youssef
An Evening of Mystic Music

Mystical spirituality and deep devotion, in an intimate and transcendent performance blending words and music, voice and instrument.

The captivating vocals of Tanzanian Quranic reciter and singer Yahya Hussein Abdallah, Laureate of the 2022 Aga Khan Music Awards, blend with the expressive viola d’amore of Tunisian-born multi-instrumentalist and composer Jasser Haj Youssef. Together, they explore Sufi spiritual poetry and iconic Quranic texts, creating a performance that is at once meditative and mesmerizing – both devotional experience and healing ritual.

The performance is inspired by the historic meeting between two legendary figures in the Arab musical tradition: Sheikh Mohammad Omran and violinist Abdo Dagher. But it is not a recreation of that earlier encounter. Instead, today’s performers draw on their respective traditions to craft a new musical dialogue.

See the event listing for Yahya Hussein Abdallah & Jasser Haj Youssef

Canvas of Sound with Tazeen Qayyum
Here and Now

This one-of-a-kind, unrepeatable performance brings together Pakistani-born Canadian visual artist Tazeen Qayyum and Aga Khan Master Musicians Feras Charestan and Basel Rajoub. Using music and calligraphy, improvisation and skill, gesture and movement, they create a blend of live visual art and spontaneous music anchored around four resonant words:

ل Amal (hope), عدل Adl (Justice), كرم Karam (kindness), سلم Silm (peace)

Musical sounds, movements and gestures convey the four words and the images they evoke, as time and space become crucial ingredients in the performance. Together, the three artists reflect the urgencies of today’s times, and the rapid changes we witness in ourselves and in the world around us, while also focusing on empathy and compassion, with the aim of restoring peace within us individually and at a higher level.

See the event listing for Canvas of Sound with Tazeen Qayyum

Aga Khan Master Musicians with Vincent Peirani and Vincent Ségal

Six exceptional instrumentalists from across Asia, the Middle East and Europe come together to create new music that bridges eras and cultures.

The Aga Khan Master Musicians, AKMP’s flagship performing ensemble, are a collective of extraordinary artists, deeply rooted in their respective musical traditions yet committed to innovative, contemporary performance. Wu Man is a world-leading virtuoso on the pipa, a Chinese lute, and a passionate advocate for her country’s traditional musics. Syrian-born Basel Rajoub has developed an entirely new repertoire for the saxophone, while Feras Charestan is a master of the qanun, a Middle Eastern plucked zither. Yurdal Tokcan is one of the world’s most accomplished performers on the lute-like oud.

This eminent quartet is joined by two celebrated French instrumentalists, accordionist and composer Vincent Peirani and cellist Vincent Ségal, both known for their pioneering explorations across musical genres.

Their continent-straddling collaboration, created with the Aga Khan Music Programme, promises a rich blend of sounds and traditions, in performances from some of the most passionate and authoritative voices in their fields.

See the event listing for the Aga Khan Master Musicians with Vincent Peirani and Vincent Ségal

Fairouz Nishanova, Director of the Aga Khan Music Programme, said: “We are delighted to continue and extend our deep-rooted partnership with the Edinburgh International Festival, a rich relationship that is based on our shared values of connecting global audiences through the power of music, and thereby fostering cross-cultural understanding and broad social cohesion. We are particularly excited this year to be working with the Festival’s Discovery and Participation team, broadening our reach into Edinburgh’s own local communities and demonstrating our core values of education and enrichment.”

AKMP and EIF’s Discovery and Participation team will join for two significant projects during the 2025 Festival. A Culture Club, co-created by EIF and participants from the Edinburgh neighbourhood of Broomhouse, will welcome AKMP artists to the district for a performance, a shared meal and a conversation. In addition, young musicians aged 8-18 who hold one of the Festival’s Young Musician’s Passes will be invited to talk and improvise informally to AKMP musicians and discover more about their traditions and their instruments following the performance on 22 August. Both projects encourage direct connections between visiting performers and members of the Edinburgh community, and embody the values of education and connection shared strongly by both organisations.

Nicola Benedetti, Edinburgh International Festival Director, said: "The Edinburgh International Festival is thrilled to welcome back the Aga Khan Music Programme, whose extraordinary musicians bring a rich tapestry of traditions to our stage. Their performances not only celebrate musical excellence but also foster cross-cultural dialogue, aligning perfectly with this year’s Festival theme, The Truth We Seek. We can't wait for audiences to experience these powerful and transformative performances in The Hub this August."

Together, these performances and community projects forge important connections between cultures, musical languages and individuals, reflecting His Late Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV’s belief in the power of art to transcend differences and foster unity.

Aga Khan Music Programme

Founded in 2000, the Aga Khan Music Programme supports, validates and celebrates the pivotal role of music and musicians in communities where it works and for communities it serves. It collaborates with traditional musicians and ensembles throughout Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and West Africa. For AKMP music is an elemental expression of human spirituality, and a crucial means of fostering tolerance, curiosity and pluralism by connecting individuals and communities, and bringing musicians’ work to a global audience. While respecting and supporting communities’ often ancient traditions, AKMP also encourages new projects from contemporary artists immersed in those rich heritages, producing music inspired by but not constrained by tradition.

Edinburgh International Festival

Founded in 1947, the Edinburgh International Festival is one of the world’s most prestigious and influential festivals of the performing arts, bringing world-class opera, music, dance and theatre to the Scottish capital every August. Its original aim of celebrating the ‘flowering of the human spirit’ in the aftermath of the Second World War continues under current Festival Director, world-renowned violinist and educator Nicola Benedetti. From its inaugural event, the Edinburgh International Festival gave rise to the joyful mix of sister events that transform Edinburgh into the world’s festival city every year, connecting communities across the city, Scotland and far beyond. The Edinburgh International Festival provides a window on the world, and its radically contrasting cultural ideas and perspectives, for encounters of curiosity and discovery.

Performance details

An Evening of Mystic Music

19 August 2025, 8pm, The Hub, Edinburgh

Culture Club

21 August 2025, Broomhouse, Edinburgh

Here and Now

21 August 2025, 8pm, The Hub, Edinburgh

Aga Khan Master Musicians with Vincent Peirani and Vincent Ségal

22 August 2025, 8pm, The Hub, Edinburgh