A 45 year-old Powys music festival will take a new direction in 2026
Presteigne Festival will be held from August 27 until 31 2026
In 2026, it will take something of a new direction, celebrating the remarkable contribution of women composers from the 20th and 21st centuries.
The Festival also marks significant birthdays for composer Sally Beamish and for the Festival's founding Artistic Director, Adrian Williams.
It will welcome Michael Zev Gordon as composer-in-residence and also present a mini-feature of Mathilde Wantenaar's music, one of the Netherlands’ most exciting younger-generation composers.
As always, new music features prominently throughout the Festival, with a rich selection of new and recent works from some of today’s most exciting voices – Michael Berkeley, Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade, Lillie Harris, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Gabriel Jackson, Tayla-Leigh Payne, Robert Peate, Electra Perivolaris, Lynne Plowman, Emma-Ruth Richards, Claire Victoria Roberts, Natalie Roe, Daniel Soley and James B Wilson.
The music programme also offers timeless classics from Bartók, Beethoven, Britten, Elgar, Ravel, Schumann and Stravinsky’s masterpiece L’histoire du soldat in a semi-staged version with Jonathan Gunthorpe as narrator.
All in all, a fresh mix of voices and styles, showcasing the creativity, innovation and diversity that define today’s classical music landscape.
The superb artist list includes the HearAndNow Collective from Amsterdam, Fenella Humphreys (violin), pianists Clare Hammond and Jâms Coleman, tenor James Gilchrist and Sally Pryce (harp).
Horn player Ben Goldscheider makes his Presteigne Festival debut as a soloist, as do Rowan Pierce (soprano), Imogen Whitehead (flugelhorn), Rainer Crosett (cello) and guitarist Eva Victoria Schockmel.
The Choir of King’s College, London appear conducted by Joseph Fort and the popular Festival Orchestra and Ensemble perform under George Vass.
Beyond concert performances, there is again a wide and vibrant mix of arts events.
Highlights include a three-film retrospective of New Zealand director Jane Campion, talks from Sioned Davies, Carwyn Graves and Katy Hamilton, together with a Bat Walk and storytelling for children.
The Festival continues its important partnership with Presteigne ‘Open Studios’, offering visitors the chance to engage with the town’s thriving community of artists and makers.
For more information visit https://presteignefestival.com/
