This July, Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod and Llangollen Fringe Festival join forces to celebrate two significant cultural milestones for the town; the Eisteddfod’s 75th anniversary, and the Fringe’s 25thwhich combine to make an amazing 100 years of summer festivals in Llangollen.
To mark these two anniversaries, the Eisteddfod and Fringe are collaborating for the first time to produce Llanfest 2022 on Sunday 10th July, the final day of the four-day International Llangollen Eisteddfod music festival, which runs from 7-10th July.
Llanfest has become a firm favourite in the summer festival diary and this year there will be an emphasis on home-grown talent incorporating eclectic music, theatre and comedy. Headliners, British indie three-piece, Amber Run, will deliver lush, cinematic alt-pop with a moody and introspective tone. Amber Run are supported by Welsh/Bajan singer Kizzy Crawford, described by Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens as ‘real talent’ and ‘wonderful’ by Radio 4’s Richard Coles and Elles Bailey, a smoky-voiced human dynamo, who straddles the worlds of Americana and the blues. Tickets are now on sale for Llanfest on the main festival website.
After an online event last year, organisers are thrilled to welcome back visitors to Llangollen. This year’s festival has been redesigned with a more compact site revolving around a single Pavilion music stage and a new in-the-round stage developed for spoken word events, offering a thought-provoking series of talks. Live music, talks, food stalls, bars and free community events will be around the site from midday to 9pm plus the Pavilion main acts will start at 6pm.
Llanfest is the final day of the world-renowned Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, which returns after a two-year hiatus with a line-up that celebrates the best traditional and contemporary music from around the world. Two of the classical world’s vocal powerhouses, Aled Jones and Russell Watson will be performing together for the first time to open the 2022 programme and further highlights include Grammy Award winner Anoushka Shankar with Manu Delago and the Britten Sinfonia .
Celebrating its 75th anniversary, the festival returns this year with a broad cultural programme that spreads the message of peace and friendship on which it was founded in 1947 after the second world war. Each year around 4,000 performers from around the world and as many as 35,000 visitors converge on this beautiful small Welsh town to sing and dance in a unique combination of competition, performance and community spirit. The festival’s ability to spot future talent is renowned and it’s credited with helping to launch the career of Luciano Pavarotti among others.
In recognition of the festival’s founding principle to spread peace, visitors to the festival and Llanfest will be invited to write a message of peace on a luggage label and attach it to trees around the site to create a forest of peace. On Thursday 7th July, children’s day, the festival is teaming up with The Welsh Centre for International Affairs, Size of Wales and Council for Wales of Voluntary Youth Services to create the firstYoung Peace Makers’ Awards – celebrating young people who have contributed to peace and global citizenship at home and overseas.
Camilla King, executive producer of the Llangollen Eisteddfod is leading the transformation of the festival into a fresh, diverse fusion of contemporary and traditional cultures that will connect with both new and existing audiences.
She says: “For years the festival and the fringe have worked independently to help Llangollen to punch above its weight on the international music scene so it is exciting that for the first time we are joining forces to co-curate Llanfest this year. Together we will be bringing an eclectic and inspiring line-up of music, spoken word and comedy to north Wales in the spirit of peace and togetherness that the Llangollen Eisteddfod was founded on the 75 years ago and is now more relevant than ever.”
Paul Keddie, chair of the Llangollen Fringe Festival, said: “Llangollen Fringe Festival is delighted to be working alongside LIME this year to gather everyone together on the Sunday of the Eisteddfod. 75 years of the Eisteddfod and 25 years of the Fringe gives 100 years’ worth of experience to share with the world… it’s going to be magical.”
