A warm welcome to the Bangor Music Festival 2024, where there’s something for everyone in the various concerts, workshops, talks and community events that takes place over a period of three days. This year, the theme is as relevant as ever and encapsulates the main objective of the festival, which is to provide ‘new music and new experiences’ to audiences far and wide.

The Afro Cluster and Banda Bacana gig will bring a new cultural dimension into the festival, presenting us with a fusion of funk, Hip-Hop and African music or the rhythms of Samba and popular cultures, respectively.

Much emphases are on the new and the young again this year, with prominence given to new commissions by Niamh O’Donnell and Tayla-Leigh Payne, performed by the newly established Ensemble CGWM in their debut concert. UPROAR Ensemble will present three new compositions that are inspired by, and responding to contemporary life in Wales by Richard Baker, Nathan James Dearden and Lynne Plowman. Occasionally, the new experiences might include the combining of the old with the new, such as the sounds of the Chinese traditional instrument Guzheng with unusual electronic sounds in the new commission by Jo Thomas. In addition, we are introduced to new audio-visuals by the SOUND/IMAGE Research Centre at Greenwich University and Electroacoustic Wales, that combines electronic sounds and projected visuals on the screen.

In addition, further workshops in graphic notation, improvisation and musical performance by young local performers at Pontio’s public spaces will satisfy anyone’s curiosity. Many thanks to all that have made the Festival possible and I am confident that you will enjoy the ‘new music and new experiences’!