We at Llandaff Cathedral are opening the doors this summer for a four-day festival in celebration of community. The new Llandaff Cathedral Festival will welcome all of Cardiff for a celebration of culture, music and heritage from the 14th- 17th July.
Originally started in 1958 and running for an impressive 30 years, the Llandaff Festival was an important part of Cardiff life before the building of St David’s Hall. In the past the festival attracted large orchestral works, chamber music and piano recitals from renowned international soloists, and had an impressive record of commissions by Welsh composers including Alun Hoddinott, William Mathias and many others. In more recent times the Festival was briefly relaunched as part of the Organ appeal from 2008 -2013.
During the festival we would like to attract new visitors to the Cathedral who may not have been before. We have purposely scheduled a variety of activities and performances during the festival so that there is something for everyone no matter what age, creed or financial status. Apart from our evening concerts every one of our events is free to attend. We have programmed events to spread the course of the day and intend for people to have the opportunity to spend the whole day with us potentially having a tour of the building, participating in a workshop, attending a concert, and socialising in our cafe and bar. To create and present our events, as well as our in-house groups, we are reaching out to new communities to build links and relationships. So far, we have joined forces with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Nicholson’s organ builders, poet Gillian Clarke and international musicians the Scott Brothers as well as continuing to build links across Cardiff. We have also created a poetry competition for local schools to be judged and displayed during the festival.
We want as many of our events to be free or heavily subsidised. For that, we need funding. If you are able, please donate to Llandaff Cathedral Festival. Every £ and every penny really do count.