Heiner Goebbels, the German avant-garde composer, has transposed texts from four of the most influential writers of the 20th century - T S Eliot, Maurice Blanchlot, Franz Kafka, and Samuel Beckett - and created three tableaux pieces sung by the all-male Hilliard Ensemble.

This year's International Festival slogan is "artists without borders," which is why the appearance of cultural ambassadors for Israel - the Jerusalem Quartet - provoked a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Queen's Hall this morning as most Palestinian citizens do not have the same freedom of movement as Israelis, living as they do within confined borders. An unusual introduction to a morning chamber recital, the pavements thronged with placards and leaflets.

Today's recital at the Queen's Hall had to be changed at the last minute due to the original performer, Ivan Moravec, being ill. However, Steven Osborne, the accomplished Scottish pianist was able to step in at short notice.

Concert performances of operas are often merely static shadows of fully-staged performances, but this double-bill by the Mariinsky Opera was a revelation.

Variously described as a dramatic psalm or an oratorio, this powerful exposition of the life of the biblical king came into being as the incidental music for a play.

I suppose the musical equivalent of "don't judge a book by its cover" could be "don't choose a band just for their name" - but thankfully, I don't subscribe to that sort of thinking. So when I came across the listing for Shooglenifty in the Fringe programme, I just thought, what a great name for a band, and signed up on the spot. And having deliberately done no more research than read the information in the programme, off I went to the Speigel Tent armed with no knowledge or preconceptions. And what a result.

One of the great things about the Fringe is the variety of venues you can find yourself in to watch a show. On a great night, with the right performance, even the most unlikely space ceases to matter once you get caught up in the moment. On a very wet August evening, in a pretty non-descript - but very warm - room up Surgeons Hall, Dana Gillespie pretty much managed to make me forget where I was, and transported the audience to a prohibition-era New Orleans bordello. If that seems a little unlikely, let me explain ...

The Queen's Hall chamber series today featured a father and daughter recital - Mischa Maisky on cello and Lily Maisky playing the piano.

A generous performer lets you in on part of themselves when they take to the stage. Having been let into Laura Marling's world through her captivating debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim, I was eager to see what more she could bring to top something as truly wonderful as that. To my excitement, I was not let down.

Edinburgh's ever-popular Todd Gordon presented his fans with another new ‘first' by marrying his voice to a big band sound. His Sinatra-Basie Sessions Revisited opened up a new dimension, allowing him to build on his well-known Sinatra sessions by singing for the first time with a big band.

Georgian sacred and folk music is quite distinctive. Unlike European and other a cappella songs, their harmonies sound discordant at times, but that is what makes their music so unique.

St Andrew's and St George's church are holding daily recitals till 24 August, and Anne-Isabel Meyer has just completed her performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's series of six suites for Violoncello, performed over three days.

Duddingston Kirk, nestling at the foot of Arthur's Seat, is one of the oldest churches in Scotland and is a perfect, intimate environment for a chamber recital.

Israel in Egypt, the fifth of the nineteen oratorios which George Frideric Handel composed in England, was written in 1738, the composition of the whole colossal work occupying but twenty-

Festival Director Jonathan Mills made a bold choice in opening his second festival with this bitter satire on capitalism and decadent society - and one he is reported to have had in mind since his appointment.

The programme changes every day at the Queens Hall during the International Festival period, but all concerts involve chamber music with soloists, duos, trios, quartets and quintets.

From the first enormous strike of the huge red drum, everyone knew that they were in for a unique treat.

In David Benson's 1996 Fringe First award winning show Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams, Noel Coward appears in a tiny cameo role, a brilliant impersonation whic

Multi-talented Kate Robbins entertained her substantial first night audience with an hour of songs and tales of her upbringing in Birkenhead before crossing the Mersey and experiencing the life and humour of Liverpool.

There are some exceptionally gifted artists within the music scene in Scotland these days. A great deal of these bands float among the high flyers of the British music scene and benefit from the exposure that brings. The band Union of Knives have yet to be discovered