Posts Categorized: News

Gold+ Tickets Up For Grabs For Llangollen Eisteddfod’s Six Core Concerts

Music fans are being given a ‘golden’ opportunity to experience Llangollen Eisteddfod’s Six Core Concerts in style this summer.

The Core Week of the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod will open this year on Tuesday July 2nd with a headlining set from music legend Tom Jones, who kicks off six days of evening concerts, with mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins closing the week on Sunday July 7th.

Between these dates, audiences can enjoy a huge variety of evening events, featuring award-winning folk band Calan, royal harpist Alis Huws, Britain’s Got Talent favourites Johns’ Boys Male Chorus, West End and Broadway stars Kerry Ellis and John-Owen Jones, and two-time GRAMMY award-winning jazz sensation, Gregory Porter. (more…)

LLANGOLLEN INTERNATIONAL EISTEDDFOD TO HOST INTERNATIONAL GYMANFA GANU TO CELEBRATE ST DAVID’S DAY

The Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod is pleased to announce our latest fundraising event – an international Gymanfa Ganu to celebrate St David’s Day. The event, to be held on Sunday 3 March 2024, 7.30pm at St Collen’s Church in Llangollen, will be led by the popular conductor Trystan Lewis, who will be accompanied on the organ by Owen Maelor Roberts, and will also feature the celebrated Derwent Harp School. The event will also have St David’s Day messages from across the world, featuring groups who will be competing at this year’s Llangollen International Eisteddfod. (more…)

EISTEDDFOD SENDS MESSAGE OF SUPPORT TO KING CHARLES III

king-charles

The Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod sends its best wishes to King Charles III after he was diagnosed with a form of Cancer.

The Eisteddfod’s Chair, Professor Chris Adams, has written to Buckingham Palace with a message of support to the King on behalf of the festival.

Chris said, “King Charles III has been a huge supporter of our peace festival in Llangollen. As the Prince of Wales he was our patron for 26 years from 1996. He has visited Llangollen numerous times, and championed the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize application. We look forward to welcoming him again upon his recovery. We wish him, Queen Camilla and the Royal Family well as he recovers.”

EISTEDDFOD’S PARADE OF NATIONS TO BE ON 3 JULY

Dancers in Parade

Our celebrated ‘Parade of Nations’ will be held in the town on Wednesday, 3 July at 4.30pm.  Visitors can expect a colourful spectacle as groups from as far away as Burundi, Canada, China, Ghana, India, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, USA and Zimbabwe will be participating – alongside dozens of groups from the UK.

The parade, one of the central parts of the core Llangollen Eisteddfod comes less than 24 hours after Sir Tom Jones makes his long-awaited debut at the festival. It will be followed by a huge party on the Eisteddfod field, where visitors can get on the ‘ground for a pound’! Welsh folk heroes Calan then headline the ‘Wales Welcomes the World’ concert in the Pavilion, also starring Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalists Johns Boys Chorus and Royal Harpist Alis Huws, alongside the Llangollen International Orchestra.

John Gambles, Vice-Chair of the festival said, “This year, our parade will be the biggest for years.  We’ve got some amazing international competitors from around the world coming to our town in July.  Our Parade of Nations is one of our most popular events and this will be followed by a huge celebration on a our field as we truly welcome the World to Wales.”

The parade will be led by the Llangollen Silver Band and Llangollen Town Crier, Austin “Chem” Cheminais. In 2023, thousands of residents took to the streets, and this year there will be even more participants and colours. In 2024 the core Eisteddfod week is taking place between 2-7 July, with concerts before and after featuring acts as diverse as Jess Glynne, Manic Street Preachers, Madness, and Paloma Faith.

Dave Danford, the Artistic Director of the festival, will be overseeing the event. He said, “This year, the profile of our festival has gone through the roof. Our partnership with Cuffe and Taylor means that this summer we are bringing some truly international artists to Llangollen, such as Bryan Adams, and Nile Rodgers & Chic. Our core Eisteddfod week remains the central part of everything we are doing, which is why we’re bringing our parade forward, to be held on the day that we welcome the World to Wales.”

EISTEDDFOD SAYS IT WITH FLOWERS AS WE LAUNCH DAFFODIL FESTIVAL

flower festival

Our celebrated Floral Committee are branching out in 2024 with their very own ‘Daffodil Flower Festival.’ The events will be hosted at St Collen’s Church in Llangollen from 5-7 April, and will feature an Evening Choral Concert with Lleisiau’r Afon Ladies Choir, conducted by Leigh Mason, renowned local soloist Clare Harrison, accompanied by Owen Roberts and a Music Theatre performance from Shea Ferron. There will also be a special ‘Songs of Praise’ concert, led by popular Llangollen Vicar Father Lee Taylor.

The festival will raise money for the Llangollen Eisteddfod’s charity. The charity helps to bring hundreds of people from across the world for its annual peace festival. It will also feature daffodil wave and floral displays, with daffodils of all shapes, sizes and material crafted by the community including local schools. These will displayed in the church and in St Collen’s Community Hall, which will be hosting stalls, workshops, refreshments, and a raffle on Saturday, April 6.

Michelle Davies, Chair of the Floral Committee of the Llangollen Eisteddfod said, “Our daffodil is a recognisable symbol of Wales and a beloved fixture of our gardens and countryside. Why not hold a festival in honour of our favourite flower? We have been busy preparing for this for months, and our team have already planted hundreds of bulbs in the grounds of our beautiful 6th century church. We have 2 wonderful concerts planned, all in celebration of the national flower of Wales. All of the money raised will go towards the Llangollen Eisteddfod charity to help us continue welcoming the World to Wales.”

The tradition of decorating the main stage at the International Eisteddfod with flowers began at the first festival in 1947, when a few blooms were placed in jam jars to hide the tent poles that held up the stage’s awning. Over the past 76 years, the tradition – and the quantities of flowers – has grown, with the displays as iconic as the festival itself.

Father Lee Taylor, the vicar in charge of St Collens Church, Llangollen said, “We are delighted to be hosting the Llangollen Eisteddfod’s floral committee’s celebration of the daffodil. The Eisteddfod is synonymous with flowers. Each year, our town welcomes competitors from around the world to perform on a stage splendidly decked out in flowers. As well as a symbol of Wales, the daffodil symbolises new beginnings, so we’re delighted to host Llangollen’s first ever festival dedicated to the daffodil.”

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SIMPLE MINDS FINAL HEADLINERS TO BE ANNOUNCED FOR 2024

Global rock icons Simple Minds are heading to North Wales for a headline show at the iconic Llangollen Pavilion.

The Scottish legends are the final headlining act to be announced for the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod 2024 and will perform at the venue on Wednesday June 19. They will be joined on the night by special guests Del Amitri.

Tickets for this unmissable show go on general sale at 9am on Friday (January 26) from  llangollen.net and www.ticketmaster.co.uk

Simple Minds are one of the most successful bands to ever come from the UK, selling more than 60 million records worldwide and having number one singles on both sides of the Atlantic (more…)

LIVE AT LLANGOLLEN LAUNCHED TO SUPPORT EISTEDDFOD

Organisers of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod will be hosting a number of fundraising gigs at Llangollen Town Hall to raise money to support their core Eisteddfod week. The gigs, which will be held monthly in Llangollen Town Hall feature tributes to ABBA, Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd, Slade as well as bringing the original Merseybeats, who performed with The Beatles in the 1960s, to town. (more…)

JUST 6 MONTHS TO GO BEFORE SIR TOM JONES AND GLITTERING STARS HEAD TO LLANGOLLEN!

Tom Jones

In exactly 6 months, Sir Tom Jones will take to the stage to open the core week of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. Organisers have promised “….the biggest and best Llangollen Eisteddfod for a generation.” Acts heading to Llangollen in Summer 2024 have sold well over 800 million albums between them. Nile Rodgers alone, the co-founder of Chic, has written, produced or sold more than 500 millions albums world-wide.  Bryan Adams and Sir Tom Jones have sold 100 million each, whilst just before Christmas, Madness celebrated their first studio number 1 album!

In October, the peace festival (which has run since 1947) announced a partnership with Live Nation promoters Cuffe and Taylor. Since then, not a month has gone by without the announcement of another world-class superstar coming to Llangollen. Bryan Adams, Paloma Faith, Manic Street Preachers, Suede, Kaiser Chiefs, Tom Jones, Calan, Kerry Ellis, John Owen-Jones, Gregory Porter, Katherine Jenkins, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Jess Glynne and Madness have already been announced as headliners. (more…)

MUSIC INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL DAVE RELISHES THE CHALLENGE OF BEING LLANGOLLEN INTERNATIONAL MUSICAL EISTEDDFOD’S NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Dave Danford

A top music industry professional who has worked with some of the biggest names in the business has been appointed as the new Artistic Director of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

At the age of 39 Dave Danford has already had a decade-long association with the iconic festival and has stepped up into the key role after a number of years as its Production Manager.

He is “extremely excited” about his appointment, which has just been announced by the Eisteddfod’s trust board. The appointment is funded through the Arts Council of Wales.

And he says he is relishing the challenge of overseeing every musical aspect of the festival, from big-name concerts featuring stars as diverse as Sir Tom Jones and the Manic Street Preachers before and during the festival’s core week of July 2-7, to its unique programme of international-class competitions. (more…)