As the hugely successful Gregynog Festival sets up for its last weekend, we highlight the last few “must-sees”.
Thanks to support from the Powys/EU Sense of Place fund, this year the Festival is holding its closing weekend in the charming Georgian town of Montgomery with a full programme of events suitable for the whole family including mask-making, concerts, films and exhibitions in Montgomery's historic centre.
Today, Saturday, 30 June at 10.15am, Sue Blower, Montgomery’s Town Crier launches a day of mask-making, parades and concerts in the town. From 10.30am there will be mask-making workshops in Montgomery School and the Old Bell Museum in partnership with the Oriel Davies Gallery.
At 1.30pm, there will be a parade “in maschera” to the Town Hall. At 2pm, in the Upper Room of the Town Hall, harpist Rhodri Davies performs the 2012 Gregynog Festival commission, acqua alta, which was premiered at Cardiff’s National Museum of Wales on 21 June.
On Saturday evening, 30 June at 7.30pm in Montgomery Church, the outstanding Paris-based ensemble, Le Concert Spirituel, directed by its founder Hervé Niquet makes its Welsh debut and presents Vivaldi’s Gloria in the original version for double female choir and orchestra first written for the girls of Ospedale della Peta in the early 18th century.
Finally, on Sunday 1 July at 2.30pm in Montgomery Town Hall, L’Avventura London closes the Festival with An Italian Rant, highlighting Italian masters and masked balls in 18th-century Britain.
The ensemble has taken the period-instrument world by storm with its combination of brilliant virtuosity, passion and unbridled dramaticism. It’s a fitting close for the Festival which also embraced dramatic, world-class music-making on its Venetian journey.
For a last chance to visit Gregynog Festival 2012, log on to the Festival website (www.gregynogfestival.org) or call the Box Office now (Tel: 01686 207100) to secure tickets.