This year's Tenby Arts Festival has built on the success of past few years to create one of the strongest programmes in its 16-year history. A fabulous feast of entertainment is promised when it takes over the seaside town from September 22 to 29. During that time, the swarms of visitors attracted by the cultural repast will be joined by the many hundreds of local residents who have learnt to appreciate the eight-day menu of music, drama, comedy, workshops, talks and art, plus family fun at the seaside. As usual, the opening weekend kicks-off with a Grand Street Parade, led by the Mayor of Tenby, followed by an afternoon of free family fun presented by a host of talented musicians, dancers and street entertainers. The fringe events continue the next day on South Beach with a sand sculpture competition and other beach activities. Another important feature of the festival is the Art Trail around Tenby offering exhibitions by a wide range of artists at the various galleries, including Augustus and Gwen John, Andie Clay, Guy Manning, John Cahill and Naomi Tydeman. The star attraction of the main festival is Evelyn Glennie, the sensational percussionist, who is featured on the programme cover. On her first visit to the area, she will provide an evening of sheer delight at Folly Farm Theatre, Begelly, on Friday, September 28. The acclaimed Morriston Orpheus Choir will perform at the same venue on the opening night. Tickets are now on sale at Folly Farm for both these events and demand will be high. Adding to the musical scene will be the formidable King's Consort, with Lorna Anderson, soprano; the London Piano Trio, who have received rave reviews all over Europe; and Gems from the Romantic Era with Karin Leitner, flute, and Luminita Berariu, piano. Lleisiau Penfro - Voices of Pembroke, Tenby Male Choir and Pembroke and District Male Voice Choir will add their voices to the chorus, but each on a different occasion. In addition, period music will echo once again in the Tudor Merchant's House, accompanying Tudor Tales at lunchtime on September 29. In the field of drama, Fluellen, no strangers to Tenby, will present Wild Wales; Susan Flannery and Michael Lunts provide a cocktail of witty song and comic verse in Wits' End, while the award-winning Tenby Players return and old favourites Laurie and Pauline entertain at lunchtime on September 27. Youngsters have not been forgotten, as another Young Bands Night is offered on the opening Saturday. Jazz lovers will also be catered for on the following Sunday when the famous jazz brunch at the Fourcroft Hotel can be enjoyed while Claudia's Jazz Masters perform and again when Wyn Lodwick plays late night at the Royal Lion Hotel as the very last item on the festival programme. There will be a variety of workshops and talks by experts in their fields on a wide range of topics. Marcel Kouisseoue provides an African Fusion Fun dance workshop on the opening Saturday, while over that same weekend, Louise Diggle presents an art workshop at St. Lawrence Church, Gumfreston. A quilting exhibition and lecture by Dilys Franks takes place on September 26 in Church House, while the following day, Dilys conducts a one-day applique workshop in Penally Village Hall. Two outstanding talks with local connections are also featured. In 'Wish You Were Here', Mark Thomas presents old photographs of Tenby and at 'The Angel Mountain Saga', the writer Brian John reveals why he was impelled to write his novels, as well a revealing the myths and legends woven into their fabric. The festival programme is now available from tourist information centres, libraries and other outlets throughout Pembrokeshire. Further details can be obtained by ringing (01834) 845341 or by visiting the festival's website at http://www.tenbyartsfest.co.uk">www.tenbyartsfest.co.uk

Evelyn Glennie's good vibrations

The people of West Wales and its many visitors are in for a 'big treat' on Friday, September 28, when the world-renowned percussionist Evelyn Glennie will be making an appearance at Folly Farm, Begelly, as part of the Tenby Arts Festival.

Believed to be the first full-time solo percussionist in the West, Evelyn has performed with nearly all of the world's major orchestras in front of several presidents and world leaders. Evelyn Glennie was born in Aberdeenshire in 1965 and studied percussion from the age of 12, by which time she was already profoundly deaf. Undeterred, Evelyn - who experiences music by absorbing vibrations - won a place at the Royal Academy of Music in London where she later became a fellow. She made her debut as a percussionist at the Wigmore Hall in 1986, and now performs up to 100 concerts a year with an extraordinarily wide variety of orchestras and contemporary musicians, as well as giving master classes and 'music in schools' performances. She frequently commissions percussion works from composers and performs them in her concert repertoire. Her own compositions have also received acclaim, and she received a Bafta nomination for the soundtrack to the TV series 'Trial and Retribution' in 1997. She has also appeared as a presenter on two series of the BBC documentary programme 'Sound Bites'. Evelyn Glennie, who has a personal collection of over 1,800 instruments, several of which she designed herself, contends that deafness is largely misunderstood by the public. She claims to have taught herself to hear with parts of her body other than her ears. She is the vice- president of Hearing Concern and Deafness Research UK and a Patron of The Elizabeth Foundation which is a national charity supporting infants and pre-school aged children with hearing loss and their families. In 1993, Evelyn was awarded the OBE and this was extended this year to 'Dame Commander' for her services to music. She has also received approximately 80 international awards. On stage, Evelyn performs barefoot in order to feel vibrations from her instruments, and often stands at 90 degrees to the audience so they can see the drum skins vibrating. The evening at Folly Farm will be an informal one, with percussion music from around the world and the opportunity for the audience to ask questions. Evelyn will also give a demonstration of small odd instruments from her collection. This will be an evening of sheer delight - a chance to entertain, enlighten and inspire the audience. Evelyn said: "There is much I still aspire to achieve and as with all awards of recognition, this gives me the impetus to continue to try to make a difference on a global scale throughout my many fields of interest and activity." Tickets for this performance cost £15 and can be obtained by ringing festival booking on (01834) 845341 or from Folly Farm.

Morriston Orpheus Choir

Founded in 1935 in the Morriston area of Swansea and originally recruited from the local mining and heavy industrial communities, the Morriston Orpheus Choir in early days soon consisted of over a 100 four-part male voices. It was not long before it established itself as a major force in the musical traditions of Wales and became a regular winner of the coveted Chief Choir at the National Eisteddfod, as well as many other titles. Overseas travel exposed the choir to wider audiences and over the past 50-odd years concerts at some of the most prestigious venues in the world have seen it perform in front of appreciative theatre-goers, including many Royal families and other heads of state. It is seven years since this superb choir performed to a capacity audience in St. Mary's Church at the Tenby Arts Festival and in the meantime, its reputation has gone from strength to strength. Recent changes to the structure of the choir have created a degree of controversy, but the 100-plus members have ridden the turbulence and continue to perform their wide-ranging repertoire and provide the very best in musical entertainment. The new team, fresh from supporting the Welsh Young Singer of the Year competition in Swansea, will perform at the opening festival concert with their new musical director, Joy Amman Davies, an experienced musician who has been the accompanist to the choir for the last 15 years. Jo Scullin and Sally Tarlton share the workload that position of accompanist attracts in this year's busy concert season. The concert, held in the Follies Theatre, Folly Farm, on Saturday, September 22, at 8 pm, will present their usual wide spectrum of popular songs from Gounod to Gershwin and Elvis to Evita, as well as traditional Welsh hymns and tunes. The soloist for the evening will be Cathrin Aur, a young soprano from Newcastle Emlyn, who is rapidly establishing a reputation for superb performances with many musical organisations, including the Welsh National Opera. Altogether, this promises to be one of the highlights of the festival and should not be missed, so book early.