The next course will take place in Ullapool, Wester Ross, from Saturday 18th to Friday 24th July 2026.
Booking for Variations 2026 is now open.
Once again, your tutors for the week will include members of the renowned Edinburgh Quartet together with others tutors who will be announced later.
The Egremont Quartet at Ullapool 2022
Your course fee also includes tickets for the two public concerts given by the Edinburgh Quartet.
If you book your place before 31 March 2026, the course costs £520 (£560 after 31 March). A £150 deposit is required to secure each place at the time of booking. See our ‘Book Your Place‘ page for more details.
Variations Announces the String Quartet Challenge
In 2026, Variations hopes to launch the Variations String Quartet Challenge, to encourage more younger amateur musicians to form quartets and play together regularly.
This is an open competition for 18 – 40 year olds. They will be invited to submit recordings of a couple of movements (one of them will be a test piece) from which the Edinburgh Quartet will draw up a list of 4 finalists, and also identify quartets that show promise. The finalists will perform an entire quartet each at a public concert in April 2026, with the Edinburgh Quartet as judges, The winning quartet members will be given a free pass to Variations 2026 in Ullapool. There will also be several follow up one day workshops with the Edinburgh Quartet for selected Challenge participants.
The Hugh Fraser Foundation has kindly committed funding to support the Challenge. Other funding applications are in the pipeline, and by the end of 2025 we hope to confirm the Challenge will go ahead. Anyone who might consider participating – watch this space and the Variations Facebook and Instagram pages for more details or email info@variationsscotland.co.uk so we can send you an application form once the Challenge is confirmed.
