The new grand piano in Inverness Town House continues to be put to good use as part of an enhanced programme of lunch-time and evening concerts in celebration of the Year of Highland Culture. The concerts are promoted by Inverness Chamber Music Society and The Highland Council, with support from Enterprise Music Scotland and Highland 2007. The piano itself was funded through grants from Highland 2007 Community Fund and Inverness Common Good Fund.

The initial lunch-time concerts have shown that there is a considerable demand for piano events at this time of the day and the Highland Council Arts Officer for Inverness proposes to promote a monthly concert in the Town House. These will normally feature local musicians and young players from elsewhere. Admission is generally to be free with the audience requested to donate to a charity nominated by the musicians.

The evening concerts are generally presented by Inverness Chamber Music Society, which currently hosts all of its concerts in Inverness Town House. The society arranged for the purchase of the Bosendorfer piano, which they have subsequently handed over to the Inverness Common Good Fund.

A quintet comprising members of the Carducci Quartet the Eimer Piano Trio and a double bass player start of the 2007 programme on 16 January perform Schubert's popular "Trout" Quintet, the Schumann Piano Quintet and a Haydn string quartet.

The first lunch-time recital on 24 January features the two most regular piano players of the old Town Hall piano, Sheila Bruce and Rena Beaton. When Arthur Brocklebank put on Britten’s “Noye’s Flüdde” in Eden Court in the late seventies, he asked Rena and Sheila to play the piano duet part required in the orchestra. They discovered an immediate empathy, playing together with an ease which they have since replicated on many occasions over the years. This duet recital will include works from Bach to Lloyd Weber, including Handel and Brahms, Dvorak and Rice and many others en route.

On 7 February Sheila Bruce returns to the piano stool to accompany Des Devine in a lunch-time recital of songs from the shows. Des has sung with numerous musical and operatic Societies throughout Scotland and the South of England for over 20 years. His passionate hobby has allowed him to perform in venues such as The Hexagon Theatre, Reading, The Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh and, Eden Court Theatre. Highlights have included a live solo broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest musical ever staged. His love of musical theatre will see him perform a variety of songs from hit shows covering the last 60 years.

The Kungsbacka Piano Trio, who have been extremely well received in recent years, return for an evening concert on 14 February, this time with a programme by Beethoven, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn. On 23 February Fiona Macleod from Inverness, who has twice performed in the Town House with the Ebony Duo, and will return with the Bell Ensemble in April, will accompany Candice Sharp in a recital of lieder, songs and arias.

The Academia Wind Quintet of Prague perform works by Mozart, Reicha, Pavel Haas, Danzi, Tchaikovsky and Ibert on 12 March. The locally based Boswell Trio give a lunch-time concert on 16 March. Then, in an addition to the Inverness Chamber Music Society programme, on 28 March, Anna Kavalerova, the Russian winner of the Moray Piano Competition, gives an evening piano recital. The chamber music programme concludes its season with the Thistle Brass Quintet on 11 April, before starting again in the autumn. The lunch-time recitals continue through the year.