Classical music festival ready to take flight at unusual venues

• The Lammermuir Festival will see a special event taking place inside the Concorde hangar at the flight museum in East Fortune. Picture: Getty Images

An aircraft hangar housing Concorde, the ancestral home of the Duke of Hamilton, a medieval church and a 16th century schoolhouse will all be deployed as venues during the first Lammermuir Festival in September.

It is hoped the new event will persuade music-lovers to discover new corners of East Lothian, which launched its own high-profile book festival two years ago.

The new festival, which is named after the county's famous hills, is planned to emulate the success of long-established events such as the St Magnus Festival in Orkney and Fife's East Neuk Festival.

Organisers are promising world-class performances of live music in both rural and town settings throughout East Lothian. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the National Youth Choir of Scotland, and Scottish Academy of Music and Drama will all be staging shows during the ten-day event.

Venues include the National Museum of Flight, which houses Scotland's Concorde; Lennoxlove House, the 14th century home of the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton; St Mary's Church in Haddington, which dates back to 1380; and Pinkie House, a historic tower house at Loretto School, in Musselburgh.

It is hoped more than 2,000 ticket-holders will attend the festival, which is costing about 60,000 to stage. Half of that is being paid for thanks to 10,000 grants from EventScotland, the Scottish Arts Council and East Lothian Council, and contributions from local groups such as the Lamp of Lothian Trust.

The Lammermuir Festival has been partly inspired by fundraising concerts the violinist Yehudi Menuhin used to stage at the Haddington church on a regular basis. The festival is the brainchild of James Waters, former associate director of the Edinburgh International Festival, and Hugh Macdonald, a former head of music at BBC Scotland, and director of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 1991 to 2006.

Mr Macdonald said: "I've known James for a long time and we've been discussing the idea of a festival like this for a good few years. We very much hope it will become an annual festival in the area now."

Mr Waters added: "The county has a wonderful combination of beautiful landscape and fascinating buildings.

"We think that combining these with great music-making creates an irresistible prospect. In programming the festival we are taking the audience on both geographical and musical journeys in the company of some truly outstanding performers."

Among the expected highlights is the opening gala concert, to be performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in St Mary's Kirk on 10 September.

The Navarra Quartet, one of Britain's highest-rated young string quartets, will be performing three shows in three different venues in the one day; students from the RSAMD will be performing a brass concert in the spectacular long gallery of Pinkie House; and Glasgow-born composer Peter Nelson will be unveiling a special festival commission, to be performed inside the Concorde hangar at the flight museum at East Fortune, and also on board the iconic aircraft.

Some 400 years of music will be celebrated in rolling performances throughout the day.

Guest performers also include the English violin virtuoso Jennifer Pike, who won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award eight years ago when she was just 12; rising Scots cello star Philip Higham; and Iranian harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani.

• Ticket prices for the various concerts range from 5 for concessions to 20 for full price.

The festival runs from 10-19 September.