Music at Paxton has been gifted a significant bequest by one of our long-standing and loyal Patrons, Miss Wilson, who sadly passed away in 2024.

While the final details of the bequest are still to be finalised, it is clear that this donation will have a positive impact on the future of Music at Paxton.  It will enable us to continue our mission of presenting world class music and musicians in the Borders region, providing career-building opportunities for young professional musicians, and improving access to quality live music.

Whilst this generous donation will enable Music at Paxton to both survive and thrive, it does not mitigate our need to continue fundraising from other sources. The funding landscape for arts and culture remains extremely challenging on both sides of the border, with no guarantee that previous funders will be in a position to continue their support of Music at Paxton from one year to the next. The Trustees are  therefore committed to ensuring that a portion of the bequest is used to protect the medium to long term future of the festival through careful management and ethical investment of the funds.

We are also prioritising a portion of the funds in the short term to our important aim of improving access to music, specifically in 2025 to presenting a local school project, funding a festival intern position for early career arts professionals, and supporting a trial project that provides a free taxi service for some festival events for those unable to drive. Music at Paxton will continue to invest in the local economy through using local suppliers wherever possible, and by attracting festival visitors to come and spend some time in the beautiful Borders region.

We are incredibly honoured and grateful to be beneficiaries of Miss Wilson’s legacy. If you are interested in learning more about legacy-gifting, you can download our information leaflet on the link below, or email us on info@musicatpaxton.co.uk.

Download legacy leaflet

Could you help us continue to bring quality live music to our under-served Borders region?

Would you like to play a key leadership role in supporting the future of a world-class chamber music festival?

We are currently recruiting for a Chair of Trustees, to take post when our Interim Chair stands down in October, and a maximum of two new trustees to join our existing Board. Previous governance experience is less essential than a passion for the Arts. We are particularly keen to hear from those with a connection to the Scottish Borders / Northumberland.

You can read more on the links below, or contact Siobhan Staples, General Manager on info@musicatpaxton.co.uk, or 07594 224992. For an informal and confidential discussion about the role of Chair you are welcome to contact our Interim Chair of Trustees, David Seers on david.seers@btinternet.com .

Chair of Trustees information

Trustee information 

Deadline: 24th March 2025.

The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to what people need to make ends meet. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that choose to ensure their staff earn a wage that meets the costs and pressures they face in their everyday lives. Since 2011 the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 460,000 people and put £3 billion extra into the pockets of low paid workers.

Gail Irvine, Living Wage Scotland Manager said: “We’re delighted that Music at Paxton has become an accredited Living Wage employer. They join a growing movement of nearly 3500 employers in Scotland who together want to ensure workers have what they need to thrive. Our Living Wage employer network includes lots of smaller employers as well as larger and iconic brands like SSE, abrdn, Barrs, Mackie’s of Scotland, & D.C. Thomson. We hope to see many more employers following their example.”

The UK Living Wage is currently £12 per hour. This rate is higher than the government minimum for over 23s, which currently stands at £10.42 per hour. There is a separate London Living Wage rate of £13.15 per hour. The rates are calculated annually by the Resolution Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Commission, based on the best available evidence on living standards in London and the UK.

Accredited Living Wage employers in Scotland span private, public and third sectors. SMEs make up 75% of the total number of employers and more than half of Scotland’s local councils are accredited. Find out more at www.scottishlivingwage.org/accredited

We regret to announce that due to the disruption of train services across the first weekend of our 2023 Festival, the Piatti String Quartet have very reluctantly been compelled due to personal circumstances to withdraw from the evening performance on Friday 21st July and the Family Concert on the morning of Saturday 22nd July.

However, we are very pleased to have been able to arrange wonderful musicians to take these spots instead. For more information on the performers, please see below.

Friday 21st July at 7.30pm
Dudok Quartet Amsterdam

Judith van Driel, Violin I
Marleen Wester, Violin II
Marie-Louise de Jong,  Viola
David Faber, Cello

Pérotin (arr. Dudok Quartet) Viderunt Omnes
Machaut (arr. Dudok Quartet) Kyrie from ‘Messe de Nostre Dame’
Gesualdo (arr. Dudok Quartet) Deh come invan sospiro
Mozart String Quartet No. 23 in F, K.590
Tchaikovsky String Quartet No. 3 in E-flat minor, Op.30

The Dudok Quartet Amsterdam is forging a reputation as one of the most creative and versatile quartets of its generation. With its ethos of “sharing the heart of music”, the Quartet believes that chamber music is an act of friendship to be shared directly with audiences and is committed to crafting unique and eclectic programmes that engage listeners in new and imaginative ways. The Quartet’s ethos can be summed up in their belief that “the music we play is never old or new, but always relevant and present.”

The Dudok Quartet has performed at many of the major European venues and festivals including the Vienna Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall, Beethovenhaus Bonn, De Bijloke, Barcelona Auditori, De Doelen, Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern, BBC Proms, Heidelberg String Quartet Festival, West Cork Chamber Music Festival and the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale, as well as appearing regularly at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Amsterdam Muziekgebouw. The Quartet made its US debut in 2018 at the Northwestern University Winter Chamber Music Festival, with other recent highlights including a New York debut at the Park Avenue Armory and digital concerts for the Washington Library of Congress and Fontana Chamber Arts Kalamazoo.

Simply revelatory. The players’ persistent delicacy, the freshly though-out balances between Instrumental lines, the communication of music so familiar as something new, was extraordinarily energising in its effect.

Saturday 22nd July at 10.00am

We are delighted that our Family Concert will now be led by Breanna Wilson & Sophie Joint.

Breanna Wilson is a fiddle player from Glasgow who has recently completed her fourth year at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She grew up playing trad music in Glasgow and has competed at the Fleadh multiple times. She has performed at various festivals such as Celtic Connections, Celtic Colours and IMBOLC and is also an avid composer.

Sophie Joint is a pianist from Glasgow with a background in Scottish and Irish traditional music. She has just finished her final year at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and has won a Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections and The Molloy Award at Birmingham Trad Fest. Sophie enjoys composing and arranging in a contemporary style with strong traditional roots and has performed at international festivals including Festival Interceltique de Lorient and Celtic Colours in Canada.

Sophie and Brianna were both finalists in the 2022 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician competition. They will introduce their programme from the stage.

Music at Paxton is seeking to recruit at least two new trustees to replace those who come to the end of their terms at the end of this season.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

We are looking for individuals from all backgrounds and skills sets, but we would be particularly interested to hear from those with a strong connection to the Scottish Borders and/or Northumberland, and from those with experience in the following areas: attracting business sponsorship and partnerships; developing creative education and outreach initiatives; fundraising.

We also wish to appoint a trustee aged 18-30 to strengthen our collective expertise and perspectives, and to contribute to the effectiveness of the organisation. We believe that having younger representation at board-level will enable better decision-making around the future of the Festival, and we look forward to the fresh insights and new skills that a younger trustee will bring.

ABOUT US

Music at Paxton is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) which produces a summer festival of chamber music each July at Paxton House in the Scottish Borders, just five miles from England’s most northerly town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Our mission is to produce exciting and diverse programmes to move and inspire, allowing affordable access to world class music in local settings throughout a region with little arts provision.

The Festival is run by a volunteer Board of Trustees, supported year-round by two professional freelancers – an Artistic Director (0.2 FTE) and a General Manager (0.6 FTE) – with additional volunteers assisting with the routine tasks essential to the smooth delivery of the Festival.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for Music at Paxton’s governance and strategy (including Green initiatives and widening participation), and for making sure that the charity is administered effectively, monitoring and controlling the charity’s financial affairs. The Board meets three times a year, with a mix of online and in-person meetings.

APPLICATION PROCESS

For an informal/confidential discussion about the role(s), please contact General Manager Elizabeth Macdonald: info@musicatpaxton.co.uk

To apply, please submit a statement of interest and a brief biography detailing relevant experience for the attention of Andrew Walker (Music at Paxton Chair): info@musicatpaxton.co.uk.

The deadline for applications is 30 September 2022.

To download a pdf version, click HERE