BRECON’S revived jazz festival has been hailed a success.
The town was back in full swing with a live music stage restored to the Bulwark and the town centre closed to traffic from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.
Just over a year ago there were fears the festival, which this weekend celebrated its 34th year, could have ceased to exist when the company that ran the event, under a contract with the Arts Council of Wales, since 2012 pulled out at the end of 2015.
A smaller scale Brecon Jazz Weekend was staged in the festival’s traditional slot last August and new promoters came on board ahead of this year’s event.
Lynne Gornall, of the Brecon Jazz Club which programmed sold-out concerts throughout the weekend including headline act the Darius Brubeck Quartet, said: “The feedback has been fantastic. The festival came to town, it was really terrific and the free entertainment made a big difference to the atmosphere and there were good crowds and it was good natured.”
Jazz concerts were staged at the Guildhall, the Castle Hotel, the Muse and the Wellington.
Pubs and other venues across town hosted musical acts as part of the Fringe Festival and a ‘Frazz’ parade celebrating the two festivals was staged from Brecon Cathedral to the Bulwark on Saturday afternoon. Events were also staged around Theatr Brycheiniog as part of a family festival celebrating the bonds between Brecon and the Zulu nation of South Africa.
For more reaction and photos see this week's Brecon and Radnor Express.