Anniversaries and a unique role

One of the characteristics of the Vale of Glamorgan Festival is the opportunity to experience the work of a few composers in depth. A glance through the following pages will quickly reveal how this ‘composer portrait’ approach has informed the planning of the 2006 Festival. These portraits have an added significance in that the majority of the composers represented have reached important anniversaries.

Steve Reich will be 70 this year. His music reaches across some of the perceived boundaries of musical style and he is one of very few composers who can genuinely claim to have influenced the development of Western classical music. We have focussed the Festival on his music in our concerts and workshops, and are presenting a number of seminal pieces by him. Another composer whose music has had an immense impact in recent times is Arvo Pärt. A highlight of the 2006 Festival is the opportunity to hear some of his most beautiful choral music.

The leading Latvian composer Peteris Vasks is 60 in 2006. We are offering an in-depth view of his music, with choral, orchestral and chamber works. I share his birthday year and a variety of my music can be heard too, the focal point being a 60th-birthday tribute by Lontano, which they will repeat in London the following week. An important chamber work and the UK premiere of a major orchestral piece by the young Luxembourg/Australian composer Georges Lentz complete this year’s series of portraits.

In a music tradition that appears at times to have real difficulty in renewing itself (and seems to try to distract itself from doing so by any number of ephemeral gimmicks), the Festival centres on the simple concept of ‘repertoire first’. The concerts are then specifically designed for this Festival, its venues and its audiences, and, in a real sense, are unique to it; and we seek the ideal casting for each role.

Who better to perform the music of Vasks and Pärt than the remarkable Latvian Radio Choir? One of the world’s great choirs, they give our opening and closing concerts. The candlelit Priory at Ewenny is a magical and intimate space, while the superb acoustic of St Augustine’s in Penarth makes it an ideal venue for the larger scale repertoire of this 25-strong ensemble. These and our other historic venues are a reminder that old and new need not necessarily be disconnected.

We are extremely fortunate in our association with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, which enables us to present large-scale works. I hope you will agree that their concert in Llandaff Cathedral this year promises to be a spectacular event.

New music that engages with society seems to me to be an important yardstick of a healthy cultural environment. The performance of Steve Reich’s Different Trains as part of the Auschwitz memorial events last year is a prime example. You can hear that work in the Festival, and we are taking up the train motif with an exciting train-related outreach project.

Whether you are a regular attender or an interested newcomer, I hope you will find the Festival interesting, even inspiring. We have much to offer: outstanding performers, beautiful and atmospheric venues, original – often unique – programming and the presence of the composers themselves for talks and informal discussion. Join us this year for some remarkable concerts.