The Machynlleth Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in the

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

of The Tabernacle,

Machynlleth Machynlleth () is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a po ...

, Wales in late August. During the week eminent performers take part in events ranging from recitals for children to jazz.

Events

The festival begins with a sing-along of sacred hymns, the Cymanfa Ganu. Special features include the Hallstatt Lecture on some aspect of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

culture. The Glyndŵr Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales is given during the festival.

Performers

Performers in the first three Machynlleth Festivals included tenor

Paul Agnew Paul Agnew (born 11 April 1964 in Glasgow) is a Scottish operatic tenor and conductor. Biography Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with various groups specializing in early music (Ex Cathe ...

(1987), oboist Nicholas Daniel (1988), soprano Elizabeth Vaughan (1988), actor

Leonard Fenton Leonard Fenton (; 29 April 1926 – 29 January 2022) was an English actor, director and painter, best known for his role as Harold Legg in ''EastEnders''. Early life Fenton was born Leonard FinesteinDon Rendell (1989) and bass-baritone

Bryn Terfel Bryn Terfel Jones (; born 9 November 1965), is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially primarily associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and ''Don Giovanni,'' but he has subsequ ...

(1989). Among the Festival performers in the next few years were:

Alan Skidmore Alan Richard James Skidmore (born 21 April 1942) is an English jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of saxophonist Jimmy Skidmore. Career He was born in London, England. Skidmore began his professional career in his teens, and early in his care ...

, tenor saxophonist, 1990; Bernard Roberts, pianist, and Kit and The Widow, 1991; and Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band, 1992. The 1994 Festival, the last to contain four events per day for eight days, featured musicologist John Amis, violinist Tasmin Little, soprano Joan Rodgers, clarinettist Emma Johnson and pianist Joshua Rifkin. In 1995 the Festival was reduced for reasons of economy to two events each day, more or less the pattern of the first Festival. Performers included broadcaster Richard Baker and mezzo-soprano Sarah Walker. Jazz singer

George Melly Alan George Heywood Melly (17 August 1926 – 5 July 2007) was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973, he was a film and television critic for ''The Observer''; he also lectured on art history, with an ...

and trombonist Christian Lindberg were amongst the highlights of 1996.

References

{{reflist

External links

The Tabernacle Website
Music festivals in Wales Music festivals established in 1987 Folk festivals in Wales Classical music festivals in the United Kingdom 1987 establishments in Wales Summer in Wales Tourist attractions in Powys