The common thread of the three-day festival will be intercultural dialogue as part of the International Year of Global Understanding under UNESCO, which sponsors this year's festival.

Nights in Ljubljana Old Town is the biggest street festival in the capital, which traditionally takes place in the last week of August at various venues across the old city core, attracting around 60,000 visitors from Slovenia and abroad.

The musical programme is based on various genres, with world music, jazz and classical music being in the forefront, the organisers Imago Sloveniae have said.

They highlighted among the performers at a total of 14 venues in Ljubljana bands like Toba World of Indonesia and Kompost 3 of Austria as well as Hungarian guitarist Sandor Mester.

Classical music concerts will include a performance by the Chamber Orchestra of Ljubljana Soloists and opera soloists and by violinist Nadežda Tokareva and pianist Maja Kastratovič.

The festival will open in Novi trg Square with a concert by Jani Kovačič and the Big Band of public broadcaster RTV Slovenija.

Film lovers will get a treat with the open-air cinema in Congress Square, including the screening of the 1923 silent comedy film Safety Last!, which will be accompanied live by Neil Brand on piano.

The festival will also feature environmental topics promoting Ljubljana as the 2016 European Green Capital, with presentation of environmental organisations, round table debates and workshops.

An international multi-disciplinary symposium featuring 43 leading musicologists from 22 countries will also be held.