THE Lammermuir Festival returns to East Lothian next week, with many fantastic musical performances on offer over 12 days.

The festival, which runs from tomorrow (September 7) to September 18, features 36 performances at 12 venues.

Scottish Opera is partnering with the Lammermuir Festival to bring another national premiere to the event on opening night, when Stuart Stratford conducts Richard Strauss’s Daphne at St Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington.

Lammermuir Festival patron and pianist Steven Osborne is set to perform in three concerts.

He will first team up with violinist Alina Ibragimova for a programme of Debussy, Pärt and Prokofiev, before delivering a more contemplative event when he discusses “What does music mean?” and performs Schubert’s Sonata in A Major, D959. The festival patron then draws proceedings to a close when he plays Tippett’s Piano Concerto alongside the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Having performed at the very first Lammermuir Festival, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani returns as artist-in-residence with five programmes, including his ‘coffee concert’.

This year, St Mary’s celebrates the 50th anniversary of its restoration. The festival is marking the event with an afternoon of lectures from art historian Dr Lizzie Swarbrick and music from The Marian Consort, who will explore what the church and surrounding area would have looked and sounded like before the Reformation and the Siege of Haddington in 1548.

Continuing the Reformation theme, Gesualdo Six and Fretwork perform William Byrd in St Mary’s on September 13.

Five of Europe’s top string players will be joining the festival to perform as Spunicunifait, named after a nonsense word coined by Mozart.

Other festival favourites returning to the event in its 14th year are the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, who will perform three concerts, utilising their 10 musicians to present works from duos to nonets by composers including Mozart and Coleridge-Taylor.

The Maxwell Quartet play two concerts at this year’s festival; while the Dunedin Consort return for a 14th consecutive year on September 17. The spotlight will be shone on neglected women composers of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Royal Northern Sinfonia perform in St Mary’s on September 14, with principal conductor Dinis Sousa. Maria Włoszczowska performs Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, followed by Schumann’s Symphony No. 2.

Some of last year’s debutants will also return to the festival. Alongside their ‘coffee concert’, French ensemble Quatuor Agate play Stenton Parish Church on the festival’s opening day; and the National Youth Choir of Scotland Chamber Choir return to St Mary’s on September 10 at 8pm.

Holy Trinity Church, Haddington, hosts the series of ‘coffee concerts’ following their return last year, while BBC Radio 3 New Generation artists, Ensemble Molière, bring ‘The Dancing Star’, a programme of French baroque dance music, to Crichton Collegiate Church.

Trio Gaspard perform Czech chamber music at North Esk Church, Musselburgh, on September 13. Tenor Nicolas Mulroy and accordionist Ryan Corbett will bring “Years of Solitude” to Garvald Village Hall on September 15.

More songs bring Dirleton Kirk to life on September 16, when 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.

“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.”

To book tickets, go to lammer muirfestival.co.uk