Intérprete: Edmund Hastings

The Academy of Ancient Music gave a finely honed account of Handel's unusual "little opera", written for the Earl of Carnavon's household musicians: a sweet pastoral offering never yet out of the repertoire. 

Winner of OperaUpClose’s Flourish competition for new writing, The Blank Canvas is a heartbreakingly tragic tale of an abstract artist coming to terms with widowhood, success and some worrying hallucinations. 

The Presteigne Festival has carved out a niche amongst Welsh Festivals (or, indeed, British festivals as a whole) for its largely contemporary programme of work.