Wales Millennium Centre has announced the first confirmed acts for LLAIS (9–13 October 2024).
Artists incldue Cate Le Bon, South Asian music from Ganavya, and Somali music artists Sahra Halgan., cappella from Sweet Honey in the Rock, micortonal music from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares to a quarrymen’s choir accompanied by instruments fashioned from slate and oak
LLAIS will be as part of Cardiff Music City Festival, September 27 to October 20, 2024 with events across the city.
Llais Festival Highlights:
UK PREMIER of a very special performance to launch her seventh studio album by sonic alchemist CATE LE BON
Rare live performance by JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN performing songs from her forthcoming new album
Transcendental jazz and ambient experimentalism from New York-born and Tamil Nadu-raised vocalist GANAVYA
Hypnotic desert rock from Somali singer and freedom fighter SAHRA HALGAN
Acappella legends SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK join the festival for their only UK appearance in 2024
LE MYSTÈRE DES VOIX BULGARES returns with “Voices and Strings” in collaboration with composer Georgi Andreev and Quarto Quartet.
Grammy-nominated Irish sean-nós vocalist IARLA Ó LIONAIRD joins forces with pianist and composer CORMAC MCCARTHY
TAFOD ARIAN (Silver Tongue) – lost hymns, a celebration of the roots of Welsh sacred music and a 50-date chapel tour led by folk singer LLEUWEN
A CELEBRATION OF BAY JAZZ – The Butetown Bay Jazz Heritage Festival returns after a 12-year absence to celebrate its 15th anniversary
LE GATEAU CHOCOLAT – Negro-Spirituals and Black Queer excellence with the opera singer and cabaret diva like no other
COLORED: THE UNSUNG LIFE OF CLAUDETTE COLVIN – an immersive experience adapted from Tania de Montaigne’s account of teenage bravery and defiance in segregation era America
THE WELSH MUSIC PRIZE will once again be a part of this year’s festival with a celebration of Welsh music made over the past year
Wales Millennium Centre’s Chief Creative & Content Officer, Graeme Farrow said, “Fittingly for a venue situated on the edge of a harbour that has for centuries rung with voices from across the world, the richly diverse and global line-up assembled for this year’s festival celebrates the incredible versatility of the human voice and its power to move and heal.”
“The perfect expression of the inscription cut so boldly into the copper facade of the Wales Millennium Centre that speaks of an industrial past, a poetic soul and a shining future, Llais says so much about who we are and who we could be.”
“With the audience sing-alongs which have become a much-loved feature of the festival, and those thrilling moments of planned and serendipitous communion between artists – often meeting for the first time – it is becoming clear that Llais is as much about congregation and connection as it is about the voice.”
“This year we’re thrilled to be part of Cardiff Music City Festival – together we are redrawing what a festival can bring to audiences across three inspiring weeks of innovative and joyful experiences that pay homage to our vast musical landscape.’’
LLAIS
A Wales Millennium Centre production
9-13 October 2024
Wales Millennium Centre
www.wmc.org.uk/llais
To aid exploration, festival goers can buy tickets for two shows and receive 10% off their order or 15% off when they buy tickets to three or more events.
Get involved on social media:
Hashtag: #llais2024
Instagram: @GwylLlaisFestival
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GwylLlaisFestival
Twitter: @LlaisFestival (Eng), @GwylLlais (Welsh)
Facebook event: https://fb.me/e/1CL40ZHYS
Main image: Le Gateau Chocolat from Bayeuth Festival’s production of Tannhauser.