GEORGE Vass has now been director of Presteigne's Music Festival for 10 years, imparting a particular vibrancy to its music-making, yet with a friendly geniality which invites everyone to share in the enjoyment.

The festival has a special emphasis on contemporary music, at least one piece by a recent composer being included in each of the concert programmes, together with the works of long established masters. This year the composer-in-residence was the distinguished Paul Patterson, Manson Professor at the Royal Academy, whose works are performed world-wide. Also attending the festival for performances of his music was composer Stephen Dodgson.

A few festival-goers may have found some of the contemporary music challenging at first hearing; but there was no doubt as to the enthusiasm of the audience at the opening concert, when the beautiful performance of the solo violinist Freya Ritts-Kirby in Paul Patterson's Violin Concerto won prolonged applause.

The concert and recital programmes, skilfully woven together by George Vass, contained many delights, specially memorable being the glorious soprano of Gillian Keith in Britten's Les Illuminations, the Schidlof String Quartet, the Chinese pianist Chenyin Li, and the Galliard Wind Quartet. Not least was the high quality of the Festival Orchestra under their leader Zoe Price.

It was good to see village churches so well filled for the outlying events, such as the Schidlof concert at Leintwardine, the Galliard at Old Radnor and the Eden-Stell Guitar Duo at Kinnerton, where school age children as well as adults listened intently. Generous grants from the English side of the border as well as the Welsh make possible this extension of Presteigne's Festival. Many of these are prompted by the inclusion of so much contemporary music and the encouragement it gives to new composers. Music needs a future as well as a proud past. In his brief farewell at the last concert, George Vass thanked all who had made possible this immensely successful festival, and begged only for more sponsorships for 2002 and beyond.

EVELYN ARMITSTEAD