A POPULAR music festival will be returning to Carmarthenshire this month following a two-year absence due to Covid.

Llandeilo Fawr Festival of Music will be celebrating its 20th anniversary between July 16-23 and according to organisers, the event is ‘back with a vengeance’!

Here is what you can expect from the week-long event.

The first event will be on Saturday, July 16 and is a choral evening which will see Cantorion John S. Davies Singers and the Westward Chamber Orchestra performing works by Handel and Haydn.

Simon Pearce, organist of St David’s Cathedral will join them, alongside vocalists Fflur Wyn (soprano), Angharad Davies (mezzo-soprano), Rhodri Prys Jones (tenor) and Emyr Lloyd Jones (baritone). Conducting the performance will be Cantorion John S. Davies Singers’ musical director, John S. Davies.

On Sunday, July 17, there will be a festival service at St Teilo’s Church at 11am. There will be an address given by the Venerable Dorrien Davies, archdeacon of Carmarthen, with the Festival Singers performing.

On Sunday evening, there will be a concert at Newton House which organisers say is to be ‘an unforgettable experience.’

Lotte Betts-Dean, an Oxford Lieder competition prize winner, will be returning to perform.

In 2017, the Australian mezzo-soprano captivated the audience at Newton House and her performance this year will be an evening titled Travels with a Guitar, and consist of songs from France, England, Greece, Spain and Brazil.

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She will be accompanied by award-winning Greek guitarist Dimitris Soukaras.

On Monday, 18th, Jazz at The Cawdor will be taking place.

The Julian Bliss Quintet will perform the music of George Gershwin in a captivating show which includes extraordinary musicianship and humour. The ticket price for the evening will include a Cawdor buffet.

On Tuesday, 19th, there will be an evening performance at St Teilo’s. Amici della Musica, featuring Piers Lane on piano, Jack Liebeck on violin, Elizabeth Wallfisch on viola and Raphael Wallfisch on Cello, will give a recital including Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A minor and Smetana’s Piano Trio. They will also play Brahm’s Piano Quartet in C minor.

On Wednesday, 20th, Emma Johnson will be joined by violinist Simon Blendis, pianist Martin Roscoe and cellist Raphael Wallfisch to perform 20th century pieces including Olivier Messiaen’s Quatour pour la Fin du Temps.

The piece – translated as Quartet for the End of Time – was written when Mr Messiaen was in a prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. It is inspired by the New Testament book of revelation.

The piece is set to be the most profound performed during the week and is dedicated to all the victims of the current war in Ukraine. There will also be performances of work by Beethoven and Brahms.

On Thursday 21st, internationally renowned Welsh pianist, Llyr Williams, will be performing a programme of works by Mozart (Fantasia in C Minor, K.475), Schumann (Fantasy in C Major Op.17), Rachmaninov (Variations on a Theme of Corelli Op.42), Liszt (Légende No.1 'St François d'Assise: La Prédication aux Oiseaux', S.175/1).

He will also perform his transcription of Wagner’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde.

Friday, 22nd sees the String Quartet recital take place. Performing will be Czechoslovakian Skampa String Quartet.

They will perform pieces including Borodin’s Quartet No.2 in D major, Dvorak’s Quartet in F major Op.96 – The American and Haydn’s Quartet Op.76 No.2.

The final day of the festival on Saturday, 23rd, will be a second choral evening with The Final Concert. Armonico Consort from Warwick will take to the stage at St Teilo’s for a special Platinum Jubilee concert.

They will perform pieces from the 1953 Coronation Service, including Handel’s Zadok the Priest, Parry’s I Was Glad and anthems by Vaughan Williams, Walton and Stanford.

The choir will be accompanied by organ and brass musicians.

There will be a lunchtime series of free concerts including a song recital by soprano Lauren Williams, accompanied by David Vaughan Lewis.

The Royal Harpist Alis Huws and flautist Carys Gittins will also be giving a recital.

For further information vist: www.llandeilomusicfestival.org.uk

For Tickets /Brochures: contact 01269 594303/ Peppercorn 01558 822410 or email juliajones2ne@gmail.com  / gloriajvr@hotmail.com

Tickets online  www.ticketsource.co.uk/llandeilo-fawr-festival-of-music or look for the QR code.