Llangollen Announces it's Evening Concert line up: to include McFly, Russell Watson and Lulu!

Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod Week Schedule 2011

Monday 4th

Evening Concert: Lulu and Friends: Opening Gala Concert, 7.45pm £50/£40/£30

Tuesday 5th

Daytime: International Children’s Day

Strains of Hope: On the field, 5000 children will be transported to Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas, in a day of joyful, uplifting performances and workshops showcasing music and dance from around the world. The Peace Message from the Children of Wales is presented this year by school children from the Chirk and Glyn Ceiriog area. Alex Pascall from Grenada will delight us with some Caribbean harmony and Steven Sogo and his band Hope Street will perform.

The Parade. Parade of Nations. 4.30pm

The colour and excitement of the Festival spreads into the streets of Llangollen town with the Parade of Nations. Each year over 60 years, a vibrant tradition has continued.

Evening Concert: Russell Watson – La Voce:

Special Guest: Faryl Smith. 7.45pm.

Tickets £45, £35, £25

Wednesday 6th

Daytime: A Feast of Costume, Music and Dance.

The outstanding Llangollen competitions begin and continue throughout the day, with choirs and folk dancers from over 20 countries. Also featuring the best young soloists in the world.

• Senior Children’s Choirs
• Traditional Folk Dance Groups
• Vocal Solo under 15 years of age
• Vocal Solo aged 15-20
• Instrumental Solo under 18 years of age

Dancing in the Street

On the field: Dance workshops and World Music performances, introducing performers from all five continents on the outside stages. Come to Llangollen and experience the whole World in One Place!

All the World, More Smiles, the festival’s award winning inclusive project, brings together music, dance, drama and art to the S4/C stage.

@6 Concert: Djabe: one of Europe’s most exciting jazz/folk fusion groups.

Evening Concert: One World, One Stage, One Llangollen Welcome (including the Welcome Ceremony and Procession). 7.45pm. £15 (children £5)

Thursday 7th

Daytime: Join the musical party; a day full of competitions for young performers with dazzling talent. A thousand children perform.

• 
  
  • Junior Children’s Choirs
  • Children’s Folk Dance
  • Youth Choirs
  • Songs from the Show’s Final
  • Vocal Solo, 21 yrs of age and over Final
  • Instrumental Solo over 18 yrs of age Final
  • Dancing in the Street
  • Folk Dance Duos Final
  • Individual Folk Dance Final

12 noon: The moving ‘Sound of Silence’, the whole Pavilion and field fall silent, everyone links arms, and the Llangollen Message of Peace is broadcast to the world.

On the field: Enjoy upbeat music and colourful dancing, with a flavour of the exotic.

Special packages for Secondary Schools.

£5 per pupil. Teachers FREE

(Pre-booked parties only; pupil-teacher ratio 12:1)

@6 Concert: ‘Community Choir Fest’; hear both the winners of television’s ‘Codi Canu’, Côr Rhos a’r Cylch and Llangollen’s own community Choir.

Evening Concert: Noye’s Fludde, with performances from around the world £15 (children £5) 7.45pm

Friday 8th

Daytime: Folk Friday

Fabulous Folk and Choral performances, including Celtic groups, and uniquely inspiring inclusive singing, dance and theatre: the essence of Llangollen.

• Mixed Choirs
• Folk Song Choirs
• Chamber Choirs
• Folk Showcase

Bands from Wales also lead an eclectic mix of sights and sounds.

Reserved seat in the Pavilion: £15, £12

Ground admission (unreserved seat in Pavilion)

Adult £10, Concession £8, Child £5, Family £23

Special packages for Secondary Schools.

£5 per pupil. Teachers FREE

(Pre-booked parties only; pupil-teacher ratio 12:1)

Evening Concert: starring Ruthie Henshall: The Best of the West End: 8pm. £40, £30, £20

Saturday 9th

International Family Day.

Daytime: One Day, A Thousand Voices

Traditional male and female choirs, simply the best in the world, including Barbershop and Show choirs: the daytime competitions reach a climax.

On the field: A Festival within a Festival – all day fun for everyone. Music, dance, arts, crafts, story-telling, demonstrations and competitions for all.

@6 Concert: The day’s Guest of Honour, Julian Lloyd-Webber (‘Cello)

Evening Concert: Choir of The World, with Guest Appearance by Julian Lloyd Webber (Cello)

Sunday 10th

Daytime: “Sunday on the Field” - Bands and solo artists play on the field from 2pm.

Evening Concert: McFly, 7.45pm.Tickets: £35 (seated and standing; standing aged 14 and over), £25 (seated)

Full booking info:
Reserve your ticket NOW!
Online booking at www.llangollen2011.co.uk
(including ‘Choose your own seat’ option)
Box Office 01978 862001 9.30am to 4.30pm weekdays.
Email tickets@international-eisteddfod.co.uk
By post: Llangollen Eisteddfod Box Office, Royal International Pavilion, Abbey Road, Llangollen, LL20 8SW.
Season Tickets: amazing offers!
Become a Season Ticket Holder or a Friend of the Festival to have access to priority seating arrangements and great offers;

• Platinum ticket is only: £200 Sit in the same seat all week (Day and night, Monday to Saturday!)
• Gold - £135 Wednesday to Saturday Evening (£5 discount on top-price seats for Russell Watson concert)
• Silver Season - All daytime sessions, Wednesday to Saturday, same top-price seat guarantee, £70.

FESTIVAL GROUND ADMISSION
(Pavilion Reserved seat ticket includes Ground Admission)
Adult £10
Concessions £8
Child Under 16 £5 (£2 Saturday)
EVENING GROUND ADMISSION
Only £1 – ‘Ground for a Pound’ after 4.30pm, Tuesday – Thursday
FAMILY GROUND ADMISSION
Wednesday -Friday £23 ; Saturday £20 (International Family Day)
(2 Adults & up to 3 children)

Press: Mr Producer Ltd

Lydia@mrproducer.co.uk

02920916667

Russell Watson	Lulu	McFly

The Ninth Wave by Russell Celyn Jones – A Review

"You cannot be a true Mabinogi fan without reading this book" The Ninth Wave is a retelling of ‘Pwyll, Lord of Dyfed’ from the First Branch of the Mabinogion. Jones paints a world in the future where planet earth is out of oil. The horse is the preferred mode of transportation, sailing ships rule the seas and centralized governments have failed. Cars, trucks & vans are all roadside relics many of which are now inhabited. Wales is ruled by cantrefs (like our counties), which are inherited or won by conquest. While this Mad Max setting is intriguing, it seems slightly unpolished or needing more thought and attention to detail to make it work. However, there is enough here to make an interesting tale as long suspend your disbelief and ignore the awkward parts of it. When Pwyll drives, his mint condition saved and stored Bentley convertible on a tour of sacrifice while using its last tank of gas. The climax being to drive into a lake on another Lord’s property as a peace offering, yes that is what I said! (Here my lip trembles) I got out my hanky, well I will spare the details just saying it ended up wet and snotty. I have sat on this review for some time now, hoping to gain a more unbiased view of the work. In rereading the original tale of Pwyll, you find a young Lord who meets the Lord of the Otherworld. He swaps places with him for a year and a day including total shape shift of bodies. Slays (only a human can kill a god) the only competing Lord of that realm. Kills the suitor of the woman he wants to marry, has a son, son is kidnapped, wife is blamed and punished. Son is restored as a teenager and Pwyll rules happily ever after. Briefly an awkward paced fast then slow tale, deserving more space for a retelling. Jones by the nature of the assignment follows the same path but does not take enough space to fully develop the tale, as should be. The old tales involved a ‘Geis’ a magical binding or prohibition laid upon central character of the tale. Geis are behind the mythological tales in folklore, but now writers do not use Geis. A Geis would place a hero into legend, but now we must build a mighty saga to do the same. Considering that, Seren wants only novella length tales this is still a fine story. By explaining the limitations set for the task and then having my wife read the book her experience was thus. Struggled through the first half of the book not being a fantasy or science fiction reader, and then enjoyed the slower paced second half. There are pleasant surprises such as the return of the surfing son with a talent for leadership. The landscape of desolation will give you the shivers. You cannot be a true Mabinogi fan without reading this book. Buy the book HERE Review by Bill Tillman

Russell Sheppard - The Llanbradach Maestro

Russell Sheppard will need very little introduction to most of our readers. His exquisite musical contributions to our video section have enormously enriched this site. They can be heard here. Russell's YouTube channel can be found here.

The Music

Photos of Wales

The Man

Russell Sheppard is a multi-talented instrumentalist, composer, painter and photographer from Llanbradach in South Wales. Here is an excerpt from his Americymru profile page:-

"I have been playing the guitar for 28 years, I try to play every day but haven't always got the time, I also write music on my computer using Sonar 7 which is a studio software programme.

I also paint and have painted off and on since my 20's, I first started to paint in school but stopped when I joined the army, I have painted nearly everything I can think of such as people, landscapes, dogs, cars, boats and whatever people have wanted."

Russell has also provided musical accompaniment for one of Americymru member Tam Ryans videos. "A Warm Welcome" can be found here.




The Interview

1. When did you first start playing guitar?

"I have always been very interested in music and even as a kid I used to play my mothers piano, at 21 years old I stole my sisters guitar, she didn't play it anyway so I wiped the cobwebs off and bought myself a chord book and learnt some chords."

2. How easy is it to set up your own home studio using Sonar or similar software?

"To set up your own music studio is surprisingly easy if you already have a computer. The studio comes as a software for your computer, you need a good sound card which will give you all the effects you will use, I think the price altogether including the recording software would be around £800 to £1000 pound ($1,396 to $1,745) so for a recording studio thats quite cheap."

3. How do you compose for the guitar?

"I compose music for the guitar, do to this I sometimes write it down onto music sheets, but more often I will sit with the guitar on my lap and work out a tune that has been in my head for a while."

4. Have you studied music or were you self taught?

"I taught myself music from books, and picked up a lot from school as a kid, but I taught myself to play the guitar through listening to tunes and learning them by "ear"."

5. Do you play any other instruments?

"I play other instrument such as the piano, clarinet and a bit of violin, but I'm much more comfortable with the guitar."

6. On your Americymru profile page you mention that you used to paint. Do you still? Can you tell us more about your painting?

"I started to paint in school and developed it further when I left the army, I have painted a lot of portraits and have paintings all over the world."

7. Where can people hear your music?

"People can hear my playing the guitar and hear my music by visiting this site:

http://uk.youtube.com/user/llanbradach