On 19 September, Amisfield Walled Garden in Haddington became the setting for something truly extraordinary: the UK premiere of Anthony Braxton’s Composition No. 19 (For 100 Tubas), presented by Red Note Ensemble as part of Lammermuir Festival.

With 100 players spread across four groups, the music unfolded throughout the garden, with performers moving through the space in a spectacle that was part concert, part procession and entirely its own thing. Joined by four of Red Note’s trumpeters, the players brought Braxton’s remarkable work to life on a scale rarely experienced.

It was a day built around a simple but ambitious idea: bring a hundred individual musicians, an audience and an extraordinary piece of music together in a beautiful place, and see what happens.

For us at Red Note, creating the conditions for something unexpected to happen is a big part of what we do. 100 Tubas was a wonderful reminder of what can emerge when people come together to make something bigger than themselves.

A huge thank you to every one of the 100 tuba players, to our audience, to Anthony Braxton for the music, to Marco Blaauw, Danielle Price, our four Red Note trumpeters, the section leaders, the Amisfield team and everyone at Lammermuir Festival who helped make it happen.

And, of course, thank you to everyone who came along and made the day what it was.

Looking back at the photographs, we’re still struggling to find quite the right words for it.

Although, I’ve been looking at sousaphones online ever since.