Once again our beautiful, historic county was the setting for a festival of beautiful music performed by some of the world’s finest musicians. We were delighted to welcome back the great harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani as our Artist in Residence with five programmes demonstrating the breadth and depth of his artistry. Scottish Opera gave us the Scottish premiere of Richard Strauss’s spellbinding late opera Daphne and a superb new ensemble, Spunicunifait, performed all six of Mozart’s string quintets.

The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork marked William Byrd’s 400th anniversary in dramatic style, and in the company of The Marian Consort and Dr Lizzie Swarbrick explored the early history, both architectural and musical of Haddington’s magnificent St Mary’s Church to mark the 50th anniversary of its restoration. The wonderful violinist Alina Ibragimova partnered our patron Steven Osborne in Prokofiev violin sonatas, and Steven’s performance of the Tippett Piano Concerto will be a very special occasion indeed.

We welcomed back the virtuoso Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective - a superb ensemble of leading British instrumentalists - with three programmes, and we are delighted that 2023 also marked the start of an ongoing collaboration with the Maxwell String Quartet.