Music at Paxton launches fun-focused summer programme

Scotland’s Music at Paxton festival has today revealed details of its upcoming summer season which runs from 18 to 27 July at Paxton House in the Scottish Borders. The programme, which encompasses chamber music, family events, talks, workshops and song, marks the third and final year of the Consone Quartet’s tenure as associate ensemble, plus further festival debuts and Scottish premières.

The 2025 festival presents 24 events and concerts across 10 days of music on the banks of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders. It kicks off with a performance from pianist Yevgeny Sudbin who presents a programme representing his specialities as a performer; combining Baroque compositions of JS Bach and Domenico Scarlatti with works by Liszt, Scriabin, and Prokofiev. 

Festival artistic director Angus Smith said: ‘Our distinguished guest musicians are once again offering a wonderful array of profound and inspirational music that embraces a wide range of compositional styles, and we firmly believe that the keynote of this festival will be “having fun”! We invite audiences to explore music that will both entertain and challenge all our preconceptions, in concerts that will demonstrate the joy of experiencing live music performed by passionate artists who dedicate their lives to their art.’ 

The 2025 festival marks the final year of the Consone Quartet’s tenure as associate ensemble. The quartet mark their final year with three programmes. As well as completing their Robert Schumann cycle, they pay tribute to Emilie Mayer, the most prolific woman composer of the German Romantic period and deliver the Scottish première of a new work by young British composer Oliver Leith, a whose music is earning widespread international acclaim. Their final concert sees them join forces with cellist Philip Higham for Mozart’s Quartet in A and Schubert’s final composition; his Quintet.

The 2025 programme also marks the return of mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, who this year colaborates with pianist Sholto Kynoch and lutenist Toby Carr, and sees the Carducci Quartet mark both 150 years since Ravel’s birth and the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death. Further visiting talent includes Baroque specialists the London Handel Players and the Chloé Piano Trio as well as composer, producer and tabla player Kuljit Bhamra, singer Shahid Abbas Khan and sitarist Jonathan Mayer. Pianist Pavel Kolesnikov, gives the festival finale with a concert designed to offer new perspectives on the music of Mozart.

With the support of the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust, the festival presents tickets starting at just £6 and a number of free concerts, including a programme of uplifting choral music by Northumbria Chamber Choir.  Priority booking for Patrons and Benefactors is now open, with general booking available from 22 April.