Milford Haven Music Festival opened with a memorable concert last weekend.

St Katharine’s Church was packed with an appreciative audience on Saturday for the opening gala concert of the town’s ninth music festival.

The John S. Davies Singers, with the eminent Huw Tregelles Williams at the organ, provided rich promise of a very successful festival with a powerful performance.

The concert, in aid of ‘Help the Hospices’, opened with “How lovely are Thy dwellings fair,” from Brahms’ Requiem, followed by Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria in D’ before the interval.

The choir was in fine voice, John S. Davies moulding and shaping the impressive dynamics with expressive hands, the church’s fine acoustic adding a further dimension to the choir’s harmonic integrity.

The second half comprised a varied selection of ten choruses by such composers as Mathias, Britten, Howells, Elgar, Rutter and Stanford, some of which were sung in the chancel, the others before the chancel arch.

Soloists Jessica Cale (soprano), Samantha Price (mezzo-soprano) and Jenny Pearson (contralto) performed flawlessly and the ensemble was given a final standing ovation.

A piano and cello recital by Jocelyn Freeman and Vashti Hunter in the church on Tuesday delighted the audience. Their virtuoso dsiplay included pieces by Schumann, Chopin and Faure before Brahms’ Sonata for piano and cello in F major. The concert was followed by a ploughmans lunch in the Starboard Club and a masterclass in St Katharine’s at 3pm.

Taking part in a young musician’s platform at Tabernacle Church today (Thursday) will be Tasker Milward brass group, Ysgol y Preseli’s Cleddau quartet, Pembroke School’s percussion group and Greenhill Tenby’s quintet with Lily Whitehurst (violin), Talis Spence (piano) and Rebecca Griffiths (flute).

The festival’s grand finale, is at The Torch on Saturday as Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir perform with musical director Joy Amman Davies, accompanist Jeffrey Howard, plus two of Wales’s top male soloists Gwyn Hughes Jones (tenor) and Gary Griffiths (baritone).

The festival is sponsored by Chevron, Pembrokeshire County Council, South Hook LNG, Milford Haven Port Authority and local businesses.