Gregynog Festival 2020: Generosity
15-21 June 2020
Gregynog Festival, Wales’s oldest extant classical music festival, celebrates an important centenary at Gregynog Hall with a strong programme for 2020 entitled ‘Generosity’, inspired by Welsh patronesses of the past. Headline artists include the mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre and Ensemble Jupiter, who make their UK debut with a Vivaldi programme directed by Thomas Dunford; harpist Maximilian Ehrhardt; and the multi-award-winning folk band VRȉ. A rich supporting programme of talks and exhibitions is led by the historians Peter Lord, Shaun Evans and Rhian Davies, the Festival’s Artistic Director, plus community outreach concerts given by Alis Huws from Dyffryn Banw who has recently been appointed as Official Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales.
2020 marks one hundred years since Gwendoline and Margaret Davies purchased Gregynog Hall, a magnificent manor house near Newtown in the heart of Mid Wales, to realise their vision of creating an arts centre in the wake of the First World War. The sisters, granddaughters of the wealthy industrialist David Davies, Llandinam, left behind an extraordinary legacy at Gregynog – it was home to their famous private collection of paintings (bequeathed to the National Museum of Wales) and also hosted the Gregynog Festival which continues to this day in the Hall’s intimate Music Room.
Commenting Rhian Davies said: “It is a real privilege to be the custodian of the Gregynog Festival and the remarkable musical tradition at Gregynog Hall. Inspired as always by the Davies sisters, I have curated a musical and literary programme for this important centenary year that celebrates their artistic heritage in Mid Wales as well as placing them within the wider context of other great Welsh patronesses of the past.”
Press Release: Gregynog Festival 2020 launch
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