Presteigne Festival presents a chance to enjoy 25 world-class arts events in the stunning landscape of the Welsh Marches next week
Presteigne Festival is gearing up to present a chance to enjoy 25 world-class arts events
In a little over a week, the Presteigne Festival presents a chance to enjoy 25 world-class arts events set in intimate venues situated in the stunning landscape of the Welsh Marches.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s music will be a highlight throughout five concert-packed days from August 21 to 25, and the Festival is delighted to welcome Anglo-Jamaican musician Eleanor Alberga – celebrating her 75th birthday year – as composer-in-residence.
The Festival’s advocacy for contemporary music is clearly demonstrated through a series of world premieres by a distinguished and diverse group of composers – among them Kerensa Briggs, Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade, Edward Gregson, Dani Howard, Huw Watkins and James B Wilson.
The programme also features existing works by living composers Thomas Adès, John Casken, Jonathan Dove, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Cecilia McDowall and Dame Judith Weir, presented alongside music by Bach, Beethoven, Britten, Chopin, Mahler, Moeran, Mozart, Piazzolla, Schubert, Stravinsky and more.
The Festival presents an outstanding roster of performers, including the Goethe Quartet, Nova Music Opera, the Leonore Trio, pianists Tim Horton and Timothy End, clarinettist Robert Plane, violinists Benjamin Nabarro, Emma Roijackers and Laura Rickard, mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons, soprano Elinor Rolfe Johnson, baritone Thomas Humphreys Mogg, cellist Gemma Rosefield, the Erda Ensemble, Bath Camerata (conductor Robert Brooks) and the ever-popular Presteigne Festival Orchestra.
In addition to its outstanding musical programme, the 2025 Festival presents a rich array of arts events, including film screenings, poetry readings, talks by Nicholas Murray on the Bloomsbury Group, Stephen Johnson on Shostakovich and Gavin Plumley on John Singer Sargent, as well as a tribute to the late filmmaker Barrie Gavin. Additionally, 55 talented local artists and makers will showcase their work as part of the Presteigne ‘Open Studios’ weekend.
To book tickets visit presteignefestival.com, telephone 01544 267800, visit the Box Office in the Assembly Rooms, Presteigne until August 16 it is open Monday to Saturday, 10am-1pm and between 18-25 August 18 and 25 it will be open daily, from 10am until 5pm.
