AN “INCREDIBLE programme” has been hailed as the curtain has fallen on Lammermuir Festival 2024.

From the quirky ensemble Zum Roten Igel (The Red Hedgehog), travelling to some of the county’s smaller churches in Humbie, Stenton and East Linton with their Hungarian folk twists on classic ensemble music, to quite possibly the best choir in the world, Tenebrae, moving the audience to tears beneath Concorde at East Fortune’s National Museum of Flight, the festival’s reputation for bringing together inspiring combinations of place, music and musicians has seen as many stars in the media covering the festival as on its stages.

James Waters, chief executive and co-artistic director, said: “We have had a fantastic festival.

“From Tenebrae to Concerto Copenhagen and from Tango to Charles Ives and Schubert, we have brought a number of truly world-class performances to East Lothian and our audiences have responded with real enthusiasm.

“This incredible programme really would not have been possible but for the exceptional commitments of the many trusts, partners, benefactors, friends and donors who committed their support to the 2024 festival.

“A huge thanks to everyone who has played their part, including all artists and our friends across the media world who helped share both the news of the programme being revealed and then came to see so much. We can’t wait to plan the next one!”

Once again, the county, its beauty and all it has to offer was one of the star attractions of the festival.

This year, the festival has taken its audiences to many nooks, glens and glades across East Lothian, from the coast to the Lammermuir Hills, as they journeyed with artists between venues and sought out new and unfamiliar places to immerse themselves in the music.

It opened in Haddington, an appropriate location for Benjamin Britten’s comic opera Albert Herring, itself set in a small Suffolk market town.

The humour shone through and the time zipped by in a performance which had shades of The Vicar of Dibley and the sense of a community council sitcom, hugely entertaining the audience.

For those who missed it at the Lammermuir Festival, Scottish Opera is touring it this autumn to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

One of the most visually spectacular concerts in the programme this year was Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles, performed in the Concorde hangar at the National Museum of Flight.

Sung by one of the finest choral groups in the world, Tenebrae, for which it was written, the work is both beautiful and hugely dramatic, described by Simon Thompson in The Times as “sensationally beautiful” and David Kettle in The Scotsman as “breathtaking” and a “profoundly moving experience”.

Concerto Copenhagen, one of the most distinguished baroque orchestras in the world, made its first appearance in Scotland and was a festival highlight for audience members.

Having embedded themselves in the festival as ensemble in residence, they gave four concerts which highlighted the brilliance of the 17th-century masters who inspired Bach.

The concerts were recorded by the BBC and can be heard broadcast later in the autumn. Follow the festival’s social channels or register for its newsletter on the website to be alerted.

The BBC also carried performances from Pacific Quay and interviews with artists on their way to the festival, making them available via BBC Sounds on its key arts programmes Front Row and In Tune.

The festival’s daring programming also pulled off a 150th birthday celebration of Charles Ives, led by American pianist Jeremy Denk and violinist Maria Włoszczowska with local choir the Garleton Singers and the East Lothian secondary schools wind band. Joyous, unexpected, illuminating and passionately cacophonous, its five stars were well deserved.

Elsewhere, audiences were treated to one of the world’s great singers, the French superstar Véronique Gens, in a beautiful intimate recital in East Linton; Amsterdam’s brilliant young Van Bearle Trio playing all of Beethoven’s piano trios across five mornings, preceded by Haddington-based baker Falko’s popular cakes; and a line-up of some of the festival’s most enduringly popular artists, who came together to celebrate the 15th festival, including the Maxwell Quartet, Dunedin Consort, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Gesualdo Six, Hebrides Ensemble and many others, all of whom were incredible.

This year, the festival also introduced a new scheme, Front Row, in association with East Lothian Instrumental Service.

Young people from East Lothian secondary schools participated in the festival: as performers in the Charles Ives concert, working behind the scenes, meeting artists, watching rehearsals and attending concerts. The scheme is supported by Creative Scotland and SCOPS Arts Trust.