The Scottish rock band Mogwai, a season of Shakespeare and American plays, and a major new opera are to be part of next year's Edinburgh International Festival.

Fergus Linehan, director, revealed a series of details of next year's festival (EIF) which include several live performances by Mogwai, who will be playing the live soundtrack to Mark Cousin's documentary Atomic - Living in Dread and Promise.

In keeping with Linehan's desire to expand the music of the festival, there will also be a show called Flit, which will feature Martin Green from the band Lau, Adrian Utley from Portishead, Becky Unthank from The Unthanks and White Rabbit animation.

The festival will also be staging the Salzburg Festival's production of Bellini's Norma, starring leading mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli in the title role, staged by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser.

It will run at the Festival Theatre from August 5 to 9 and tickets will go on sale this week.

Linehan, following the success of the festival's Harmonium Project opening event this year, said the EIF is planning another free evening opening event and assessing various sites in the city.

He said it would be ideal if the location could be fixed every year, but did not reveal any more about the event.

Linehan said that next year's festival would have themes of Shakespeare - to mark his 400th anniversary of his death - and US theatrical writing for the stage.

Linehan also revealed that the final concert would feature noted conductor Donald Runnicles and the BBC SSO performing Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder.

For that performance the Edinburgh Festival Chorus will need 200 singers, and the EIF is to begin a recruitment drive for more singers, especially tenors and basses for the substantial work, which lasts for over an hour and a half.

Linehan said he hoped to change the format of the musical shows he introduced to The Hub venue on the Royal Mile, with possibly a main show every night, with other events around it.

The production of Norma, which sees the opera set in the Second World War, was first staged by the Salzburg Whitsun Festival in May 2013, and was revived this summer.

Ms Bartoli said: "It is a joy to be making my opera debut at the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival with these performances of Norma.

"I look forward to sharing our new vision of Bellini's masterpiece with the festival public.

"It is a role that represents a milestone in my career and a production that is very dear to my heart."

Linehan said: "We are thrilled to bring this remarkable reworking of Norma to Edinburgh where it can be enjoyed by opera fans in the UK for the first time as well as marking the festival debut of Cecilia Bartoli."

Public booking for Norma begins this Saturday.

The full 2016 programme will be announced next April.