30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Powys County Times
Welshpool to host Montgomeryshire County Music Festival
A music festival that's been running for more than a century will be held in Welshpool for the first time.
The Montgomeryshire County Music Festival was established in 1921 and continues the tradition of performing larger choral works sung by amalgamating choirs from across north Powys.
However, due to spiralling costs and reduced funding, the festival needed to find a smaller venue for this year's performances.
Organisers said the Methodist Church in Welshpool proved to be an 'excellent' musical venue being the home of the town's Music Club.
For the event held on Saturday, May 10, the two affiliated choirs, Welshpool and Llanidloes Choral Societies, are augmented by individual singers from the county and the borders.
Patrick Larley, a freelance composer, conductor, tenor and keyboard player, returns to conduct the festival choir with a performance of Dvorak's Mass in D major and the ever-popular Sacred Songs by Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins.
The choir will be joined on the night by soloists Sarah Anne Cromwell (soprano), Samantha Lewis (contralto), Wiliam Smith (tenor) and Ben Watkins (bass). Aeron Preston will accompany on the organ joined by his sister, Lowri Preston, on the cello.
