THE Lammermuir Festival is returning to East Lothian once more this September as it again aims to offer 'beautiful music in beautiful places', including a special celebration of the restoration of Haddington's St Mary's Parish Church.

The festival runs from September 7 to 18, featuring 36 performances at 12 venues.

Scottish Opera partners the Lammermuir Festival to bring another Scottish premiere to the festival on September 7 at St Mary’s, Richard Strauss's Daphne, conducted by Stuart Stratford.

Lammermuir Festival patron and pianist Steven Osborne performs in three concerts. Firstly, he teams up with violinist Alina Ibragimova for a programme of Debussy, Pärt and Prokofiev. A more contemplative event is next for Osborne as he discusses 'What does music mean?' before performing Schubert’s Sonata in A major, D959. Finally, the festival patron draws proceedings to a close, playing alongside the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Tippett’s Piano Concerto, before the ensemble bring Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony No. 3 to the St Mary’s stage.

Having performed at the very first Lammermuir Festival, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani returns as artist-in-residence with five programmes, including his coffee concert. The Iranian-American musician focuses on the music of Bach through his residency, performing his work in solo, duo with violinist Antje Weithaas, and concerto with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. His concert on September 12 at St Mary’s sees him combine the harpsichord with live electronics.

St Mary’s, the hub of the festival, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its restoration. The festival marks this with an afternoon of lectures from art historian Dr Lizzie Swarbrick and music from The Marian Consort, exploring what the church and its surrounding area would have looked and sounded like before the Reformation and the Siege of Haddington in 1548. The Marian Consort close this evening on September 9 with a programme from the ‘Dunkeld’ Partbooks, one of Scotland’s few remaining manuscripts from the 16th century.

Continuing the Reformation theme, Gesualdo Six and Fretwork perform Secret Byrd in St Mary’s on September 13. A recusant Catholic, William Byrd’s masses are performed here as they were intended – in secret, by candlelight, with hidden artifacts dotted around the room. The audience can roam around the shadowy room between costumed performers, and passing soup and bread as part of ritual inclusivity.

Five of Europe’s top string players come to Lammermuir Festival to perform as Spunicunifait, named after a nonsense word coined by Mozart. They perform a complete cycle of his string quintets.

Many festival favourites return to the festival in its 14th year. The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective perform three concerts, utilising their 10 musicians to perform works from duos to nonets by composers from Mozart to Coleridge-Taylor.

The Maxwell Quartet are one of Britain’s leading ensembles and are part of a new residency relationship with Lammermuir Festival for the next three years. They play two concerts at this year’s festival.

The Dunedin Consort returns for a 14th consecutive year at Lammermuir on September 17. The spotlight is shone on neglected women composers of the 17th and 18th centuries in a programme of rediscovery at Crichton Collegiate Church, Pathhead.

Royal Northern Sinfonia performs on September 14 at St Mary’s at 8pm with principal conductor Dinis Sousa. Maria Włoszczowska performs Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Following this is Schumann’s Symphony No. 2.

Some of last year’s debutants return to the festival. Alongside their Coffee Concert, French ensemble Quatuor Agate play in Stenton Parish Church on the festival’s opening day, performing quartets from Mozart and Beethoven.

The National Youth Choir of Scotland Chamber Choir returns to St Mary’s on September 10 at 8pm. The choir reprises Britten’s Hymn to St Cecilia from last year’s programme, alongside works from all over the world.

Holy Trinity Church in Haddington hosts the continuation of the Coffee Concerts following their return last year. Highlighting the best of classical music’s young stars, the concerts feature Irène Duval and Sam Armstrong; Quatuor Agate; violinist Jonian Ilias Kadesha; Jordanian-Palestinian pianist Iyad Sughayer; and 2022 BBC Young Musician Strings final winner Jaren Ziegler.

BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists Ensemble Molière brings The Dancing Star, a programme of French baroque dance music, to Crichton Collegiate Church on September 10.

Trio Gaspard accompanies its Coffee Concert with a performance at North Esk Church in Musselburgh of Czech chamber music on September 13.

Tenor Nicolas Mulroy and accordionist Ryan Corbett bring Years of Solitude to Garvald Village Hall on September 15.

More songs bring Dirleton Kirk to life on September 16. Soprano Harriet Burns, tenor Nick Pritchard, and pianist Christopher Glynn perform.

James Waters and Hugh Macdonald, the festival’s artistic directors, said: “We are delighted to be bringing a programme of fantastic musicians and music to the beautiful and historic county of East Lothian this September.

“We are particularly excited to welcome back the great harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani as our artist in residence with five programmes demonstrating the breadth and depth of his artistry; and Scottish Opera’s Scottish premiere of Richard Strauss’s spellbinding late opera Daphne is something any festival would be proud to present.

“The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork have created a very special project to mark William Byrd’s 400th anniversary in dramatic style, immersing us in the more revolutionary aspects of this prolific composer. And in the company of The Marian Consort and Dr Lizzie Swarbrick, we will explore the early history, both architectural and musical, of Haddington’s magnificent St Mary’s Church, marking the 50th anniversary of its restoration.

“The wonderful violinist Alina Ibragimova partners our patron Steven Osborne in Prokofiev violin sonatas, and Steven’s performance of the Tippett Piano Concerto will be a very special occasion indeed.

"And we look forward to the return of the virtuoso Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective with three glorious concerts, as well as, this September, marking the start of an ongoing collaboration with the Maxwell String Quartet.

“If you love listening to world-class musicians playing everything from Byrd to Tippett in stunning surroundings, please join us in this special place this September.”