There are to be nineteen classical music concerts at The Queen's Hall in this year's Festival - all starting at 11am. Most of the concerts are to be broadcast by BBC Radio 3 either live, or shortly afterwards. Built in 1823 as Hope Park Chapel, by 1834 it was known as the fashionable Newington Parish Church and remained a Church of Scotland parish church until 1976. The building was then converted to hold up to 900 concert goers and opened as The Queen's Hall by The Queen in 1979. Whilst the Usher Hall hosts symphony orchestras, The Queen's Hall is ideal for smaller ensembles.
This year's feast of music includes two quintets by Mozart. Andreas Ottensamer, an Austrian, with the Hungarian Keleman Quartet play Mozart's Clarinet Quintet on 16th August as well as Brahms' Clarinet Quintet. On 27th August the Danish String Quartet with horn player Alec Frank-Gammell perform Mozart's Horn Quintet as well as Beethoven's second Rasumovsky Quartet and a new piece from Norwegian Rolf Wallin.
On 23rd and 24th August Steven Isserlis, on the cello, and Robert Levin, on fortepiano, perform Beethoven's complete works for cello and keyboard, nine in all. Pianist Richard Goode plays Haydn, Janáček, Schumann and Debussy on 26th August. Whilst pianist Stephen Hough plays Liszt, Schubert and his own Piano Sonata III 'Trinitas' on 18th August. Daniil Trifonov and Friends play Rachmaninov on 22nd August.
The Amaryllis Quartet plays Haydn, Lutoslawski and Beethoven on 9th August with the Emerson String Quartet on 19th August playing Haydn, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Pianist George Li from the USA plays Chopin, Rachmaninov and Liszt on10th August.
Choral works I have looked out for include chamber choir Tenebrae under director Nigel Short singing Renaissance and Romantic masterpieces on 17th August. Soprano Patricia Petition joins pianist Susan Manoff on 20th August for Songs of Belle Époque Paris. Edinburgh's Dunedin Consort is joined by soprano Danielle de Niese to perform works by Handel on 13th August. Mezzo soprano Magdalene Kožená and pianist Malcolm Martineau perform songs by Dvořák, Wolf, Strauss and Fauré on 15th August.
And there's more in the Festival Programme. Just worth bringing to your attention is a performance in Greyfriars Kirk on 24th August of Hans Zender's interpretation of Schubert's Winterreise sung by tenor Christian Elsner with the Hebrides Ensemble under their conductor William Conway.