With a varied and exciting programme celebrating Wales’ past, present and future, Wales Millennium Centre is set to be the ideal venue to spend the St David’s Day weekend (1 – 2 March) with the whole family.
Intent on creating an unmistakably Welsh atmosphere throughout the St David’s Day weekend, Wales Millennium Centre will present a busy programme of free performances on the Glanfa stage. Artists include celebrated choir and multi Eisteddfod winners, Côr y Mochyn Du, who will open the weekend’s celebrations with a repertoire of classic music to celebrate the day. Harpist, Ann Williams, originally from North Wales, will be playing a repertoire of classical, folk and popular music on both Saturday and Sunday.
Such an essential aspect of Welsh identity, the weekend’s food and drink offering promises a bespoke menu featuring some of the greatest Welsh dishes including lamb cawl and cockles and laverbread. Not forgetting Wales’s traditional fruit loaf, the wonderful Bara Brith will appear innovatively on the dessert menu in the form of a delicious tart.
Free workshops across the weekend include an identity board workshop, where participants can express their Welsh connections, either on the giant public canvas or a personal cut-out. A mini make and do workshop will also be running across the weekend for little ones to make their own Welsh trinkets and treasures. And for the over tens, a local graffiti artist will be running a workshop outside the Centre.
For a look to the future, the Centre has teamed up with Film Agency Wales to present a special preview screening of BAFTA Cymru award-winning sci-fi thriller, The Machine, starring Toby Stephens (Die Another Day), Caity Lotz (The Pact) and Denis Lawson (Star Wars). The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with cast members and film distribution consultant, David Sheare.
Film Agency Wales will also be offering two exciting workshops on Sat 1. BAFTA-winning filmmaker Gerald Conn will demonstrate his special sand-on-glass animation technique and workshop participants will be able to try the technique for themselves and create short sand animations under the camera. In addition, Mr Dog Media will be showcasing their multiplatform project Banshee, a new fusion of multiplayer Facebook game and film. They will also demonstrate the pioneering new virtual reality technology, immersing participants in the spirit world of Banshee.
The AUR exhibition will also be on display across the weekend. This first-class exhibition, featuring work from the last ten years of National Eisteddfod Gold Medal winners in Fine Art and Craft and Design, offers up the perfect celebration of the very best in Welsh art.
A special St David’s Day exhibition, featuring art from local school children from St Mary the VirginChurch in WalesPrimary School and MountStuartPrimary School, will be on display in the Centre foyer.
Mathew Milsom, Managing Director, Wales Millennium Centre, said ‘With our national day falling on a weekend this year, it gives us a fantastic opportunity to showcase a programme of cultural activity with broad appeal for all the family on both Saturday and Sunday. And what’s more, it’s free! As Wales’ national centre for the performing arts, Wales Millennium Centre is the obvious place to come and celebrate St David’s Day in the capital city’.
For more information on St David’s Day weekend at Wales Millennium Centre visit: http://www.wmc.org.uk/makeityours. The St David’s Day menu can also be found at www.wmc.org.uk.