THIS year's Presteigne Festival, a musically enlightening six days of concerts, talks and other events, has a Polish theme as one of its main features

The Festival celebrates the centenary of Anglo-Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik (a one-time conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, who had regular commissions from world-class ensembles) and also presents a wide-range of Polish music by other 20th century giants Górecki, Lutos?awski, Penderecki and less well-known in the UK, Gra?yna Bacewicz.

Thanks to the incredible support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Poland, the festival has been able to commission a brilliant new55-minute Requiem setting for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus and chamber orchestra from Pawe? ?ukaszewski. Hugely popular in his home country, with his music recorded on over fifty CDs, ?ukaszewski was born in 1968 and is one of the younger generation of Polish composers specialising in sacred and choral music.

The new Requiem is premiered on Sunday, August 24 at St Andrew’s Church, Presteigne with the Joyful Company of Singers and the Festival Orchestra under the direction of George Vass, artistic director of the Festival. Pawe? ?ukaszewski will attend the performance.

Other highlights at the Presteigne Festival this year include a chamber opera double-bill on Thursday, August 21from Nova Music Opera, whose production last year was such a huge hit with audience and critics alike. This year, they present Cecilia McDowall’s World War I piece Airborne – the story of a young pilot and his nurse sweetheart and Prometheus Drowned, Stephen McNeff’s exploration of the strange circumstances surrounding the death of Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1822 in Tuscany.

Presteigne Festival runs from August 21 to 26. For full programme details and online booking go to presteignefestival.com