THE man behind one of the musical centrepieces of the London Olympics opening ceremony is to work his magic for the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.
Welsh composer Gareth Glyn worked with Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle to provide one of the musical arrangements for the spectacular ceremony at the Games in August.
Now he is doing the same for this summer’s Eisteddfod in July when one of his compositions will be the highlight of International Children’s Day on the first day of the event.
The day will feature the triple attractions of Doctor Who’s Tardis, a musical spaceship and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Gareth, 61, is no stranger to Llangollen: “I’ve only ever been a competitor there before,” he said.
“I was there with a choir some years ago. We didn’t win but people always say that taking part is what’s important and that’s really the case at Llangollen.
“We gave a good account of ourselves a and it was fun to compete against people from all over the world and that’s the spirit of the Eisteddfod, all the different peoples, the colours and the languages and getting involved in that is a wonderful feeling.”
He will be there for International Children’s Day on Tuesday, July 9, when BBC National Orchestra of Wales will give two performances of his SPM-1 – Spaceship Powered by Music – for the Eisteddfod’s opening day.
“The idea is to make the concert venue a spaceship which is powered by the music of the orchestra while the crew are the children with the conductor as the captain,” he said.
Eilir Owen Griffiths added: “The plot of the story is that the spaceship is taking music to distant galaxies and by doing that brings peace and harmony and that underlines the Eisteddfod’s message of peace which has always been its theme.
“Grant Llewellyn will be conducting the orchestra and following on from Gareth’s piece they will be playing a number of pieces including the theme from Doctor Who which celebrates its 50th birthday this year and we will even have the Tardis there for the children to see and have their pictures taken with it.”
Tickets are available from the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk
For more information go to the website or www.facebook.com/llangollen