St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB. Doors open 10.30am. Refreshments.
‘Seascapes’
Continuing our theme of migration, set sail with Sinfonia Cymru’s 7-piece ensemble for ‘Seascapes’ – an immersive musical voyage blending folk, classical, and storytelling. At the heart of the programme is Sally Beamish’s Seavaigers, a powerful and rarely performed work for the Clarsach (Scottish Gaelic Harp), solo fiddle and strings. Original compositions and arrangements by violinist Georgina MacDonell Finlayson weave around it, drawing on her dual roots in folk and classical music. Interspersed with tales of adventure, migration and the ever-changing sea, ‘Seascapes’ invites you into a world of mystery, beauty and emotional depth – a rich, genre-blurring experience of music and story.
Members of Sinfonia Cymru: Georgina MacDonell Finlayson - violin/fiddle, Chloe Powell-Davies - clarsach (Scottish Gaelic harp) with Rachel Culpan and Raye Harvey - violins, Isobel Neary Adams - viola, Abigail Lorimer - cello, Danny Cleave - double bass.
Tickets: £18 / £9 under 25s
GEORGINA MacDOWELL FINLAYSON is a Scottish musician, composer, sound artist and community arts practitioner. She enjoys a varied portfolio of composing, performing and teaching in both classical and traditional styles, and has a particular interest in collaborative, cross-genre and multi-disciplinary performance. Raised in a remote glen in the North East of Scotland, her creative work is often influenced by her experiences of landscape, nature and traditional culture. She is fascinated by the ways in which traditional music and culture are so deeply connected with landscape and language, but also how this connection can be found in the fusion of classical and traditional music across the world. This fascination is a strong research and artistic thread in her creative practice, but in particular, how music can bring us closer to landscape and nature and address our urgent need to live sustainably.
Georgina is experienced as both a chamber musician and an orchestral player, performing an extensive range of repertoire, with a particular interest in contemporary music, folk inspired repertoire and cross-genre ensembles. She has performed with orchestras and ensembles across Scotland, including Nevis Ensemble, NYOS and Kellie Consort. She is also a performer and composer of traditional music, often working with live storytelling and theatre, appearing at the Scottish International Storytelling Festival and the Audacious Women Festival. As a composer, her works have previously been played by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Red Note Ensemble and Any Enemy, performed at Aberdeen’s soundfestival and broadcast on the BBC Radio 3 New Music Show. Her work explores everything from traditional and contemporary classical styles, to sound design, theatre scores, spoken word and electroacoustic composition.
Georgina has a Bachelor of Music degree from The University of Edinburgh. She has extensive experience as an instrumental teacher, workshop leader and community arts practitioner, and feels strongly about making music and the arts accessible to everyone. Previous work and collaborations have included theatre, puppetry, dance, storytelling, exhibition curation, installation and archival research. She also takes great interest in Scottish history, ethnomusicology, ecomusicology and cultural geography, and is currently learning Scottish Gaelic.
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CHLOE POWELL-DAVIES is an award-winning harpist based in Flintshire, performing across the UK and Europe as a soloist, orchestral harpist and chamber musician. She has performed at venues including Wigmore Hall, the Wales Millennium Centre and Buckingham Palace.
Having begun her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, Chloe went on to gain her Masters of Music with Distinction from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2019. Most recently, she qualified as a music therapist after completing a second master’s degree at the University of South Wales.
Chloe is passionate about the power of music to connect and support people, combining her performance work with her therapeutic practice. She also composes and writes songs for both concert harp and clarsach, drawing inspiration from Welsh folk traditions and storytelling. Chloe has performed at Mike McGoldrick’s Carousel Sessions in Manchester and was a winner of the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol’s open folk group competition.