Posts Tagged: West End

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.”

Return visit to Llangollen is dream come true for Collabro star Thomas Redgrave

A musical theatre boy band who won TV’s Britain’s Got Talent and reduced star judge Amanda Holden to tears are headed to North Wales.

Collabro will be starring with Kerry Ellis, the First Lady of the West End, in the Voices of Musical Theatre concert at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod on Wednesday, July 6.

And for one of the band members, Thomas Redgrave, it’s going to mean a happy return to Llangollen where he competed as part of a choir from London some years ago.

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Singing queen Kerry heads for Llangollen

The singer dubbed the First Lady of the West End is heading for Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod this summer.

Organisers of the iconic festival have signed up Kerry Ellis who has starred in smash hit musicals in London’s West End and Broadway in New York and is a long-term collaborator of Queen guitarist Brian May.

She will be topping the bill in the Voices of Musical Theatre concert on Wednesday, July 6, when she’ll be sharing the stage with Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro,  the classical and musical theatre boy band.

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