The Festival programme planned for July 2024 is lively and varied, with outstanding musicians from many countries performing in some of the most beautiful churches and chapels of this area. Besides eleven concerts, there will be talks, including an evening of words and music for the 80th birthday of Sir Karl Jenkins.
There’ll also be a special exhibition featuring the work of artists inspired by the life and landscape of Gower.
Monday 1 July 7.30pm Tickets £20 Yevgeny Sudbin (piano) ST PAUL’S CHURCH, SKETTY SA2 9AR ‘One of the most inspired of today’s pianists’, Yevgeny Sudbin has performed with the world’s greatest orchestras. He plays music by Liszt, Chopin, Scriabin and Debussy – his L’Isle Joyeuse, sparkling with summer sunshine. A perfect opening to the Festival. Sponsored by John and Georgina Harding, and anonymously
Tuesday 2 July 7.30pm Tickets £20 Bartosz Głowacki (accordion) ST HILARY’S CHURCH, KILLAY SA2 7DZ Bartosz Głowacki was a hit at the 2022 Festival and we are delighted that he is returning to Gower. His programme of classical and world music includes pieces by Scarlatti, Maxwell Davies and Astor Piazzolla. An evening to remember.
Wednesday 3 July 7.30pm Tickets £20 Morgan Szymanski (guitar) ST CADOC’S CHURCH, CHERITON SA3 1BY Morgan Szymanski is Mexico’s leading guitarist and an ambassador for his country’s culture. In beautiful Cheriton Church he takes us on a Latin American journey, with pieces from Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina. Sponsored by Siân Walters, Art History in Focus, and by Mike & Judy Thompson
Thursday 4 July 2.30pm Tickets £15 Morgan Szymanski (guitar) ST DAVID’S CHURCH, LLANDDEWI SA3 1AU A mixed programme of music by baroque and classical composers – Bach, Sor, Tárrega and Albéniz. Also included are lively dances specially composed for Morgan by Gareth Walters.
Thursday 4 July 7.30pm Tickets £25 Karl Jenkins at eighty AVALON SUITE, KING ARTHUR HOTEL, REYNOLDSTON SA3 1AD In conversation with music presenter John Suchet, our President Sir Karl Jenkins talks about his life and career as a multi-talented composer and instrumentalist. His appeal is universal: ‘music without boundaries, loved by everyone’. Sponsored by Morgan LaRoche
Friday 5 July 7.30pm Tickets £20 Clare Hammond (piano) ST PETER’S CHURCH, NEWTON SA3 4RB ‘A pianist of extraordinary gifts’, Clare Hammond plays Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata, pieces by Fauré and Debussy, Clara Schumann and Cécile Chaminade. An evening of delights and discoveries. Sponsored by David and Jan Eastwood, and anonymously
Saturday 6 July 7.30pm Tickets £20 Swansea Bach Choir directed by Greg Hallam ST CENYDD’S CHURCH, LLANGENNITH SA3 1HU We look forward to welcoming these talented singers back to Gower. Their programme includes music by Britten, Holst and Vaughan Williams, plus the premiere of a work by Welsh composer Gareth Treseder. Sponsored by Mary Sylvester
Monday 8 July 2.30pm Tickets £15* Tabea Debus (recorder) & Toby Carr (lute) CLYNE CHAPEL, MAYALS, SWANSEA SA3 5BT Leading recorder player Tabea Debus and lutenist Toby Carr cross the centuries from anonymous medieval dances to the music of 16th- and 17th-century masters such as John Dowland and Henry Purcell. An exploration of tunes that get lodged in the mind. Sponsored by Roger and Angie Taylor
Tuesday 9 July 2.30pm Tickets £15 Artists of Gower. Talk by Peter Wakelin GLYNN VIVIAN ART GALLERY, ALEXANDRA ROAD, SWANSEA SA1 5DZ Celebrating Gower art and artists, the Festival pays affectionate tribute to the painter Glenys Cour in the year of her 100th birthday. Enjoy an exhibition of work inspired by Gower, a talk by art historian Peter Wakelin, and a tea party. Yellow Landscape, © Glenys Cour. City & County of Swansea: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Collection
Wednesday 10 July 2.30pm Tickets £15* Castalian String Quartet ST MARY’S CHURCH, RHOSSILI SA3 1PL We welcome the acclaimed Castalian Quartet to Gower. Alongside Viennese classics by Schubert and Beethoven, they play Five Fantasy Pieces by Samuel Taylor-Coleridge, full of colour and rhythmic vitality echoing Dvo˘rák. In memory of Brian Clarkson, former Vice-President Sponsored by Richard Taylor and Gareth Evans
Wednesday 10 July 7.30pm Tickets £12 Fun Talk by Griff Harries, ‘Name that tune–name the composer?’ VESTRY, CAPEL Y CRWYS, THREE CROSSES SA4 3PU Stories of South Wales composers who wrote tunes loved by millions. Their names may be forgotten but their music isn’t. Sound clips, film, surprising facts, humour and more.
Thursday 11 July 7.30pm Tickets £20* Castalian String Quartet ST RHIDIAN & ST ILLTYD’S CHURCH, LLANRHIDIAN SA3 1ER Three late masterpieces. Haydn’s ‘Sunrise’ Quartet, Op. 76, is followed by Janá˘cek’s First Quartet, drawing on Moravian folk music, and then Schubert’s great G major Quartet, with its amazing fund of melody.
Friday 12 July 7.30pm Tickets £20 Pavel Kolesnikov (piano) ST PETER’S CHURCH, NEWTON SA3 4RB A firm favourite with Gower audiences, Pavel Kolesnikov is one of the most sensitive and thoughtful pianists of his generation, admired for his ability to offer listeners a fresh perspective on familiar music. Sponsored anonymously and by Arthur Llewellyn Jenkins, Wales’ Leading Furniture Centres
Saturday 13 July 7.30pm Tickets £20* Red Priest REYNOLDSTON VILLAGE HALL SA3 1AA Named after Vivaldi, the original ‘red priest’, these musicians are famous for their energetic approach to baroque music, combining technical wizardry and showmanship. An exhilarating conclusion to the Festival. Sponsored by Swansea Timber & Plywood, and anonymously.
