Thoughts on the Lammermuir Festival 2025
This year’s Lammermuir Festival came to an end on Monday15th September, and I wanted to record a few thoughts in retrospect.
This is about the fifth or sixth festival that the EMR has covered, the bulk of the reviewing done by Donal Hurley and myself, and certainly from my point of view, it has been notably successful. Judging from the general tenor of Donal’s reviews, I would guess he would concur.
Musical standards were uniformly high, and all 10 concerts I covered were pretty much sold out, so the organisers must be rightly satisfied. Especially in the current financial and political situation, any classical music events are difficult to put on, and to attract audiences at this level of attendance is a remarkable feat. Creative Scotland are to be congratulated, particularly after their unbelievable withholding of a grant a couple of years ago, for apparently reversing their lack of support, in the face of a huge amount of goodwill for the Festival from the public.
There was a perception that it was an elite event for the rich folk who live in East Lothian, and although it is true that many of the attendees are hardly paupers, there is a wealth of accents and ages in each audience that show it is more of a festival for all the folk of East Lothian. There are many visitors from the big city only 20 miles away, like myself, but it is still fundamentally a local affair, using the wonderful churches and halls available in the area. The original idea was to show off the many superb venues across the county, and that has been achieved and some!
I was initially sad that the Gesualdo 6, who have graced the Festival for the past couple of years, were missing this year, but the inclusion of the fabulous I Fagiolini, the Concerto Italiano and the Dunedin Consort meant that those of us who love early music were not in any way short changed. The dearth of music before Mozart in the Edinburgh International Festival has been a recurring theme since Nicola Benedetti took over, and truth to tell it has never been a major part of the programme, but it is an important part of the success of the Lammermuir that baroque and older music is an integral part of the programming. Having been myself at the forefront of the second wave of early music in the 1990s, singing with such luminaries as Trevor Pinnock, Marc Minkowski, René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe and David Roblou, and seeing the huge sold out successes of the various ensembles they directed all over the world, it was always a source of concern to me that we in Scotland were denied the chance to see and hear these great musicians. I was involved towards the beginning of the Scottish Early Music Consort, which initially sold out venues in Glasgow and abroad, and appeared frequently with the Dunedin Consort in the 2000s, but to have a festival now that champions early music (although not to the detriment of all the other marvellous music it puts on), like the Lammermuir is fantastic. I’m only sad that I was not able to sing here myself before retiring, but at least I can tell you all about the festival and try to give you a bit of its flavour in these reviews.
I like the idea of Musicians in Residence, this year the wonderful Laura van der Heijden, which allows the public to see the scope and range of what various musicians can do in different venues and different contexts. The high proportion of chamber music in the programme is another welcome feature, especially as many of the venues are ideal for this form of music. The visits of Scottish Opera, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Dunedin Consort add variety and glamour to an already full programme.
I love the fact that the prices for concerts at Lammermuir are very reasonable. In this day and age where Edinburgh Festival prices are increasing greatly, and when rock concerts at Murrayfield, down the road from my house, cost hundreds of pounds, the top price of £45 and the general average of £25-£30 is extremely good and sensible. With main course dishes at most of the restaurants and pubs in the county coming in at well over £20, these prices for a full concert are spot on!
James Waters, in his final announcement before the Dunedin Consort performance on Monday, paid tribute to the fantastic volunteers who make the festival run smoothly, and I would like to add my own thanks to this tireless team of ushers, car park attendants, ticket checkers, meeters and greeters who are at every concert. There are no doubt many similar volunteers behind the scenes who we don’t see, and I’d like to thank them too.
If you have enjoyed the festival, either in person or through our reviews, I would encourage you to become Friends of the Festival by signing up online at lammermuirfestival.co.uk/friends, where you will find four membership levels and information about the benefits of joining, other than just helping it to continue.
I usually do a favourite event rundown here, but it was all so good that it would be invidious to choose one over another. Read the reviews and come next year, maybe for the first time or as a seasoned attendee.
