Music at Paxton: ten days of music in a glorious Scottish Borders setting

Paxton House (Photo Paxton House)

Back in 2015, I wrote about Music at Paxton's celebrations for the 10th festival [see my article], then finally last year I was able to visit the house for the first time (alas, not during the festival). This year the festival runs from 22 to 31 July 2022 at Paxton House in the Scottish Borders. Paxton was designed in the late 18th century by the Adam family, has glorious Regency additions (notably a picture gallery where concerts are held) as well as a fine collection of Chippendale furniture.

This year baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Susie Allan open the festival with a celebration of RVW's 150th birthday mixing his songs with a new commission from Sarah Cattley, and as part of the Momentum scheme, Williams will be joined by baritone Jerome Knox (winner of the 2020 Handel Singing Competition) to perform part of the programme. The Maxwell Quartet is in residence, and it will be performing Brahms, Haydn, and Roxanna Panufnik’s The Audience (with tenor Jamie MacDougall as part of Visit Scotland's Year of Stories). Pianist Pavel Kolesnikov celebrates the centenary of Marcel Proust with music by Schubert, Couperin, Hahn (one of Proust's lovers), Fauré and Franck, as well as giving a duo-recital with Samson Tsoy.

Other visitors include Sarah Connolly and James Middleton giving the Scottish première of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Songs of Sleep and Regret plus music by Samuel Barber, Chausson and Kurt Weill. Pianist Angela Hewitt closes the festival with music by Mozart, Bach and Chopin

Young artists at the festival include Ellie McLaren (fiddle), Ciar Milne (small pipes), Echéa Quartet, Ryan Corbett (accordion), Mithras Piano Trio,  Megan McDonald (accordion),  Calum McIlroy (voice, guitar, mandolin), and Sophie Rocks (harp).

Full details from the Music at Paxton website.