A POPULAR music festival will return to the Towy Valley next month on the back of its fantastic 20th anniversary celebrations.
The Llandeilo Fawr Festival of Music will return to the town in July with a whole host of stars to follow up it’s ‘best ever’ in 2022.
The festival will begin on Saturday, July 8 with a concert at St Teilo’s Church at 7pm.
The concert will see Singers and Players of Armonico Consort perform under director Christopher Monks. There will be two Baroque pieces performed: Stabat Mater by Pergolesi and Dido and Aeneas by Purcell.
On Sunday, July 9, there will be a festival service at 11am, which will welcome the new vicar the Reverend Johnathan Parker.
Following this, there will be the traditional Sunday evening recital at Newton House which will feature royal harpist Alia Huws, who played at Westminster Abbey during King Charles III’s coronation service.
On Monday, July 10, there will be a performance from clarinettist Emma Johnson, the former BBC Young Musician of the Year. She will perform a program of music called Tales from Vienna which will feature chamber works by Schubert, Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms before a selection of waltzes and other music by Lehar and Strauss.
She will be joined by a number of instrumental friends and there will be a free glass of sparkling wine for attendees.
Tuesday, July 11 will see the traditional festival jazz evening held at Cawdor Hotel. There will be a performance from pianist Geoff Eales, Nick Kacal on double bass and percussionist Paul Smith.
A dramatic piece will be performed on Wednesday, July 12, by pianist and broadcaster Lucy Parham and award-winning actor Henry Goodman.
The piece is called Élégie and was written by Lucy. It will mark the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff’s birth and focuses on the heartbreak caused by his exile from Russia.
Thursday, July 13 will see a new kind of concert at the festival, with a recital from Simon Blendis, the concertmaster of the London Mozart Players.
He will be performing a number of popular violinist Max Jaffa’s solo pieces under the title of Love is like a Violin, accompanied by wife Saoko.
Simon has acquired the Guarnerius violin used by Max Jaffa as well as a huge collection of sheet music from the violinist.
There will be a performance from those involved in the festival’s schools outreach programme which will see the pupils from Llandeilo Primary School joined by dancers and drummers from the African Performing Arts for a concert called Africa… A singing nation.
The African Performing Arts group featured in the opening ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The closing concert will see Cantorion John S. Davies Singers joined by soprano Jennifer Walker, bass Stephen Hamnett and organist Jane Watts for a performance of Faure’s Requiem. It will be conducted by John S. Davies.
Throughout the week, there will also be free lunchtime recitals from organists Wyn Turner and Dr William Reynolds, pianist Gerald Jones, soprano Llinos Haf Jones and harpists Eleri Jones and Llewellyn Jones.
All concerts will take place in St Teilo’s Church, Llandeilo, aside from the harp recital at Newton House and the jazz evening at Cawdor Hotel.
Llandeilo Fawr Festival of Music will be held in the town between July 8-15.
More information can be found at www.llandeilomusicfestival.org.uk and tickets can be bought online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/llandeilo-fawr-festival-of-music or from Peppercorn by calling 01558 822410 or emailing gloriajvr@hotmail.com.
Tickets can also be bought from Morgan Newsagent on 01550 777697, the director on 01269 594303 or by emailing juliajones2ne@gmail.com
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