The Allegri: more than 40 Years At Llanfyllin

Photograph of Allegri String Quartet by Sarah Emma Smith/GNProductions

This description of the Festival’s origins is from the booklet The Allegri at 50, published in 2003.

"When in 1971 cellist Bruno Schrecker bought a property called the Old White Lion in the tiny village of Llanfyllin, lying at the centre of a triangle roughly formed by the larger towns of Oswestry, Welshpool and Bala, it was initially intended purely as a holiday home. But then he looked more closely at the church, St. Myllin's. Built in 1706 out of soft red brick, and in a style most uncharacteristic of the region and which might be best described as Bavarian Rococo, St. Myllin's also turned out to have acoustics ideal for a string quartet. And friends! And room for a small audience too. The Llanfyllin Festival is still going strong. For warmth and intimacy and glorious surroundings, Llanfyllin can scarcely be beaten. Welsh harpist David Watkins lived locally until recently and has appeared with the group, while regular Allegri partners such as William Bennett, James Campbell and Rian de Waal and Marisa Robles and her ensemble have also played there and succumbed to its typically Welsh charm. Llanfyllin's hospitality is legendary: doors are generously opened to everyone under the Allegri umbrella. "

We are extremely fortunate that, year after year, the Allegri continue to make their somewhat offbeat pilgrimage to our Welsh town to perform world-class concerts to whoever has had the good fortune to be in the know. We want everyone to be in on our 'secret'; what could be better than for all music lovers to join us 'under the Allegri umbrella' each July in St.Myllin's Church, to enjoy what we have been privileged, by a combination of geography and good luck, to have been part of for four decades?