St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB. Doors open 4.00pm. Refreshments.

A grand finale to this year’s Hay Music Festival.

Tickets: £25 (under 25s £12.50)

Sarah Nicolls

The Fitzwilliam Quartet

Programme

Samuel Barber:  String Quartet in B minor Opus 11, including the well-known Adagio

Alfred Schnittke:  Piano Quintet in 5 movements

Liz Dilnot Johnson:  String Quartet No 5 ‘Borderlands’ (Welsh Premiere)

Dmitri Shostakovich:  String Quartet No 4 in D major, Opus 83

Richard Booth's Bookshop Cinema, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5AA. Doors open 1.00pm. Bar.

Tickets: £15

A film by Armando Iannucci made in 2017.  When dictator Joseph Stalin dies, his parasitic cronies square off in a frantic power struggle to become the next Soviet leader. As they bumble, brawl and back-stab their way to the top, the question remains, just who is running the government? A comedic masterpiece with dark undertones. 

PLEASE NOTE: this event is not included in the Weekend or Sunday ‘saver’ tickets.

The Globe at Hay, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5BG. Doors open 10.00am

The subject is the 4th String Quartet by Shostakovich. 

Tickets: £15 (under 25s £7.50)

Dmitri Shostakovich

The Castle, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5DG. Doors open 7.30pm

Concert in Hay Castle by experimental pianist and composer, Sarah Nicolls, on her ‘Inside-out Piano’. 

Tickets: £20 (under 25s £10)

A transformed piano, a transformative hour.  This is a concert without announcements or explanations, a pure, deep listening experience to immerse you fully in all of the incredible, diverse, rich and surprising sounds and textures from inside a piano – in amongst the more familiar pianistic resonances, melodic turns and chordal depths, though now heard from a different angle: a vertical grand piano reaching 2.4m into the air.

Sarah talks to Tom Service about her Inside-out Piano

St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB. Doors open 3.30pm. Refreshments.

Concert with a pre-concert introduction by Philip Cashian.

Tickets: £20 (under 25s £10)

Robin Michael Huw Wakins

Programme

A 15 minute pre-concert talk

Dmitri Shostakovich:  Cello Sonata in D minor, Opus 40

Philip Cashian:  Four Winter Moods (New commission by Hay Music Trust)

Huw Watkins:  Blue Shadows Fall (2013)

Benjamin Britten:  Cello Sonata in C major, Opus 65

The Clore Room at Hay Castle, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5DG. Doors open 2.00pm.

Peter Florence chairs a discussion with author Stephen Johnson and viola player Alan George of the Fitzwilliam Quartet.

Tickets: £10 (under 25s £5)

Stephen Johnson Peter Florence Alan George

St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB. Doors open 10.30am. Coffee bar.

A recital given by a string quartet from Sinfonia Cymru, an orchestra for young professional musicians with Anna Tulchinskaya and Haim Choi (violins), Isobel Neary-Adams (viola) and William Clark-Maxwell (cello).   

Tickets: £15 (under 25s £7.50)

Programme

Joseph Haydn:  String Quartet No 4 “The Sunrise Quartet” in B flat major, Opus 76

Dmitri Shostakovich:  String Quartet No 11 in F minor, Opus 122

Florence Price:  Summer Moon. Arranged for string quartet by W Newell

The Castle, Market Square, Hay-on-Wye HR3 5DG

Tickets: £10

Dr Peter Ford, a local historian and Town and Castle Guide, will take you on a gentle, guided walking tour of Hay-on-Wye, reflecting on how the two World Wars impacted on the people of the area and the town itself. It will include facts about casualties, survivors, refugees, a nurse, a land girl and make a link with Benjamin Britten. Dr Ford's aim is to explore the untold stories of the town of Hay-on-Wye and the people who have lived there. In the process, he has written books about Matilda, the Lady of Hay, the Doctors and Public Health in Hay, Weston Hamlet with the workhouse and almshouses, the Social History of Hay Castle Mansion, and continues to explore the stories of the prominent citizens.

PLEASE NOTE: this event is not included in the Weekend or Saturday ‘saver’ tickets.

St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB. Doors open 6.30pm. Bar.

The Fitzwilliam String Quartet: the opening concert of our 2024 Hay Music Festival with a programme of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.

Tickets: £20 (under 25s £10)

Lucy Russell Andrew Roberts Ursula Smith Alan George

Programme

Johann Sebastian Bach:  Excerpts from The Art of Fugue BWV 1080

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:  String Quartet No 18 in A major, K464

Ludwig van Beethoven:  String Quartet No 16 in F major, Opus 135

Richard Booth's Bookshop Cinema, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5AA. Doors open 1.30pm. Bar.

Tickets: £15

'Testimony' is a 1988 film about Dmitri Shostakovich directed by Tony Palmer. It is based on the true story of the life of Shostakovich (played by Ben Kingsley). While Shostakovich becomes one of the most lauded musical figures of his era, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (played by Terence Rigby) denounces his work on various occasions, creating difficulties for the highly-strung composer. The film also looks at Shostakovich's tempestuous relationship with his first wife, Nina (played by Sherry Baines), who was married to the musical legend during his initial success.

PLEASE NOTE: this event is not included in the Weekend ‘saver’ ticket.