Festival venues across Pembrokeshire will experience one more week of world-class music following the Bank Holiday weekend.

The annual Fishguard Festival of Music continues its programme next week with more classical music, plus jazz, folk and world music to feature in its final concerts.

The National Youth Choir of Wales, conducted by Tim Rhys Evans, will end Bank Holiday Monday in the magnificent setting of St Davids Cathedral on August 28 at 7.30pm.

The following night, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama students will be paying tribute to two great Welsh composers of the 20th century in this year of significant anniversaries for both: David Vaughan Thomas (150 years) and David Harries (90 years). The concert will include works originally commissioned by the Fishguard Festival in 1986 and 1993. David Vaughan Thomas was the father of broadcaster and long term Fishguard resident, Wynford Vaughan Thomas.

Life, love and loss are explored and celebrated through a special friendship and some of the greatest songs ever written in a concert curated by pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen on Wednesday. Singers Nicky Spence and Claire Booth will perform songs by LGBTQ+ composers and poets, including Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, and Aaron Copland. Robert Schumann’s iconic song cycle on a woman’s life and love, Frauenliebe und leben, will be interwoven with Nathan James Dearden’s specially commissioned responses of a beloved friend. ‘Since she whom I loved’ takes place at Neuadd y Dderwen, Rhosygilwen on Wednesday, August 30.

Monteverdi and his contemporaries will feature in the programme of The Gonzaga Band (soprano, cornett and harpsichord) at Bethel Chapel, Fishguard on Thursday, led by Welsh musician Dr Jamie Savan, Professor of Performance-led Research in Music at Birmingham City University.

Kosmos
Kosmos (Pic supplied)

Kosmos Ensemble: Meg Hamilton, Harriet Mackenzie (violins) and Milos Milivojevic (accordion) will give outdoor performances on Fishguard Quay and at Oriel y Parc St Davids. A special concert will take place the evening before these community concerts at Theatr Gwaun on Friday, September 1.

Pedair - whose debut album, ‘Mae na olau’ has just won ‘Welsh language Album of the Year’ - returns following the great success of their sell-out performance last year. The four female singers and instrumentalists Sian James, Gwyneth Glyn, Meinir Gwilym and Gwenan Gibbard will perform at Theatr Gwaun on Saturday, September 2.

Amanda Whiting (harpist) and her jazz trio will end the festival with jazz music in the closing evening concert at Theatr Gwaun on Sunday, September 3.

Gillian Green MBE, Artistic Director of the Fishguard Festival of Music, said:“The Fishguard Festival of Music is once again delighting audiences with a showcase of world-class music in West Wales at a variety of atmospheric venues. The final week will see the return of some familiar faces to Pembrokeshire in some exciting concerts and audiences will get the opportunity to hear magical music by leading international soloists. Tickets are selling quickly this year.”

Further information and tickets are available via the festival website at www.fishguardmusicfestival.com .