Dates: Wednesday 25th – Sunday 29th June 2025
East Neuk Festival has announced full details of its 20th Festival programme of live music.
This 5-day music festival, taking place in some of East Fife’s most stunning seaside locations, offers an unmissable line-up of classical, jazz, folk, and experimental music, performed by some of the world’s leading musicians.
Scottish Chamber Orchestra which has played at every festival since it began and will play the opening concert on Wednesday 25 June. Photo credit Christopher Bowen
Among those returning, are festival favourites Diyang Mei (Principal Viola of the Berlin Philharmonic) and Sergio Pires (Principal Clarinet of the London Symphony Orchestra), who first performed at East Neuk when they were young rising stars; four of the world’s finest string quartets: Elias Quartet, The Pavel Haas Quartet, Castalian Quartet and the Belcea Quartet; the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) who have performed at every festival since its inception; and guitarist Sean Shibe who first came to the festival in 2012 and has since toured globally, won a string of awards, and earned the admiration of musicians and audiences from all over the world.
Plus, among those making their festival debut this year are celebrated tenor Mark Padmore and baritone James Newby, and in jazz and folk, the legendary Kathryn Tickell with her band The Darkness, and rising star of the London jazz scene, saxophonist Tom Smith with his septet.
Guitarist Sean Shibe who will perform with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at this year’s opening concert, and play three solo concerts for lute, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar. Photo courtesy East Neuk Festival.
This year’s 20th anniversary programme highlights include:
The opening concert with Principal Guest Conductor Andrew Manze directing the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on a journey through rural Sweden, royal Spain and imperial Vienna, joined by guitarist Sean Shibe who performs one of the most famous and popular of all works for guitar – Rodrigo’s Concierto d’Aranjuez. Manze’s programme culminates with Schubert’s Symphony No 6 in C major – a piece he himself entitled ‘The Great’.
All five of Beethoven’s late quartets performed by four of the world’s finest: Elias Quartet, The Pavel Haas Quartet, Castalian Quartet and the Belcea Quartet. Between them they will perform these often mysterious but also humorous, searing and moving works, pairing each of them with music by Mozart, Schubert, Ades and Beamish.
Beethoven’s Septet which was the piece first performed in Elie Church more than 20 years ago in a taster event that led to the creation of the Festival. Some of the original players (Ursula Leveaux and Alexander Janiczek) will be joined by a hand-picked line-up of colleagues, including principals of the SCO, Berlin Philharmonic and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera, and the Nash Ensemble.
Guitarist Sean Shibe performing three solo concerts in Anstruther, spanning five centuries in the evolution of the guitar from lute to electric guitar. Scottish and French lute music collected in manuscripts from over five centuries ago; music by Bach and Thomas Ades on acoustic guitar; and his own joyous rendition of Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint on electric.
His performances will be followed by the return of celebrated Oud player Nizar Rohana with a rare solo performance on this ancient mesmerising instrument that is the ancestor of all European guitar-like instruments.
Schubert has been one of the most regularly performed composers at ENF over the past 20 years and this festival we will feature his three marvellous song cycles performed by celebrated tenor Mark Padmore and baritone James Newby, and pianist Joseph Middleton. Schubert’s String Quintet, (one of the most regularly requested discs on Desert Island Discs) will also be performed as part of The Pavel Haas Quartet’s concert.
To close this 20th festival, all four quartets join forces to form a ‘mega-star’ chamber orchestra and play Sibelius’s Andante Festivo alongside the world premiere of Field of Stars by Sally Beamish commissioned specifically for these 16 players and inspired partly by the many nations from which they come.
The Pavel Haas Quartet. Photo credit Neil Hanna
Anstruther hosts a weekend of jazz and traditional music concerts including legendary folk artist Kathryn Tickell with her band The Darkening; the Euan Stevenson Trio sharing tunes from Ellington and Evans; and rising star, award-winning saxophonist Tom Smith with his talented septet playing a bluesy, joyful set of jazz tunes.
A grand gathering of Fife community musicians join forces in the Bowhouse for the premiere of a new piece by composer and harpist Esther Swift. Musicians of all ages from StAMP (St Andrews Music Project), Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra, and East Fife Community Ensemble will join Esther and artist Esme McIntyre to devise and perform this piece, telling of stories of the Zulu fishing boats that once thronged the harbours of East Neuk, and their journeys far and wide.
ENF Founder and Chair, Donald MacDonald CBE, said: “I am delighted that we have such a packed programme of incredible musicians joining us in East Neuk to celebrate our 20th year.
“I find it utterly humbling that we have so much talent at our festival year-on-year, and it brings me so much joy to know that some of these musicians were at the very beginning of their careers when they first performed at the festival, and have since gone on to play in some of the greatest concert halls in the world.
“However, none of this would have been possible without the generous support of all our supporters and funders who dig deep year-on-year, so a huge thank you goes to them all.”
ENF Director Svend McEwan-Brown who has directed the festival since its inception said: “In the past 20 years we have seen so much change, in the world – of course – but specifically in music.
“Undoubtedly things have got tougher, so right now, thinking about how many people have really put themselves out to do something a little special for our 20th festival, I feel we have so much cause to celebrate. We’re still here! And more people than ever want to come to festivals and share something extraordinary.
“The music is the thing and I hope every single person who comes, goes home with a very special memory of an unrepeatable experience here, combining music with this magical place. This festival programme has been three years in the making – I hope everyone will agree that every minute of that, was worth it.”
Clare Hewitt, Music Officer at Creative Scotland says: “Every East Neuk Festival is infused with a breath of fresh coastal air. The significance of the event to Fife’s communities and to its visiting artists and audiences shines through this year’s programme as it celebrates the past while looking to the future.
“Congratulations to everyone who makes this remarkable event happen.”
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