The eighteenth annual Llandeilo Fawr Festival of Music was launched in some style on June 8 with a champagne reception and musical soiree at Golden Grove Mansion.

The magnificent old house, the former home of the Earl of Cawdor which is undergoing extensive renovation work, was the perfect setting for such an auspicious occasion.

Set in some of the most striking woodland anywhere in Wales, and enjoying exquisite views of the Towy Valley, there can be no better place in

which to enjoy an evening like this.

The guests enjoyed the contrasting and assured performances of two young students from the Cardiff campus of the University of Wales Trinity St.David, Celyn Evans (Soprano) and Joseph Cornish (Baritone), both of whom were accompanied by Gerald Jones on the beautiful 130-year old Bechstein grand piano which adorns the house.

The musical entertainment was followed by a delicious buffet supper which truly set the coping stone on a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

The festival will officially commence on Saturday 14 July, when the John S.Davies Singers, together with the Westward Chamber Orchestra, perform Haydn’s Imperial (or ‘Nelson’) Mass at St.Teilo’s Church at 7pm.

Tickets are already selling well for this concert.

For further information visit llandeilomusicfestival.gov.uk.

Tickets are available locally from Peppercorn 01558 822410, Nick Wall (Jewellers) on 01558 822237, Hotline 01267 231557 or alternatively Ticketsource.