It is now less than a month until our first LimeLife concert of the 2010 / 2011 season.  On 3rd October at the Stiwt Theatre in Rhos, Da Capo will make their North Wales debut.  Coming from the hugely sucessful "Ysgol Glanaethwy" stable, Da Capo consists of recent, former Glanaethwy students and it promises to be a fantastic evening.  Ysgol Glanaethwy, as you will know, have competed at the Eisteddfod for many years, they came second to Only Men Aloud in the BBC's Last Choir Standing and this year, won a gold medal at the Choral Olympics in China.  Also appearing will be Peter Edge, the winner of the Vocal Solo 15 - 20 at the 2010 Eisteddfod.  This was one of our most closely-fought competitions this year, so we are really looking forward to hearing Peter again.  You can get tickets by ringing either the Eisteddfod Box Office on 01978 862001 or the Stiwt Box Office on 01978 841300.

I have been in London this week, and I have also been listening to the Proms - unfortunately the two didn't actually coincide!  There are many music festivals in the world, and of course I have my own particular favourite - it has to be the one for which I work!  However, the BBC Proms never fail to impress me with their variety, innovation and yet tradition still - an object lesson I would say in being able to do so.  And to sell so well... The Sondheim birthday programme the other week was fabulous, and last night one of my favourite symphonies - something of a spiritual experience simply because Shostakovitch 5 was the centrepiece of my own first Prom at the age of about 11.  It was with Paavo Berglund conducting on that occasion and I won't forget it (for the cognoscenti, the F sharp major at the end of the third movement was one of the most striking musical moments of my whole life; for those who aren't, then you are probably saying "Get one..."; there we are!).  Yes, bravo to the Proms and to all who are involved in them.

Unusually for me, yesterday evening was spent partly in flicking channels on the tv.  It seems that all the world is a 'song' at present - there were repeats of talent shows of all sorts - mostly musical.  This is great news for those of us who spend our lives promoting musical performance in whatever way, and personally I think it is wonderful that so many people are either singing for the first time or being rewarded in new ways for the commitment they have to rehearsing - whether that be everyday at their instrument or every week at a choir, etc etc.  You may think that there is a 'But' coming here; well, there is one (albeit not a huge one, given the nature of commercial broadcasting and what it probably has to be).  One of the contestants whose performance I watched yesterday was clearly very talented but had been drawn in so far to the 'image-making' side of things that his / her talent had been completely hidden beneath it - in more blunt terms there were wrong notes from beginning to end.  Mercifully the judge concerned knew this and pointed it out.  Shows are great, but surely excellence will out.  And it is fabulous to have the public giving their views, because it involves them in a real way; but informed comment is still necessary.  So here's to many more ensembles and soloists getting the competition bug - carry it on and don't be afraid to try it on some different stages in the future! 

It was very disappointing to hear that the Faenol festival has been cancelled again this year.  The festival has in the last ten years or so joined Llangollen in being one of Wales' (and in particular North Waels') iconic events; and both events of course add so much to the regional economy.  It does show, though, the difficult economic climate in which we are working at the moment.  We had more visitors and concert-goers here than in the last couple of years (we were 8% up on 2009) but things are not at all easy.  We hope and trust that those who have supported us, both from the audience point of view, and in terms of funders, will continue to support Llangollen so that this great and unique festival can survive and thrive in the future.  We will be there in July 2011, but if there was any need of proof that no event has a divine right to happen then we had it again yesterday.  Don't forget, of course, our next Llangollen brand event is the concert to be given by Da Capo, Ysgol Glanaethwy's new ensemble, on 3rd October.

... It is high time I gave them public thanks following Llangollen 2010; we are so well served by our friends and colleagues - as that is what they are, a very special group of people who do a fabulous job and also do it in a most cheerful and friendly way - despite often being in a great hurry to deliver their verdicts or introductions on the stage itself.  We keep a corpus of 'regulars', making some changes each year in order to keep things fresh.  This year actually saw more new faces than is normal, as we welcomed Nic Parry, Paul Davies, René Fréchette, Siân James, Ahmet Turan and Huw Williams for the first time, for a number of reasons.  We of course missed the late Robin Jones, and we also had to wish Dick van de Vooren a speedy recovery from surgery not long before the festival began.  So in the case of dance adjudicators, we had quite a new team; Ahmet, René and Huw were, as it were, inducted (or is it induced??) by Ed Austin and became a wonderful team within literally hours - just one example of how Llangollen works 'backstage'.  And there are things that the audience necessarily doesn't see, such as the "rather long adjudication" which may just have been on specific instruction to continue because the next choir had been stuck in a traffic jam, etc etc!  Long may we have such dedicated and expert judges and comperes; and thanks to them all, 'regular' and 'new'.