Aga Khan Music Programme’s sold-out concert series concludes at Edinburgh International Festival

Geneva, Switzerland, 26 August 2026 - The Aga Khan Music Programme (AKMP) and Edinburgh International Festival celebrated the success of the 2026 AKMP series on 21 August, following three sold-out concerts and an extended programme of learning and community engagement activity across the city.

Presented in partnership with the Edinburgh International Festival, the series brought together Aga Khan Master Musicians and Aga Khan Music Awards winners in performances that explored the richness of musical traditions from across the Middle East and West Africa, while demonstrating how these traditions continue to evolve through contemporary artistic practice.

The concerts took place in the presence of Prince Amyn Aga Khan, younger brother of Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, Co-Chair of the Aga Khan Music Awards and a longstanding supporter of the Aga Khan Development Network's work across culture, education and international development. Throughout his public life, Prince Amyn Aga Khan has championed initiatives that strengthen cultural heritage and creativity as essential elements of human development, helping to advance the vision that underpins the Aga Khan Music Programme.

The partnership between AKMP and Edinburgh International Festival is founded on a shared belief that music can serve as a bridge between cultures, histories and lived experiences. Since the programme's first appearance at the Festival in 2012, audiences in Edinburgh have been offered opportunities to encounter artists carrying centuries of musical knowledge while also creating new forms of expression that speak directly to the contemporary world.

In 2026, that commitment extended beyond the stage through a series of education and participation activities delivered in partnership with the Festival's Discovery and Participation team. Approximately 300 secondary school pupils attended Discover Music, an event that brought Yasamin Shahhosseini, Farah Kaddour and Senny Camara into conversation with young people from across Edinburgh. The session, led by AKMP Director Fairouz Nishanova, explored the artists' creative journeys, their relationship with tradition and the wider social and political contexts that shape their work.

The programme also included a Culture Club event, welcoming artists into the local community to share food, conversation and performance, creating opportunities for meaningful exchange between people from different backgrounds and experiences.

All three concerts were filmed for international broadcast, with the performances set to air worldwide on Mezzo and on Sky Arts in the UK this autumn, bringing these artists to audiences far beyond Edinburgh.

Fairouz Nishanova, Director of the Aga Khan Music Programme, said:

“This year’s Aga Khan Music Series at the Edinburgh International Festival brought together three very different musical worlds, each rooted in a profound living tradition and each speaking vividly to the present. From the plural musical heritage of the Ottomans to the remarkable meeting of oud, bouzouq and kora, and Senny Camara’s powerful reimagining of the kora tradition, these concerts showed that tradition is never fixed: it is carried, questioned and renewed by artists of exceptional imagination.

“As always, we were deeply moved by the openness and attentiveness of Edinburgh audiences, and by the enthusiasm of the young people and community participants who joined us beyond the concert hall. As we approach 15 years of partnership with the Festival, it is a privilege to continue creating a platform where artists and audiences can meet with such curiosity and generosity. We are delighted that the concerts will now travel beyond Edinburgh through Mezzo and Sky Arts.”

Nicola Benedetti, Director of the Edinburgh International Festival, said:

"The success of this year's Aga Khan Music Programme series reflects the strength of a partnership built on shared values and curiosity about the world around us. Across the concerts, educational activity and community events, audiences encountered artists whose work challenges assumptions, deepens understanding and reveals the many ways music can connect people across difference. We are proud to continue our relationship with the Aga Khan Music Programme and delighted that these extraordinary performances will now be shared with audiences internationally."

Through both performance and participation, the Aga Khan Music Programme's presence at the 2026 Edinburgh International Festival reflected its wider mission: celebrating music as a powerful means of fostering tolerance and building bridges across cultures.

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Aga Khan Music Programme

Founded in 2000 by Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, the Aga Khan Music Programme (AKMP) affirms the vital role of music and musicians in societies enriched by Islamic cultures and traditions. It celebrates music as a vessel of spirituality and a force for tolerance, curiosity and pluralism, nurturing young people's imaginations and opening new pathways for creative livelihoods in music and the arts.

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.

AKMP carries out its work through a network of music schools and development centres throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, in countries including Egypt, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan. Their aims are to rethink the regions' traditional master-apprentice learning model for our contemporary times, and to provide learning and performance opportunities for outstanding young musicians.

The Aga Khan Master Musicians (AKMM) are the resident performing ensemble of the Aga Khan Music Programme, a visionary collective that personifies contemporary musical expressions of the Great East's rich heritage. Bringing together leading composers, educators and instrumentalists from Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, China and beyond in a flexible, rotating ensemble, AKMM creates bold new music rooted in tradition yet unbound by it. The Master Musicians look beyond their individual lineages to forge innovative cross-cultural collaborations, mentor the next generation of artists and embody AKMP's highest artistic standards on stage and in educational settings worldwide.


Edinburgh International Festival

Edinburgh International Festival is the original festival. It's the one that started it all, the igniting spark that established Edinburgh as the world’s Festival City.

This year’s Festival concludes on 30 August 2026, under the direction of Festival Director and Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti. Benedetti’s vision for the Festival is to create the deepest level of experience, through the highest quality art, for the broadest possible audience.

The Edinburgh International Festival was founded in 1947, the inspired idea of Rudolf Bing, a cultural pioneer and Jewish refugee, working with a group of civic and artistic leaders. Together, they created a festival that transcends political boundaries through a global celebration of the performing arts.

Over the following 79 years the International Festival’s hand-picked programme of world-leading dance, opera, music and theatre has continued to bring people of different cultures and viewpoints together every August. Meanwhile, the International Festival’s sister festivals have grown up around it – each of them contributing to the atmosphere of unparalleled excitement that transforms the city each summer.

Shining far beyond what you see on stage, the Festival also offers year-round pathways for people of all ages and backgrounds to discover and participate in live performance. Learn more here.

This year, the Festival launched a multi-year brand-building campaign, led by an advert featuring Festival Director Nicola Benedetti and an array of Scottish and international artists. Watch the video