WHAT IS PYFA?
Pererinion Ysbrydol Festival and Academy (PYFA for short) is a new festival taking place in the heart of Wales at the beautiful Gregynog Hall. Founded by musicians, Ezo Sarici and Deniz Cengiz, their passion for performance and education innovated the idea of PYFA to offer conservatoire students from all over the world an experience of a masterclass they will cherish.
During Deniz and Ezo’s time at the Gregynog Hall, they fell in love with the Hall’s musical history. The Hall’s extensive history of performances from composers, such as Elgar, Holst and Vaughan-Williams was at the root of the Pererinion Ysbrydol Festival and Academy’s creation.
After finding scores of Gustav Holst’s piece “O Spiritual Pilgrim” in the cupboards at Gregynog and its dedication to the Gregynog Choir in 1933, the name of the song (in Welsh translation) was a perfect fit for the Festival’s name.
Our festival’s ethos is to inspire ancient futures - a masterclass, which inspires and helps young musicians collaborate through chamber music and music making!
The Davies Sisters
The Davies sisters had not been at Gregynog for long before they had converted Lord Joicey’s billiard room into a music room, installed the specially built Rothwell organ and formed the Gregynog Choir, mainly from estate employees and their families.
So music became another of the defining motifs of Gregynog between the wars. Their greatest musical influence was that of Henry Walford Davies, Professor of Music at Aberystwyth and Director of the Welsh Council of Music, which was largely funded by the Davies sisters.
From 1932 to 1938 an Annual Festival of Music and Poetry was held here, conducted by Walford Davies or Sir Adrian Boult and with Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst among the visitors – not to mention George Bernard Shaw and his wife Charlotte, Joyce Grenfell and many other distinguished names.
OUR AIM
The aim of the Pererinion Ysbrydol Festival and Academy is to support and uplift the highly talented musicians throughout their careers via various masterclasses and courses with highly acclaimed professors.
PYFA also aims for young musicians to not only receive solo masterclasses but ensemble and chamber music classes with their colleagues and have opportunities to play with the professors in multiple concerts across the course.