The Festival was founded in the year 2001 and, although originally intended as no more than a one-off event, this year’s will actually be its 22nd, two years having been lost to the Covid Pandemic, in 2021 and 2022. Although Llandeilo had never experienced anything remotely like a chamber music festival before, ‘Llandeilo Fawr’ was an instant success, its policy of inviting leading singers, instrumentalists, ensembles and choirs, adroitly masterminded by its Founder and Artistic Director, Julia Jones, having proved very much to the liking of music lovers of every persuasion, many of whom have provided unflagging support over the years, even to the extent of generously sponsoring concerts and recitals.

The Festival soon attracted the attention of the wider musical world and was described, early on, by The Sunday Times, as one of Britain’s leading smaller Festivals. In the years which have elapsed in that near quarter of a century it has developed into an event which effectively marries the highest standards of musical excellence with total inclusivity, offering each year not only its hallmark annual evening Recital/Concert programme but also a free Lunchtime Recital Series giving promising young musicians and others an invaluable performing platform.

Finally it has, over the years, continued to develop its unique Schools Outreach Programme, which has provided crucial musical education opportunities for local Llandeilo schoolchildren, such as professional coaching from highly experienced tutors, which have enabled some children to be the only ones from Wales to join the massed choir in London’s Royal Albert Hall for Armonico Consort Academy’s annual concert : and this at a time when draconian cutbacks in spending on music.