Written by David Campbell, Artistic Director of MusicFest Aberystwyth:

"What we create here in MusicFest Aberystwyth, for one week each year, is much more than the festival concert programme.

MusicFest engenders learning in its Summer School which runs in tandem, through coaching sessions, masterclasses and by providing a high-level teaching faculty of musicians who are also exceptional performers and role-models. I am keen to develop MusicFest into an international centre of excellence and with a particular bias towards young Welsh musicians and composers.

Founded way back in 1987 by the cellist Nicholas Jones, MusicFest initially started as a small series of concerts. The following year, a small Summer School was run alongside the concerts which provided chamber music coaching for pianists and string players.

Through my own involvement in a performance of 'Carnival of the Animals' at MusicFest, Nick invited me to start a course for wind players the following year. In 2001, he invited me to share the Artistic Direction with him prior to becoming sole Artistic Director in 2002.

MusicFest has evolved into an intensive combined Festival and Summer School which offers courses in chamber music for pianists, wind and string players, courses for saxophone ensemble, brass ensemble and composition as well as housing its own chamber orchestra and contemporary ensemble.

In 2005, we teamed up with Lucinda Mackworth-Young of Music, Mind and Movement, who runs an innovative course on the Psychology of Performance.

Soak up the atmosphere of MusicFest: come and listen to a masterclass, take in a lunchtime concert or, this year, MusicFest on the Prom and in the Museum; catch the foyer music before the evening concert, and immerse yourself in our musical community!

MusicFest is a unique event which has literally changed the lives of some of its former students. It certainly inspires me afresh each year and reminds me anew why I became a musician."

Written by David Campbell, Artistic Director of MusicFest Aberystwyth.