Opera star passes through Llan on his 200-mile walk

A Welsh opera star will be passing through Llangollen during his sponsored 200-mile walk down the country which aims to raise £250,000.  

Now in its third year, Walk On is a celebrity challenge in aid of the Wales Air Ambulance.

This year it is being spearheaded by international opera star Rhys Meirion, (pictured right) who is official ambassador for the air ambulance and will be trekking from Colwyn Bay to Cardiff.

Rhys and his supporters are due to walk over Llangollen bridge at around 1pm this Sunday.

He said: “It has been an honour and a privilege for me to accept the invitation to become an ambassador for the Wales Air Ambulance.

“From the moment I accepted I have been considering ways in which I would be able to contribute to their huge effort in raising the money needed to ensure that this invaluable service is available to the people of Wales.

“The plan this year is a 200-mile coast-to-coast walk to link Colwyn Bay to Cardiff  travelling via the magnificent border counties."

The project was launched with a gala concert at Venue Cymru yesterday (Friday) and the walk started at Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay at 8.30am this morning (Saturday).

Due to be completed over eight days, the route goes through rural Conwy to Llansannan, over to the Vale of Clwyd, through Ruthin, Llangollen, Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, Welshpool, Newtown, Llanidloes, Builth Wells, Brecon, Merthyr, Aberfan and on to Cardiff.

The walk will have eight overnight stops at some of Wales’ most iconic hotels and there will be entertainment and fundraising activities at each evening stop.

Along the way Rhys will be joined on certain sections by some of Wales’s top musical acts, sports personalities and celebrities and some international stars too.

They include former rugby player Robin McBryde, comedian and chat show host Tudor Owen, and professional soprano Sioned Terry.

Stop "penny pinching" over rail services says AM

North Wales Liberal Democrat AM Aled Roberts has called on the Welsh Government to reinstate the original investment to dual the Wrexham to Chester line.

 

His call was made following the announcement of additional investment by the UK Government in Merseyside which opens up Liverpool and John Lennon Airport to direct rail services from North Wales.

 

“While the Welsh Government has bought Cardiff Airport and invested in proper rail dualling schemes in South Wales they have penny pinched in North East Wales so that only two-thirds of the Wrexham to Chester line will be dualled,” says Aled Roberts AM.

 

“This partial dualling will not allow for extra train services to run across the border into England from Wrexham and Flintshire even though a major announcement by the Coalition Government will improve connectivity between Liverpool, Cheshire and North Wales.

 

“The reduced scheme on which the Welsh Government is spending £41m provides only one extra train per 2 hours. This additional train is allocated to an additional service between Holyhead and Cardiff rather than improving services between North East Wales and Liverpool.

 

“The Welsh Government has concentrated on improving the Holyhead to Cardiff service which is worthwhile, but for a few £million more they could have allowed six more trains per hour to use the Wrexham to Chester line. That would offer the possibility of direct services to Liverpool or Manchester.

 

“More cross border services have even been demanded by Labour MPs in debates in the House of Commons and all the evidence suggests that the vast majority of people in North Wales are more interested in travelling across the border for work in preference to travelling to South Wales.”

Stage is all set for 2014 Eisteddfod

*Status Quo, Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi.

Thousands of people from around the world will again descend on the little town of Llangollen next week as it celebrates the 68^th annual International Musical Eisteddfod.

The event where Wales welcomes the world and which began as a festival of peace in the aftermath of the Second World War has grown into one of Europe’s premier music and dance events.

It is one of Wales’s cultural star attractions and has brought international icons like Dylan Thomas and the great Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti to a quiet corner of the Dee Valley.

Pavarotti, in fact, began his international career as a member of a choir from Modena at Llangollen in 1955 when he and his father stayed with a family in Froncysylte.

In recent years artists of the stature of Jools Holland, Katherine Jenkins, Kiri Te Kanawa, James Galway and Montserrat Caballe have performed at the final Sunday Evening Gala Concert.

And this year the standard remains as high as ever with the curtain-raiser for the main event on Monday, July 7, seeing the great Welsh operatic bass-baritone Bryn Terfel returning to Llangollen to lead a star-studded cast in a performance of Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway smash hit Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

*
 Bryn Terfel.

It is the first time Bryn Terfel has appeared at Llangollen since 2006 and he’s excited at the prospect: “I’m absolutely thrilled I’m able to appear,” he said.

“I’m a proud Welshman and the Eisteddfod is unique, the atmosphere, the colour, the audience, even the flowers, it really is a very, very special event.

“Being offered the opportunity to return to the International Eisteddfod is an honour and I look forward to seeing everyone at Llangollen which, without a doubt, for me, will be a highlight of 2014.

“The International Eisteddfod committee and team of volunteers who work so incredibly hard really do put together something very special, year after year and they are to be applauded.”

Terfel will be joined on stage in Sweeney Todd by three unknown young singers he has hand-picked for starring roles, tenor Berwyn Pearce, soprano Lauren Morris and 14-year-old Dewi Wykes.

Berwyn, 26, from Cilfynydd, near Pontypridd, is the great-nephew of another opera legend, Sir Geraint Evans, while Lauren, 21, is from Solihull and Dewi from Llangynhafal, near Ruthin, in Denbighshire.

They were chosen from over 80 young singers at auditions in Cardiff and Llangollen and Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod Musical Director Eilir Owen Griffiths said: “It’s one of our roles at the Eisteddfod, to provide chances for young talent to flourish and there can be no bigger opportunity than to sing alongside a legend like Bryn Terfel.

“Berwyn is a class act who will bring a special presence to the role, Lauren has a real magic about her and to find a 14-year-old with the talent Dewi has was just amazing.

 

“We’ve found three young up and coming stars of the future and we at Llangollen can give them that first stage on which to shine.”

 

He is also thrilled Bryn Terfel will appear at the 2014 festival. He said: “Bryn Terfel is Wales’ brightest musical star and the Eisteddfod is always a richer event when he is able to honour us with his presence.

 

“It has been difficult finding space in his every busy concert diary and I’m just grateful we have been able to arrange, what will be the opening event of the 2014 festival.”

The Eisteddfod continues through a vibrant six days of concerts which will feature Dutch jazz diva Caro Emerald, American tenor Noah Stewart, a new work by acclaimed Welsh composer Karl Jenkins for his 70^th birthday, an appearance by the chart-topping singing brothers, Richard and Adam Johnson, from Holywell, in Flintshire, and star artists from China, South Africa, Venezuela and Latvia.

* Caro Emerald.

What’s more the curtain will come down on this summer’s Eisteddfod with an appearance by legendary British rockers Status Quo who will perform on the Sunday night, July 13.

Most importantly the competitions have continued to attract entrants from all over the world – this year they will be here from Australia, China, Costa Rica, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Madagascar, Morocco, Nepal, Trinidad, the USA and Zimbabwe as well as from all over Europe and the UK.

The blue riband of those competitions is the Choir of the World for the Pavarotti Trophy which takes place on Saturday night in the Royal International Pavilion and there will also be a competition to find the dance champions of 2014 and to top the evening off Richard and Adam, who shot to fame on Britain’s Got Talent, will appear as special guests.

This year’s event runs from Tuesday, July 8, when the colourful traditional procession through the town will be led by Eisteddfod Patron Terry Waite, through six days of competitions and concerts to Sunday’s spectacular fireworks extravaganza.

On the Tuesday night at the Eisteddfod there will be a galaxy of international talent at the Carnival of Nations concert.

Outside the Royal International Pavilion on the field colourful competitors from around the world join thousands of visitors who can enjoy live music from the S4C Stage, join in with dance workshops or just soak up the heady atmosphere and world-class competition.

For more details on the 2014 festival go to the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk

River Lodge - latest demolition picture

This picture provided today (Thursday) by llanblogger reader Phil Meyers shows the extent of demolition work on the former River Lodge on the A539 approach to Llangollen, with the bulldozers having bitten deeply into one of the main buildings.

Jenkins to premiere new masterpiece at Eisteddfod

* Composer Karl Jenkins.

The UK's most successful classical composer will be celebrating his 70th birthday in style Llangollen - with the world premiere of a new masterpiece.

Karl Jenkins CBE will be unveiling Adiemus Colores - featuring top American tenor Noah Stewart and a host of other stars -at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod that starts on July 8.

Born and brought up in the Gower village of Penclawdd, Karl Jenkins CBE is fiercely proud of his deep Welsh roots and says it’s always an honour to visit Llangollen and conduct the International Eisteddfod Orchestra.

He said: “It really is a thrill and I have been fortunate to have been invited to appear at Llangollen a few times before. This year will be special as I will be the world première of my latest work, Adiemus Colores.

“In writing Colores I have revisited my original Adiemus project. I realised how popular my take on the vocal side of world music was. Ademius Colores is a Latin American-themed work based around a great deal of percussion embracing Brazilian samba, the tango beats of Argentina and the Spanish bolero.

“Like the original Adiemus project Colores is a combination of classical principles and the flavours of world and ethnic music. But what I have also tried to do with the choral side of the work is use the human voice as a musical instrument in it’s own right.”

He added: “The language used is inverted in a way to accentuate the phonetics and means we can reach the maximum potential of the voice. But it isn’t a language it’s just sounds, absolute nonsense in terms of real words or language.”

And as well as conducting the International Eisteddfod Orchestra Karl says he is delighted to be welcoming such special guests to the Llangollen stage to perform Adiemus Colores.
He said: “To have New York tenor Noah Stewart guesting is a huge bonus. He is a very talented performer with an incredible voice. I’m also pleased to have trumpet player Pancho Flores joining us.
“Pancho is Venezuelan, and hails from Caracas. He is a wonderful classical trumpet player. He has a real South American sound almost mariachi in style, but not as crude.

“He spends a lot of time performing in Europe and I’m delighted he is able to join me in Llangollen. The same can be said for classical accordionist, Ksenija Sidorova who is just wonderful and so talented. I have been fortunate to work with both Pancho and Ksenija previously.

“And we also have, in my opinion, one of the world’s best jazz bass players in Laurence Cottle with us. Laurence is originally from the Mumbles in Swansea but now spends most of his time in London. He really is an amazing and enormously talented musician.”

Karl admits he has always been intrigued by the traditional music of Latin America which is reflected in Adiemus Colores.

He said: “Each movement is named, in Spanish, after a colour and explores the mood each evokes in me.

“Something else that kindles my interest in South America is the romantic fascination so many Welsh people have, including me, with Patagonia. It seems incredible there almost on the southern-most tip of Argentina there is a Welsh speaking community and settlement. It is somewhere I have never yet visited although I am really keen to get there at some point.

Karl, who is both a fellow and an associate of the Royal Academy of Music, added: “It is going to be a wonderful way to celebrate the milestone that will be my 70^th birthday and I’m really looking forward and excited about returning to the Llangollen International Eisteddfod.”

Eilir Owen Griffiths, the Llangollen International Music Festival's musical director, is delighted Karl Jenkins CBE is returning to Llangollen.

He said: “To have a world première by one of the great living composers here at Llangollen is something really special and is something we are all thrilled about.

“Karl’s original Adiemus was a powerful and ground-breaking composition and I have no doubt Adiemus Colores will be equally well received by the Eisteddfod audience and the wider classical world.

“And I’m also absolutely delighted Noah Stewart will be a guest of Karl’s on the Llangollen stage for Adiemus Colores.

“Noah’s performance at last year’s festival was one of the highlights of what was a fantastic week and I know our supporters and many regular audience members were really keen to see Noah back at Llangollen this year.”

He added: "We have a line-up of stellar musical talent and I know we are in for a real treat on what is the perfect way to celebrate Karl’s 70^th birthday.”

The curtain raiser for this year's Eisteddfod will mark the return of opera superstar Bryn Terfel to Llangollen on Monday, July 7.

 

The acclaimed bass baritone will be playing the lead in a special English-language production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - sponsored by care organisation Pendine Park - also starring Go Compare tenor Wynne Evans and the popular Shan Cothi.

 

This year's will also feature concerts by Dutch jazz sensation Caro Emerald and veteran British rockers Status Quo, sponsored by the Village Bakery.

 

The Friday night concert, Spirit of Unity, will feature the Cape Town Opera, Africa’s premiere opera company, famed for their "vibrant vocalism and high-octane stage performances".

 

Appearing with them will be Wales’ representative in Cardiff Singer of the World, Gary Griffiths, the Wales Millennium Centre Only Kidz Aloud Chorus and British Sinfonietta, one of the UK's leading independent professional orchestras.

 

The Choir of the World competition for the Pavarotti Trophy on the Saturday night is the blue riband event of the week-long festival.

 

Adiemus Colores will be performed on Wednesday, July 9^th at 7.30pm. Tickets, which are priced at £14-£29 are available from the Box Office.

Call 01978 862001 or e-mail tickets@international-eisteddfod.co.uk or visit international-eisteddfod.co.uk 

Local highways maintenance schemes planned

Llangollen county councillor Stuart Davies has given details of a number of local highways maintenance schemes due to be undertaken in the area over the next few months by Denbighshire County Council.

These include:

* Gwernant Road, Llangollen, due to start in July.

* A542 Britannia Inn to Abbey Farm, Llangollen, due to start in September.

* A542 Horseshoe bend to Bryn Goleu, Llangollen, due to start in September.

* Wharf Hill, Llangollen, due to start in October.

World War One centenary event

 

Llangollen branch of the Royal British Legion has asked llablogger to display this poster giving details of a forthcoming event to mark the centenary of the start of the First World War: