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Early Voices Festival 2025 Mare Nostrum​
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After the wonderful experience of our inaugural Festival in May last year, here we are again! This year the title is "Mare Nostrum”, as we focus on the role of the Mediterranean Sea as a hub of cultural exchange throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.​​
Festival launch 1st May!
“Early Voices Connections: from Persia to Europe”
We will launch the festival on the 1st May (please, note the different date from that previously announced) with a special project: Early Voices Connections.
This concert is a new partnership between Welsh group ContraBand and Kurdish-Iranian duo Sazava. Exploring medieval as well as traditional middle eastern music, this concert will find surprising connections through improvisations, creating new and exciting music.
Thursday 1st May, at 7.30pm in St Illtud's Church, Llantwit Major.
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/early-voices
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Supported by Ty Cerdd Create
Irene and Nastaran in rehearsal
Main festival weekend 9th - 11th May!
“Music for Notre Dame - France in the 14th century... and beyond"
The Glaswegian vocal quartet iuchair (Scot Gaelic for key) will open the weekend on Friday 9th May with a programme focused on Guillaume de Machaut, Ars Nova and music in France during the 14th century… and also finding surprising connections with some more recent French music!
Friday 9th May, at 7.30pm in St Illtud's Church, Llantwit Major.
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/early-voices​
“Chiaroscuro” - Lute songs of the Mediterranean
The duo Joelene Griffith and Scott Baker will start our Saturday with this atmospheric concert of Renaissance music. Joelene’s wonderful soprano voice will be complemented by Scott’s lute in this exciting programme of French, Italian and Spanish songs.
Saturday 10th May, at 2pm in St Illtud's Church, Llantwit Major.
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/early-voices​
“Picturing Cultural Exchange in the Medieval Mediterranean”
On Saturday afternoon we’ll welcome Dr Lucy Donkin, senior lecturer of History of Art at the University of Bristol. Tracing how visual arts contributed to cultural exchange during the Middle Ages, this talk will provide a wider context for the musical connections encountered in the festival.
Saturday 10th May, at 3.30pm in St Illtud's Church, LlantwitMajor.
Free event​
“Palestrina 500!”
This year marks the 500th anniversary of Palestrina’s birth, and we are going to celebrate his wonderful music and legacy with two choirs together, The Fountain Singers and the Ewenny Chamber Choir. On Saturday evening you will experience some of the most famous pieces of Renaissance music in all its glory!
Saturday 10th May, at 7.30pm in St Illtud's Church, Llantwit Major.
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/early-voices
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This concert is co-hosted by the Italian Cultural Centre Wales
“Into the Melting Pot”
This performance is a concertplay (where music and theatre collide) written by award-winning writer Clare Norburn and directed by BAFTA-nominated Nicholas Renton.
Spain, 1492. At twilight on her final night in Seville, a Jewish woman, played by Suzanne Ahmet lights the lamps. She is being forced to leave Spain and set sail for an uncertain future. Her story echoes down the ages to the personal stories of people of all faiths affected by politics and war today. She tunes into the voices of a community of Jewish, Christian and Muslim women from across the Spanish peninsula.
Supported by Continuo Foundation, Colwinston Charitable Trust, The Gwendoline and Margaret Davies Charity, the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation and the Shoresh Charitable Trust.
Sunday 11th May, at 7.30pm in St Illtud's Church, Llantwit Major.
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/early-voices​
In 2024, The Telling won a prestigious REMA Award for their workshop Songs and Stories, inspired by “Into the Melting Pot”. In the running up to our festival, the animateur Sarah Atter will bring this project to the members of Cardiff-based Oasis One World Choir, who will then share their work and songs with our audiences on Sunday, just before The Telling’s evening performance and help conclude this year’s Early Voices!
Sunday 11th May at 6pm in St Illtud's Church, Llantwit Major.
Free event​
Early Voices Festival 2025 is proudly sponsored by Susan and Michael Doolan.
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