The 5-day East Neuk Festival (ENF) that will take place in some of East Fife’s finest seaside locations, will be performed by some of the world’s leading musicians, offering audiences a wide range of musical styles from orchestral and chamber music, Renaissance choral to jazz and Middle Eastern sounds.
Making their festival debut this year are four outstanding players from Spain going by the collective name of Cuarteto Quiroga and comprising pianist Christian Zacharias and Ander Perrino Cabello; harpist Karen Marshalsay; dynamic Scottish-Egyptian duo The Ayoub Sisters and Turkish dance band Kolektif Istanbul.
The programme includes three UK premieres made up of Arietta, that is a co-commission inspired by Beethoven’s late piano sonatas written for the Calidore Quartet by Mark Anthony Turnage; Images from the Floating Worldinspired by Njál’s Saga, performed by the Opus 13 quartet, and written by Swedish composer Britta Byström and a new work written byoud master, Rihab Azar for oud, violin, cello and percussion.
ENF highlights include The Opening Concert where Scotland’s finest jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie takes Brahms Opus 10 as inspiration for his own improvisations, before being joined by Su-a Lee (cello) and Donald Grant (violin) for duos and trios. There is a rare chance to hear Beethoven’s ‘Mega Work,’ – all three of Beethoven’s Razumovsky quartets performed over the course of a single day by all three quartets at this year’s festival (Opus13, Cuarteto Quiroga, Calidore Quartet).
Christian Zacharias returns to perform Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet with Cuarteto Quiroga; Llŷr Williams performs Schumann’s Kreisleriana; The Tallis Scholars will be singing a sequence of all three of William Byrd’s masses and The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, led by Maxim Emelyanchev, closes the festival with works by Mozart, Haydn and Stravinsky and guest soprano Anna Dennis.
This year’s Big Project performance is inspired by the story of Crail-born composer James Oswald (b. 1710)) who was the son of Crail’s town drummer and rose to have a career as one of London’s most famous and influential musicians and publishers. Titled Looking for Oswald, this new performance offers Oswald’s music performed by harpist Karen Marshalsay, singer Chris Miles and fiddler/violist Kathryn Nicholl with an introduction by Tom Davidson. Accompanying artwork created by pupils at Crail primary school will be on display.
ENF Co-founder and Chair, Donald MacDonald CBE said “I am delighted that year-on-year some of the world’s greatest musicians descend on the picturesque villages of the East Neuk of Fife to be part of this world-class, five-day event. The festival team is passionate about the festival’s delivery and committed to bringing its audiences the very best experience they can, none of which would be possible without the generous support of all our supporters and funders who dig deep year-on-year. A huge thank you to you all.”
Dates: Wednesday 1st to Sunday 5th July 2026
Tickets on sale now
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 