THE 2019 Llanfyllin Festival reaches its finale this weekend with the last two of the four concerts by the Allegri String Quartet at the town’s St Myllin’s Church taking place on Friday, August 2, with music by Sibelius, Gershwin and Beethoven.

For the final concert on Sunday, August 4, the Allegri will be joined by Vanessa Chan and Lydia Caines, violin; Katie Perrin, viola; and Daniel Pini, cello; four guests from the Southbank Sinfonia internationally recognised as a leading orchestral academy, each year bringing together 33 of the world’s most promising graduate musicians to provide a much-needed springboard into the profession via its annual fellowship.

Together the Allegri and Sinfonia will play Mendelssohn’s 'Octet Op.20,' written when he was a youth of 16 as a birthday gift for his violin teacher.

They will also play the 'Fourth Double Quartet' by Louis Spohr, the prolific 19th century composer whose work was neglected for a century, but is now being rediscovered. The Allegri are enthusiasts, and have played his work at the Anghiari Festival in Tuscany.

The concert will open with Mozart’s 'Hunt Quartet 'dedicated to none other than Haydn, two of whose works opened last weekend’s first two festival concert.

Tonight (Friday, August 2), includes a festival first with the only string quartet composed by the Finnish composer Sibelius, never previously performed at Llanfyllin.

They will also play a Gershwin lullaby, and a Beethoven string quartet.

Now Britain’s oldest chamber group, the Allegri have played a key role in the British music scene and, although the line-up has changed over the decades, they have been at the core of the Llanfyllin Festival since it started in the 1970s, when the then violinist Bruno Schrecker bought a holiday home in Llanfyllin and invited fellow musicians to stay, and discovered the superb acoustic and ambience of the church for chamber music.

All concerts start at 7.30pm, with drinks served in the churchyard before the concert and during the interval, weather permitting.

Tickets are £19 per concert or £17 for over 60s, full time students (16 - 18) and unwaged. Accompanied children under 16 are admitted free.