Classical music may never be this fun as festival meets football – leader comment

The “most important orchestra in America” is coming to Scotland. Unsurprisingly, they are making the journey to take part in the Edinburgh International Festival. Surprisingly, they will be playing in Hearts football stadium.

High art is coming to Tynecastle for this year's Edinburgh International Festival

The club has arranged to play its first game of the season away from home to allow the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra – acclaimed as the “most important” in the US by The New York Times’ classical music editor – to perform themes from movies including Star Wars, Jaws, Harry Potter, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, Sunset Boulevard and The Philadelphia Story.

Festival director Fergus Linehan explained: “We just thought it would be a really good place to do something.”

Not half. A world-leading orchestra playing a string of top tunes in a venue that is almost designed to incite raucous behaviour?

Classical music may never have been as much fun or more designed for a mass audience.

And, who knows, perhaps some clever football fan will be inspired to turn the Jaws theme into a chant to fluster defenders as their team closes in on goal.