It's festivals, festivals and more festivals in the Middle East throughout the month of August, with several combining impressive artists with dramatic historical settings. The Byblos International Festival, Lebanon's oldest and probably the most famous of them, continues its tradition, while events elsewhere in the region range from puppet theater in Tehran to piano concerts in the Dardanelles.

From Beiteddine to Byblos: Lebanon's Byblos International Festival continues through Aug. 24, with concerts performed on a seafront stage in the ancient coastal city with its landmark Phoenician temple. This year's mix of Lebanese and international artists includes the pop duo The Chainsmokers, Greek singer Nana Mouskouri and Lebanese composer, singer and oud player Charbel Rouhana

The Beiteddine Arts Festival is another Lebanese event produced in a splendid setting. Held in a 19th-century palace 28 miles from Beirut in the Shouf district of Mount Lebanon, the festival’s 23rd edition was headlined on July 30 by singer and former French first lady Carla Bruni. There's still an opportunity to visit the palace, Aug. 9-11, to catch the last event of the festival, a performance by Cirque Eloize, a Montreal-based troupe of acrobats and multidisciplinary artists who challenge the limits of the performing arts with inventive stage design and video projections.

While attending the festival, you can also take in 300 works by prolific Lebanese caricaturist Pierre Sadek. If you missed “Picturing History,” an exhibition of his political cartoons presented earlier this year at Beirut’s Sursock Museum, this is your chance to see some of the works displayed there. According to the festival's website, “Pierre Sadek's work is timeless, it constitutes a meticulous record of the history of a country and a region in political, existential and violent turmoil, documenting the names, faces and events that captured the world’s attention during a time of tumult.”