Welcome to the Gower Festival
For over 40 years the Gower Festival has brought music and art of the highest quality to this area of southwest Wales. Now, as well as our traditional Summer fortnight held in our ancient, atmospheric Gower churches, we also present Spring and Autumn entertainments. These include ‘big band’ and jazz with poetry evenings where food and drink are served in a relaxed setting. As always, we present internationally acclaimed artists, while we keep the ticket prices spectacularly low by attracting generous sponsorship.
As you navigate the web site, clicking images will reveal further information.
The 2024 Gower Festival was a brilliant success!
It is difficult to highlight a few concerts, as we heard such wonderful performances of the highest artistic quality.
We reached a larger audience than ever before, had record ticket sales and increased the number of young people attending the festival.
I do want to thank our committee who have worked tirelessly to produce a seamless event and our sponsors without whom it would not take place.
We look forward to 2025 with great anticipation.
gordon back
Next year’s festival will be held from
1-12 July.
International acclaimed performers will include...
Leon McCawley
Fiddlesticks Ensemble
Jane Austen 250
Joe Dunthorne
Lumas Wind Quintet
Heath Quartet
An evening with Martyn Brabbins
Comedy Genius of Rainer Hersch
2025 FESTIVAL DETAILS BELOW
We are honoured to have Sir Karl Jenkins as our President. Brought up in Penclawdd and educated at Gowerton Grammar School, he is one of the most frequently performed living composers.
“It is a privilege for me, as President, to be able to welcome you to the Gower Festival, my ‘local’ festival, having been raised on the beautiful Gower Peninsula. There is an exciting programme for you to enjoy, with concerts in the historic churches of Gower.”
Sir Karl Jenkins CBE
Llŷr is an internationally recognised concert pianist. He has been the recipient of many awards and is the official accompanist to the Cardiff Singer of the World. He has delighted Gower Festival audiences with his sensitive, meticulously performed recitals.
“The Gower Festival represents the best of the British summer festival tradition, great music for friendly and appreciative audiences in the most beautiful surroundings. I always look forward to returning with much anticipation.”
Llŷr Williams
Catrin is an internationally renowned harpist. In 2000 she was appointed for a term as Royal Harpist to Charles, Prince of Wales. She has developed an eclectic approach to the instrument with her recent international collaborations.
“Performing at the Gower Festival on many occasions has always been a special experience for me. I am therefore thrilled to be invited to be a Patron of this outstanding Festival.”
Catrin Finch
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Latest news
2025 Provisional programme
At the Art studio of Zino Pece, Old Community Hall, Benson Street, Penclawdd (opposite Estuary Bar). Two short talks with interval to enjoy tea, coffee, cakes & art studio tour (see https://zinopece.com).
Talk 1. Rod Cooper:
‘Penclawdd - The Last 500 Years’.
Talk 2. Pete Kokelaar:
‘Our Coal Mines Under the Sea’
Tickets on sale 1st January £15 including refreshments.
Two short talks
Celebrating 80 years since the end of World War 2, we re-create the dance and swing music that was pioneered by African Americans and popular with American and British Forces, reflecting the joy of peace-time at last. 1940s style costume is encouraged, with prizes for the best-dressed dancing couple. Jitterbug dancing was widely banned - as "a morally dangerous American import".
Do your homework, and have a fling...
Tickets on sale 1st March.
Jitterbug ball
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Admired for his unfailingly communicative playing, Leon McCawley makes a welcome return to the Gower Festival. His programme includes Beethoven’s heroic ‘Waldstein’ Sonata, Chopin’s Barcarolle and pieces by Scarlatti and César Franck.
Leon McCawley, piano
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We welcome this exciting young quintet – violinists Huw Daniel, Kati Debretzeni and Debbie Diamond, cellist Kinga Gáborjáni and harpsichordist Tom Foster - on their first visit to Gower. Their programme ranges across Europe with music by Pachelbel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Boismortier and J.S. Bach.
Fiddlesticks Ensemble
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Actress Alex Kingston, soprano Claire Booth and pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen explore the life and work of Jane Austen, born 250 years ago. Drama and comedy alternate with some of Jane’s favourite songs – by Mozart, Schubert, Handel and others.
Jane Austen 250
SA2 9AR
Swansea-born Joe Dunthorne is a novelist and poet. His debut novel Submarine was made into a film, and his second book, Wild Abandon, won the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award. His dramatic portrait of Swansea, written for the 70th anniversary of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, was broadcast in 2024.
We look forward to an entertaining evening with tales from home and abroad.
Joe Dunthorne
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‘Wickedly funny’ Rainer Hersch is a comedian and musician who has performed on every major comedy stage in Britain and abroad – many times at the Edinburgh Festival, at London’s South Bank, on TV and in comedy clubs across Europe. A ‘comedy genius’ if ever there was one.
Comedy Genius of
RAINER HERSCH
ALL CLASSICAL MUSIC EXPLAINED
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Swansea Bach Choir are faithful friends of the Gower Festival. Founded by John Hugh Thomas in 1965 and now directed by Greg Hallam, they will celebrate their 60th birthday by performing two masterpieces for unaccompanied voices: Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G minor and the Mass for Double Choir by Swiss composer Frank Martin.
swansea bach choir
60th anniversary
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We welcome this dynamic young ensemble on their first visit to Gower. Winners of the Royal Over-Seas League Mixed Ensemble Prize in 2023, Lumas are committed ambassadors for wind chamber music and the rich variety of repertoire that it offers. Opening with an Afro-Cuban concerto by Valerie Coleman, their programme includes pieces by Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story suite), Milhaud, Anton Reicha and Shostakovich. Colourful and witty music, not to be missed.
Lumas Wind Quintet
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Ever since winning the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artists Award in 2013 the Heath String Quartet has been admired as one of Britain’s most versatile groups. We welcome their return to Gower. This lunchtime concert begins with a beautiful piece by Anatoly Lyadov, whose music was admired by Tchaikovsky. Then a charming early Mozart quartet, followed by Beethoven’s last work for strings, the wonderful F major Quartet, Op. 135.
The Heath Quartet
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Andy Davies is an award-winning Welsh trumpeter, comedian, script writer, voice over artist, actor and educator. He has hosted the famous Wednesday night Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Jam Session for over thirteen years. ‘More fun than a barrel of monkeys’ (Evening Standard), he will be joined this evening by the well-known Dave Cottle Trio.
JAZZ WITH ANDY DAVIES
AND THE DAVE COTTLE TRIO
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For their second concert the Heath Quartet offers a typically well-chosen programme. A neglected early work by Britten, his Three Divertimenti, and one of Haydn’s most elegant quartets are set alongside tuneful Czech music by Dvořák – his quartet in E flat, Op. 51 – and Josef Suk, Dvořák’s gifted son-in-law.
The Heath Quartet
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Martyn Brabbins was recently appointed chief conductor of the Malmö Symphony, having previously been music director of the English National Opera. He had a starring role at 2024 London Proms, taking over at short notice following the death of Sir Andrew Davies. This evening he is in conversation with Gordon Back, discussing the conductor’s role in opera and symphonic music.
An evening with
Martyn Brabbins
SA4 3PU
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Born in the Czech Republic and trained in Germany, Robert Bily was first prize-winner at the 2024 Vendome piano competition in New York, described by the Vendome’s artistic director as ‘one of our strongest winners ever’. For his debut in Gower Robert plays masterpieces by Beethoven (his Op. 110 Sonata), Prokoviev and Chopin. Chopin’s famous ‘Funeral March’ Sonata is followed by his second Scherzo, by turns brilliant and lyrical. A memorable conclusion to the 2025 Festival.
Robert Bily
Ist Prizewinner Vendome 2024
SA3 4RB
gower festival venues
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The Story of the Gower Festival
From its early years the Gower Festival has been concerned to foster a wide range of music in idyllic settings...
Friends of the Gower Festival
We have some wonderful concerts and other events arranged for Gower Festival 2025.
Festival Friends have priority booking for the events in July.
Benefits of becoming a Friend
➢ Advance booking for July concerts. This benefit is much appreciated by Friends as many concerts, particularly at smaller venues, sell out quickly.
➢ Regular Festival email updates.
➢ Acknowledgement in the Festival Programme.
➢ Opportunities to help with the running of Festival events and to attend the Society’s Annual Meeting.
Annual membership costs only £15 per household.
You can join in one of four ways:
♦ Contact Maggie Harries, 2 Copley Close, Bishopston, Swansea SA3 3JL UK
♦ Email: friends@gowerfestival.org
♦ Download a Gower Festival application form
♦ Pick up an application form at any festival venue.
Gower Festival Friends 100 Club
Don’t miss your chance to support the Gower Festival Society and win cash prizes for yourself!
There are three prize draws per year - July, November and March.
➢ 1st Prize per draw £100
➢ 2nd Prize of £50
➢ 3rd Prizes of £25 (the number of 3rd prizes is dependent on the number of tickets sold per year).
Last year the 100 Club raised over £600 for the Gower Festival - a significant contribution towards the cost of a concert.
The cost of a share is only £12 per year - that’s just £1per month. You may take out more than one share if you wish.
You can join in one of three ways:
♦ Contact Maggie Harries, 2 Copley Close, Bishopston, Swansea SA3 3JL UK
♦ Email: friends@gowerfestival.org
♦ Pick up an application form at any festival venue, or download an application form.
useful links
Gower Festival secretary at info@gowerfestival.org
Friends of Gower Festival secretary: friends@gowerfestival.org
Information about Swansea and Gower including, walks, what's on, accommodation:
www.visitswanseabay.com/
destination/gower-peninsula
Swansea Classical Guitar Circle: www.swanseaguitars.co.uk