A shop balcony in Bangor will double up as the famous original in the Italian city of Verona.
Romeo will pour out his love for Juliet during a busy lunch hour as shoppers, visitors and workers take time-out to watch and listen as the Shakespearian tragedy unfolds.
The part of star-crossed young lover will be played by farmer’s son and up-and-coming singing star Huw Ynyr Evans, 21.
The talented tenor was the winner of the 2012 Urdd Gobaith Cymru Bryn Terfel Scholarship concert at the Stiwt Theatre, in Rhos, near Wrexham,
The event at the Deiniol Shopping Centre on Friday, March 14, will form part of Bangor New Music Festival’s Shakespeare Day.
According to festival’s artistic director, Guto Pryderi Puw, the alternative take on Romeo and Juliet is an attempt to deliver music to a wider audience.
Festival organisers say the line-up this year is one of the best ever with violin virtuoso Madeleine Mitchell as one of the star attractions.
Among the other highlights will be a jazz workshop conducted by Israeli- born drummer Asaf Sirkis followed by a late evening concert of his jazz quartet at Greeks Taverna in Upper Bangor.
Guto said: “The festival runs over four days, beginning Wednesday, March 12. This will be our 14th contemporary music festival and, this year, we are celebrating the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare.
“As festival Artistic Director I’m excited about the sheer volume of new and previously unheard works that will be performed during this year’s festival.
“I’m particularly looking forward to our planned Shakespeare Day performance which will take place in Bangor’s Deiniol Shopping Centre, in the High Street.
“The idea is very much about exposing people not only to some of Shakespeare’s literary works but also to new music that the general public may not normally listen to.
“The performance by the Bangor New Music Ensemble will include premieres of works especially written for the event by Bangor University student composers, including Katherine Betteridge, David Draper, Nel Gwynn and Fran Reader, all of which have been inspired by the great bard himself.”
He added: “This concert will, hopefully, draw in a big crowd and be something quite new for Bangor. The balcony we are using is perfect as a setting for David Draper’s composition.
“We hope to attract more than 100 people who will hopefully watch and enjoy the full performance.
“I really want to take this wonderful music out to an audience rather than hope the audience will come to the music.
“If just one person is moved by the Deiniol Shopping Centre performance and then comes to listen to one of the festival’s other performances, then it will be mission accomplished and it will have been more than a worthwhile project.”
Huw, admits he’s never performed using a shopping centre as a stage before although he says he’s really looking forward to the experience.
He said: “It’s really out of my comfort zone. We have been rehearsing hard but the new music, which has been composed by music students, is challenging and something I’m still getting used to performing.
“However, it will be great to take this music out to the general public by performing in the Deiniol Shopping Centre. I’m sure it will be well received and be something different.
He added: “Bangor New Music Festival is really putting the university and the music department in particular on the map. It’s a wonderful event and I’m really looking forward to performing something different and challenging myself.”
Huw hails from Rhydymain, near Dolgellau, and is currently completing a Master’s Degree in Performance at Bangor University.
He said: “I want to continue with my vocal studies after I finish at Bangor in September and let’s see what happens. I’m back living with my parents at their farm after three years in Bangor and will continue helping dad with farm work while developing my voice.
“I’m just thrilled I was asked to perform at this special Shakespeare Day event and would love to see a big crowd enjoying something very different.
“Guto Pryderi Puw puts a huge amount of work into ensuring the Bangor New Music Festival is a success and I’m sure Shakespeare Day will be one of the highlights of the whole festival.
And to bring Shakespeare’s Day to a close a special concert will take place in Bangor University’s Pritchard-Jones Hall involving an orchestra from the poet’s home town of Stratford-upon-Avon.
Guto, who is one of Wales’s finest composers and is also a Bangor University lecturer, said: “The Orchestra of the Swan will perform, conducted by David Curtis, along with featured musicians, violinist Madeleine Mitchell and trumpet player, Simon Desbruslais.
“The concert will feature two pieces of music commissioned for the occasion including a violin concerto composed by myself.
“Composer Robert Saxton’s Shakespeare Scenes is a series of five musical interpretations from various plays while each movement of my Violin Concerto – Soft Stillness is a direct response to lines from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
“A new composition. Antic Rounds, by the winner of the 2013 William Mathias Composition Prize, Tom Coult, will also be premiered. Other pieces in the programme draw upon the orchestra’s strong commitment of commissioning new works with recent pieces by Tansy Davies and Huw Watkins.
“I’m really excited about this year’s festival which promises to be an awesome event. There is something for everyone to enjoy and, by taking a performance out into Bangor High Street, I hope we can attract a new audience.”
For more information and tickets for Bangor New Music Festival 2014 visit www.bnmf.co.uk
