LAMMERMUIR FESTIVAL
11 - 20 SEPTEMBER 2015
www.lammermuirfestival.co.uk
Beautiful music | Beautiful places
The Lammermuir Festival takes place in thirteen beautiful venues across the historic Scottish
county of East Lothian from 11 - 20 September 2015. Less than an hour from Edinburgh, East
Lothian is one of Scotland’s best-kept secrets boasting a wealth of great country houses, ancient
churches and idyllic rural towns and villages - a plentiful supply of beautiful places for the festival’s
performances. The music is carefully matched to each venue’s character and acoustic and
hearing music at the Lammermuir Festival is an extra-special experience.
Some highlights of this year’s festival are: the international stars of the Michelangelo Quartet as
Artists in Residence, performing both as a Quartet and appearing as soloists; three superb UK
orchestras, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the
Royal Northern Sinfonia with new Artistic Director, Lars Vogt; music by Sibelius to mark his 150th
anniversary; festival debuts include pianist Danny Driver, Kungsbacka Trio, as well as Phantasm,
who perform with Tenebrae for the first time; and even an exclusive Festival commission of
baroque cakes by East Lothian Master Baker, Falko.
The Lammermuir Festival is funded by Creative Scotland and East Lothian Council, and produced
for the Lamp of Lothian Trust.
Artistic Directors Hugh Macdonald and James Waters said, “ It's hard to believe that we have
already reached our sixth Lammermuir Festival, but as always we have had a great deal of fun
planning a programme that we hope will inspire, move and excite people - our many visitors as
well as those who are lucky enough to live in this marvellous part of Scotland. We're especially
looking forward to welcoming our artists in residence, the superb Michelangelo String Quartet, and
all the other great musicians who will be bringing beautiful music to beautiful places in East Lothian
this September. “
Ian Smith, Portfolio Manager Music and IP Development at Creative Scotland said:
“Creative Scotland is delighted to continue our support of the Lammermuir Festival as it celebrates
its sixth year. Now established as another great festival in Scotland with an increasingly global
reach, Lammermuir is set in the iconic surroundings of East Lothian, bringing music of the highest
quality to an international audience and great benefit to the local communities it directly serves.”
Angela Leitch, Chief Executive of East Lothian Council says, “I’m really looking forward to the
Lammermuir Festival 2015. From medieval to modern, from solo violin to chamber ensemble, from
church hall to stately home – it’s a really exciting and stimulating programme playing out in some
stunning settings. The Lammermuir Festival, with some help from the Council, has gone from
strength to strength and has become an event that draws in music-lovers from far and wide. It
holds a very important place in our year-round calendar of festivals in East Lothian.”
The festival opens with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra who return on Friday 11 September at
8.00pm in the venue at the heart of Lammermuir Festival, the mediaeval church of St Mary’s in
Haddington. Ben Gernon conducts Sibelius, Beethoven and Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with
soloists from the Michelangelo Quartet, Mihaela Martin (violin) and Nobuko Imai (viola).
We visit one of East Lothian’s most notable stately homes, Lennoxlove House, on Saturday 12
September at 11.00am for an archlute recital by brilliant young Frenchman, Thomas Dunford,
with music by Dowland and Kapsberger. Lennoxlove House, home of the Duke of Hamilton, is not
open to the public and we are fortunate to be able to come to this wonderful, historic house.
One of Scotland’s finest surviving late mediaeval collegiate churches is Seton Collegiate Church,
Longniddry where the Festival visits for the first time this year. Cellists Philip Higham (Young
Artist in Residence, 2010) and Kim Vauhgan perform music by Biber, Couperin, Walton, Purcell
and Britten on Saturday 12 September at 3.30pm.
The first of three concerts by Artists in Residence, The Michelangelo Quartet, is on Saturday 12
September at 7.45pm in Prenstonkirk Parish Church in East Linton. The quartet begins its series
of concerts featuring the first of three Beethoven Razumovksy quartets, Op 59 No 1, Haydn’s
String Quartet in G, Op 77 No 1 and Dvorak’s ‘American’ Quartet in F, Op 96. Their second
concert is on Monday 14 September at 7.45pm in Chalmers Memorial Church, Port Seton, with its
elaborately painted Arts and Crafts interior. Here they play Beethoven Razumovsky Quartet
in E minor, Op 59 No 2; Haydn in D, Op 64 No 5 ‘Lark’ and Shostakovich String Quartet no 3.
Their third and final quartet concert is on Tuesday 15 September at 7.45pm in the little kirk at
Dirleton when they play Haydn’s glorious ‘Sunrise’ Quartet in B flat, Op 76 No 4; Bartok’s Quartet
No 1 and the third Razumovsky Quartet, Op 59 No 3.
One of the performances which continues the Bach thread running through each Lammermuir
Festival is the Dunedin Consort’s afternoon of Bach, Cantatas, Coffee and Cake on Sunday 13
September at 2.30pm in the Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh. Exclusively for Lammermuir Festival,
East Lothian’s German Master Baker, Falko will recreate some baroque cakes to enjoy with the
coffee.
The Kungsbacka Trio make their festival debut at Abbey Church in North Berwick at 7.45pm on
Sunday 13 September in a programme of Arvo Pärt, Arensky and the first of three works by
Rachmaninov featured in this year’s festival.
On Tuesday 15 September we visit one of East Lothian’s prettiest but least-known villages,
Oldhamstocks. This is the home of Lammermuir Pipe Organs. Organist John Kitchen and organ
builder Neil Richerby take us on a visit to the workshop and then to the church for a short recital
on two more of these superby crafted chamber organs. (To accommodate numbers, workshop
visits are before and after the recital: 1.30pm workshop; 2.30pm recital; 3.45pm workshop.)
Gilmerton House is a great Georgian mansion to which we return for a second year on
Wednesday 16 September at 3.30pm with violinist Cecilia Bernardini, harpsichord player Jan
Waterfield and harpist Emily Hoile (Young Artist in Residence 2011) for a programme of Bach,
Handel, Veracini and Bach.
Following his sensational Messiaen recital at last year’s festival, master pianist Steven Osborne is
welcomed back to perform in Dunbar Parish Church on Wednesday 16 September at 7.45pm. He
will play a programme of Schubert and Rachmaninov’s Etudes Tableaux.
One of our Artists in Residence, violinist Daniel Austrich, steps outside the Quartet for a recital in
Holy Trinity Church, Haddington on Thursday 17 September at 2.30pm. Here he performs with a
pianist well-known to Scottish audiences, Danny Driver in sonatas by Beethoven and Franck.
Danny Driver performs a solo programme of György Ligeti and Debussy here in Holy Trinity on
Saturday 19 September at 3.00pm.
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra return on Thursday 17 September at 8.00pm to
perform Sibelius’s Finlandia, Rachmaninov’s epic Symphony No 2 and Brahms Concerto for Violin
and Cello, with soloists Mihaela Martin (violin) and Frans Helmerson (cello) who make their final
appearance as our Artists in Residence this year.
The vocal ensemble Tenebrae appears at the Festival for a second year on Friday 18 September
at 7.00pm in the glorious setting of St Mary’s, Haddington for a programme of Bruckner and
Brahms. Later that evening at 9.45pm, St Mary’s is the venue for the viols of Phantasm who
make their festival debut with Bach’s extraordinary Art of Fugue. In an event unique to
Lammermuir Festival, we bring these two ensembles together on Saturday 19 September at 7.45
in St Mary’s, in a programme of Orlando Gibbons.
The final day of the festival, Sunday 20 September, features Hebrides Ensemble in one of our
most popular venues, the mediaeval church of St Mary’s in Whitekirk at 3.30pm, performing
Sibelius, Brett Dean and Bruckner.
The closing concert on Sunday 20 September at 8.00pm in St Mary’s, Haddington, is the Royal
Northern Sinfonia under their new Artistic Director in his very first week in the post, the
distinguished pianist and conductor, Lars Vogt. He conducts Sibelius, Mozart, Erkki-Sven Tüür
and is soloist in Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor.
For additional press information please contact:
Jane Nicolson jane@janenicolson.com 07887 500977
Tickets: 0131 473 2000 or www.lammermuirfestival.co.uk
or in person from The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh, EH1 2NE
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across
all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and
organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by
helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the
Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information about Creative Scotland
please visit www.creativescotland.com. Follow us @creativescots and
www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland
The Michelangelo String Quartet are:
Mihaela Martin, violin I
Daniel Autrich, violin II
Nobuko Imai, viola
Frans Helmerson, cello
Funders:
Partners:
BBC Radio 3; Queen Margaret University
Sponsors:
EAE; Falko Konditormeister; McInroy and Wood; The Richardson Family; Turcan Connell
Trusts:
Artemis Foundation; Binks Trust; Dunard Fund; Lamp of Lothian Trust; Stevenston Trust
Produced for The Lamp of Lothian Trust
Registered Charity No. SCO 15250