Welcome to the Gower Festival
For more than forty years the Gower Festival has been bringing music of the highest quality to this area of south west Wales. Once again, during the first two weeks in July, we are inviting internationally acclaimed musicians to play in the superb acoustic and atmosphere of our ancient churches.
As you navigate the web site, clicking photographs will reveal further information.
This year will be the debut of some brilliant new international young performers and the distinguished baroque violinist Rachel Podger. In addition to performances by our two Patrons, Catrin Finch and Llŷr Williams, we will also welcome the return of the Carducci Quartet.
It will be my tenth Anniversary as Artistic Director and to celebrate I will perform with the violinist Keila Wakao, the outstanding 16 year old first prizewinner of the Menuhin Competition 2021.
We will finish in great Welsh style with a Cymanfa Ganu for ALL!
gordon back
After three long years the Festival has returned. It was fantastic to hear live music again!
2022 was a brilliant Festival with outstanding concerts performed by artists from twelve different countries. The majority of the concerts were sold out and the audience reaction was overwhelmingly positive.
We are indebted to our Patron,
Llŷr Williams, who stepped in for a concert at extremely short notice.
Roll on 2023!
2022 Festival
video Review
We have a wonderful programme planned, with twelve concerts performed by brilliant international artists from Wales, England, Scotland, Italy, USA and Japan. Every concert will be a highlight and there is music for everyone!
We are keen to use as many churches of Gower as possible, both large and small. Early booking is advisable as some of the churches have limited capacity.
Please come and join us.
2023 FESTIVAL
“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
“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
“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
SWING INTO SUMMER BIG BAND CONCERT
Revisit a time of sensational, classic melodies made famous by the Kings of Swing - Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Glenn Miller. The fabulous Gower Festival Big Swing Band guarantee to make this a night to remember - introduced by Griff Harries of Swansea Sound. If swing's your thing, you won’t want to miss this concert, book your tickets below.
Relax with a drink at your table amongst friends, and, perhaps, dust off those dancing shoes - the night is yours to enjoy. The bar will be open and bar meals available before and throughout.
2023 programme
‘The Story So Far ….’ Join Catrin as she journeys through the music that’s most important to her and tells anecdotes of her life as an extraordinary harpist. Debussy’s sublime Clair de Lune, the tangos of Piazzolla, the fiery style of Colombian joropo and the serenity of Welsh folk tunes – all these combine to show the wonderful diversity and range of both harp and harpist.
CATRIN FINCH, HARP
Accompanied by Gordon Back, sixteen-year-old Keila Wakao, first prize-winner at the Menuhin Competition 2021, plays Beethoven’s ‘Spring’ Sonata and Bartók’s folk-inspired Rhapsody No. 1. Bloch’s Nigun (one of his Three Pictures of Hassidic Life), Wagner’s early Romance and Szymanowski’s brilliant Nocturne and Tarantella complete an exciting programme.
KEILA WAKAO, VIOLIN
and GORDON BACK piano
1st PRIZE, MENUHIN INTERNATIONAL violin COMPETITION 2021
Tour of Artists’ Studios in North Gower 10.00 am - 3.30 pm and with lunch break. Transport provided.
A great opportunity to visit the studios of painter Beth Marsden, stained glass artist Catrin Jones and ceramicist Micki Schloessingk in their rural north Gower surroundings. The tour also includes an art display in beautiful Cheriton Church.
TOUR OF ARTISTS’ STUDIOS IN NORTH GOWER
Joined by Daniele Caminiti on theorbo, leading violinist Rachel Podger performs Italian masterpieces from the golden age of the Baroque violin.
‘There is an unfailing eloquence to everything Rachel Podger does.’
RACHEL PODGER, VIOLIN and DANIELE CAMINITI, THEORBO
With theorbo player Daniele Caminiti, violinist Rachel Podger performs little-known sonatas by Frescobaldi and other Italian masters of the seventeenth century - early music which still sounds new, daring and fantastic.
RACHEL PODGER, VIOLIN and DANIELE CAMINITI, THEORBO
One of the Gower Festival’s remits is to support the best of local talent.
Come and hear the wonderful Mumbles
A Cappella in a lively and varied programme.
You will be entertained and surprised!
Presenting
MUMBLES A CAPPELLA YOUTH CHOIR
Acclaimed Welsh pianist and Festival patron Llŷr Williams makes a welcome return to Gower with a fine programme of romantic piano music. César Franck’s Prélude, Aria et Final and Brahms’s Seven Fantasies, Op. 116, are followed by Schumann’s Études Symphoniques, Op. 13, one of the composer’s greatest works, and Liszt’s sparkling Hungarian Rhapsody in C sharp minor. A fascinating evening of contrasting styles.
LLŶR WILLIAMS, PIANO
‘A seemingly unlikely combination of instruments that works real magic.’
Following the enormous success of their appearance at the 2019 Gower Festival, Huw and Oliver embark on a new musical tour, from Albinoni, via Ravel and Tarrega, to the saxophone music of today.
HUW WIGGIN, SAXOPHONE and Oliver WASS, HARP
Local composer and popular lecturer on music Chris Weeks considers the lasting appeal of Gower and of the sea around it to musicians and visual artists.
TALK by CHRIS WEEKS,
‘Gower: the sea, music and images’
A firm favourite with Gower audiences, the Carducci Quartet play Haydn’s delightful early masterpiece, the ‘Joke’ Quartet, Op. 33/2, and Dvořák’s popular ‘American’ Quartet, Op. 96.
CARDUCCI STRING QUARTET
The Carducci are joined by the gifted young Welsh soprano, Erin Gwyn Rossington, in a performance of Gareth Walter’s fine song-cycle Cân y galon (Song of the Heart). Before this we hear Shostakovich’s first quartet and the recently rediscovered ‘Poem’ by Rebecca Clarke.
The evening ends with Beethoven’s Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, the second and most impassioned of the quartets he dedicated to Count Rasumovsky.
CARDUCCI STRING QUARTET
and Erin Gwyn Rossington, SOPRANO
Llanrhidian
Maxim Lando is one of the most brilliant and imaginative young pianists to emerge in recent years. His varied programme takes us from ragtime to ‘Frankenstein’, a new work by Lowell Liebermann here receiving its world premiere. We’ll also hear tunes from Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sweeney Todd, a piece by Florence Price, the first African-American classical composer, plus one of Liszt’s most evocative works, his Reminiscences of Don Juan on themes from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni.
A thrilling evening.
MAXIM LANDO, PIANO
1st prizewinner,
VENDOME PRIZE 2022
“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.”
20 March 2023. Tickets will be on sale to the general public from 3 April 2023.
Join with church, chapel, male-voice and community choirs for hymn-singing in the spacious acoustic of Capel Y Crwys. Alwyn Humphreys conducts, with soprano soloist Ros Evans and organist William Reynolds.
Everyone is welcome. A rousing conclusion to the 2023 Festival.
CYMANFA GANU
“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.”
Become a friend
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2023 gower festival venues
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ST GEORGE’S CHURCH,
REYNOLDSTON SA3 1AA
It is believed that the village and its church were founded by the Norman Reynald de Breos and unusually, for churches before the c14th (and in Wales!), was dedicated to St George. By 1866 it was described as ‘in a dreadfully dilapidated condition’ and demolished. A new Victorian Gothic style church was opened in 1867 on the original foundations but with a longer and wider nave. The stone came from old red sandstone quarries on Cefn Bryn with Welsh slate on the roof. The cost was £1500 with contributions from the Talbots of Penrice, the Bensons of Fairy Hill and the Woods at Stouthall.
All Saints’ Church,
Oystermouth Sa3 4bz
All Saints was probably built on the site of a Roman villa or mansion (inn) or even a military/naval base. It is suggested that St Illtyd established the original church as early as the C5th but the first recorded reference dates from 1141. The oldest parts are the large Norman Tower (to protect the Anglo-Normans from Welsh attacks!) and the Early English Lady Chapel. By 1800 the church was described as ‘notoriously poor’ but during the C19th fortunes changed with rapid population increase as Oystermouth grew into a busy fishing, trading and tourist centre. The church was enlarged in1860 and again between 1915 - 1937 when the architect was Leonard William Bernard.
Church of St John The Evangelist,
Gowerton SA4 3EA
The Gothic-style church with bellcote was designed by the Brecon architect, J B Fowler and built in 1880-82 on land donated by John Dillwyn Llewelyn of the nearby Penllergare estate. The original Welsh name of the hamlet, Ffosfelin had been changed to Gower Road (before becoming Gowerton) reflecting the English speaking population who arrived after the two railways and the establishment of the Elba steelworks and coalmines. Anglicans had to walk either to Penclawdd or across the marshes to Loughor. The church has walls of local Pennant sandstone with green Bridgend stone external dressings and Bathstone interiors. St John’s was generously endowed by both the Dillwyn Llewelyn and Wright families.
The Story of the Gower Festival
The Gower Festival has its roots in the long, hot summer of 1976 when Jonathan Beecher, an Oxford cellist, brought a student orchestra and a handful of professional soloists to perform an astonishing series of thirty-one concerts in Gower churches during the last two weeks of August. So many events packed into a fortnight may have been over-ambitious. But the idea of holding a music festival in Gower churches was such a good one that it led to the formation of the Gower Festival Society and in due course to the appointment of John Fussell MBE, Swansea's Director of Music and City Organist, as Artistic Director of the enterprise. More than anyone else, it was John who established the high standards of musical performance and well-chosen repertoire which have characterised the Gower Festival ever since.
Friends of the Gower Festival
We have some wonderful concerts arranged for the 2023 Gower Festival.
Festival Friends have priority booking.
Benefits of becoming a Friend
➢ Advance booking for 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 £15 per household
You can join in one of four ways:
♦ Contact Mrs Anne Pope, 10 Vowley View, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire SN4 8HT
♦ 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 £1 per month. You may take out more than one share if you wish.
You can join in one of three ways:
♦ Contact Mrs Anne Pope, 10 Vowley View, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire SN4 8HT
♦ 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
