Lammermuir 2015: top ten picks

Opening Concert

Ben Gernon conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony and Sibelius’s Rakastava; Michaela Martin and Nobuko Imai are soloists in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. St. Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington, 11 September

Thomas Dunford

A morning concert of intimate Renaissance music by John Dowland and Girolamo Kapsberger featuring one of today’s finest lutenists. Lennoxlove House, near Haddington, 12 September

Michelangelo Quartet I , II & III

Three concerts from this year’s Lammermuir artists-in-residence, each featuring one of Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartets. The first is introduced by Haydn’s Op 77 no 1 and Dvorak’s American; the second by Haydn’s Lark and Shostakovich’s Third; the third by Haydn’s Sunrise and Bartok’s First. Prestonkirk Parish Church, 12 September; Chalmers Memorial Church, Port Seton, 14 September and Dirleton Kirk, 15 September

Coffee & cake with the Dunedin Consort

A reenactment of the concerts hosted by JS Bach at Leipzig’s Zimmermannsche Kaffehaus every Friday night from 1729. The music includes Bach’s First Orchestral Suite, Coffee Cantata and Cantata ‘Ehre sei dir Gott’; East Lothian artisan baker Falko Burkert has been commissioned to recreate typical 18th century Leipzig cakes. It isn’t every concert billing that lists its Konditormeister alongside its conductor. The Brunton, Musselburgh, 13 September

Music at Gilmerton

Dunedin’s superbly expressive leader Cecilia Bernardini is joined by Jan Waterford on harpsichord and Emily Hoile on harp for chamber music by Bach, Handel and Veracini. Gilmerton House, Nr Athelstaneford, 16 September

Steven Osborne

Osborne’s monumental performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jesus was a highlight of last year’s Lammermuir and of last year, full stop. He’s back to play Schubert — the A- flat Moment Musical D 780 and the Impromptus D 935 — and Rachmaninov’s Études Tableaux. Dunbar Parish Church, 16 September

BBC SSO

Eivind Aadland conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Sibelius’s Finlandia and Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony; Michaela Martin and Frans Helmerson join for Brahms’s Double Concerto. St. Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington, 17 September

The Devil’s Staircase

Pianist Danny Driver tackles György Ligeti’s kaleidoscopic Études and the swoops, swirls and nobility of Debussy’s Images. Holy Trinity Church, Haddington, 19 September

Phantasm and Tenebrae

Viol consort and vocal ensemble team up for an all-Gibbons bonanza — St. Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington, 19 September; the previous night Phantasm plays Bach’s The Art of Fugue and Tenebrae sings music by Bruckner and Brahms. St. Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington, 18 September

Closing Concert

Pianist Lars Vogt recently became music director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia; here he conducts the ensemble in Sibelius’s Andante Festivo, Mozart’s 25th Symphony and Tuur’s Insula Deserta, and he leads Grieg’s A minor Concerto from the keyboard. St. Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington, 20 September