A FREE opening concert by one of the world's great orchestras at Heart's Tynecastle stadium is to open this year's Edinburgh International Festival.

The concert at Tynecastle Park, will see the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by its superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel, play Hollywood scores for up to 15,000 people.

The concert, on 2 August at 7pm, sees the festival (EIF) move away from its street-based light and music opening shows of recent years, and has been programmed by artistic director Fergus Linehan with an earlier start for a family audience in mind.

The event opens a festival which will see a return to Leith Theatre for a series of contemporary music concerts including Teenage Fanclub, Neneh Cherry and Jarvis Cocker, a new strand of theatre and dance addressing modern concerns called You Are Here, the appearance of all of Scotland's national performing arts companies, shows by Sir Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry, as well as a celebration of the 60th birthday of Sir James MacMillan.

READ MORE: How Tynecastle will become 'Hollywoodland' for one night only

MacMillan's birthday will be marked by a series of five concerts, and will culminate in the world premiere of his new Symphony No.5.

Lars Von Trier's movie, Breaking the Waves, will be reborn on stage, as an opera in three acts by Missy Mazzoli, performed by Scottish Opera.

Sir Ian McKellen will be celebrating his 80th birthday at the Assembly Hall,where he will be performing extracts from his various roles: he will be at the same venue as his first EIF appearance, 50 years ago, and proceeds will go towards the refurbishment of the drama studio at Leith Academy.

Fry will be presenting Mythos: A trilogy of Gods, Heroes, Men at the Festival Theatre, a show described as a "gripping one man tour de force."

The programme in all features 93 events, with 293 performances across 17 venues - this include the small 50-seat Studio at the Lyceum, the Church Hill Theatre in Morningside and the Leith Theatre, for the second year running.

The festival runs from 2-26 August, and will end with its traditional fireworks concert.

Highlights of the programme include a residency by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a new take on the tale of Peer Gynt, entitled Peter Gynt starring Scottish actor James McArdle written by David Hare, in a major new co-production with the National Theatre in London.

Leith Theatre will see gigs by Jarvis Cocker, Anna Calvi, Kate Tempest, Neneh Cherry, Sharon Van Etten and Teenage Fanclub, among others.

READ MORE: The opening event of the 2019 Festival

Two of Berlin’s opera houses will visit Edinburgh: Komische Oper Berlin return to the Festival with Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, and Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles leads the Deutsche Oper Berlin in a concert version of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, starring American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky.

There will be a staging of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, Puccini’s Manon Lescaut with soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.

The festival will also experience some Broadway: there will be two concert performances of West Side Story with an international cast and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner

The National Theatre of Scotland will be staging the Makar Jackie Kay’s book Red Dust Road.

Fergus Linehan, the director of the festival, said that the festival is this year framed "against a backdrop of division and confusion" and said he hoped that the festival offers "a refreshing dose of generosity, inclusiveness and optimism".

He said that the smaller shows, in the 50-seat Studio theatre, as part of the You Are Here strand, are a kind of "pilot" for future events.

The director is launching the 2019 EIF, a celebration of international culture, in the midst of the Brexit crisis.

Linehan added: "Brexit has created this situation where every can is being kicked down the road.

"It has created an absence of broader thinking, and it makes it difficult to think: where should we be, where should we go?

"It has created a sort of jumpy short-termism."

He added: "We can programme for next year, but there is this thing hanging over us, that we all know that if things got horribly chaotic, then all bets are off, because there will be other priorities."

READ MORE: David Hare on his major play at the Festival in 2019

Mr Linehan said: "I would say some sort of common sense will kick in....but as far as its effects, its the same old story: we don't know, we have to see what happens next.

"It's created an urgency around the whole question of where do we sit in the world: which the Festivals are quite good at looking at, and also the idea of a little bit of relief for everyone at the moment."

Fiona Hyslop, the culture secretary, said she was "particularly pleased that there will be a celebration of the work of Sir James MacMillan, the pre-eminent Scottish composer of his generation."

“The Festival’s impact extends beyond its August programme. Its community engagement, creative learning and professional development programmes run throughout the year, reaching the widest possible audiences and contributing to the cultural and social life of Edinburgh and Scotland."

Councillor Donald Wilson, Edinburgh’s Culture and Communities Convener, said: "From opera to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sir Ian McKellen to Jarvis Cocker, the 2019 programme will feature 2600 artists in a diverse mix of music, dance and theatre.

"It is also great to see the Festival return to Leith Theatre following the success of last year’s concerts – it has a great line up."

The Los Angeles Philharmonic will plays three concerts including the Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event at Tynecastle Park and two Usher Hall concerts: performing Mahler’s Symphony No 2 with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, and the European premiere of John Adams’ new work Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? with pianist Yuja Wang.

Visiting orchestras include London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle, Orchestre de Paris – returning to the Festival for the first time in 30 years - with Daniel Harding, BBC Symphony Orchestra with Semyon Bychkov, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra making its International Festival debut with conductor Long Yu, Hallé with Sir Mark Elder and the National Youth Orchestra of the USA.

All three of Scotland’s national orchestras – the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO), Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) – perform at the 2019 Festival.

The dance programme opens with a world premiere from Scottish Ballet.

The Crucible is a new ballet with choreography by Helen Pickett adapted from Arthur Miller’s classic play, with a new musical score from Peter Salem performed live by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra.

The leading Chinese choreographer Yang Liping makes her International Festival debut with the Rite of Spring, a new interpretation of Stravinsky’s classic, and in its time controversial, ballet.