The Vale of Glamorgan Festival is a contemporary music festival based in and around the county of

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and held annually during May (formerly September). The festival was founded in 1969 by Welsh composer John Metcalf, who is the Artistic Director to this day. After initially being a generic classical music festival, the Vale of Glamorgan Festival changed its focus in 1992 to feature exclusively living composers. In recognition of this position, the Vale of Glamorgan Festival received the Prudential Award in 1994. The Festival's Artistic Director received one of four inaugural Creative Wales Ambassador Awards from the Arts Council of Wales in 2009. Highlights include festivals devoted to the music of the Baltic States (1996),

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

(1998) and Australia (2001). The 2002 festival featured a tour to Britain by the Finnish Radio Chamber Choir. 2005 brought a mix of music, visual art, storytelling and food, in a festival with interwoven themes of Japan and the work of women composers. The 2013 event, held at the St Donats Arts Centre and Cardiff's Hoddinott Hall, was favourably reviewed by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', highlighting composer

Sebastian Currier Sebastian Currier (born March 16, 1959) is an American composer of music for chamber groups and orchestras. He was also a professor of music at Columbia University from 1999 to 2007. Life Currier was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and was ra ...

as the outstanding performance. Composers

John Tavener Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious works. Among his best known works are '' The Lamb'' (1982), ''The Protecting Veil'' (1988), and '' Song ...

and

Tarik O'Regan Tarik Hamilton O'Regan (; born 1 January 1978) is a British and American composer. His compositions number over 100 and are partially represented on 43 recordings which have been recognised with two Grammy nominations. He is also the recipien ...

formed the focus of the 2014 Festival. BBC NOW broadcasts an annual concert featuring the top five composers from the festival.

References

External links

The Vale of Glamorgan Festival
{{Authority control Music festivals in Wales Festivals established in 1969 Annual events in Wales Contemporary classical music festivals 1969 establishments in Wales