One of the most venerated and respected music festivals in the island will return his year with a splash of West End glamour.
After an absence of two years, brought on by the Covid pandemic, the Manx Music Festival, better known to all as the Guild, is returning to the Villa Marina, opening on Saturday, April 23 and running through the week until Saturday, April 30.
And on hand to help celebrate the return of the festival will be West End actor and singing personality John Owen-Jones.
The Welsh musical theatre actor and singer, who has appeared in several of the biggest musical productions in recent years, will be performing at the Guild on the penultimate night of the festival, and also adjudicate at the showpiece competition, the Cleveland medal final, competed for by the six best singers of the competition, on Friday, April 29.
John will also be giving some of the island’s best young talents some insights into his career on stage during a series of acting and singing workshops, held during the week.
In a career spanning 30 years, John has performed extensively as an actor in theatre and television and as an accomplished concert performer.
He first came to prominence when he became the youngest actor to play the role of Jean Valjean in Cameron Mackintosh’s ’Les Misérables’ in 1998, aged 26, a role he reprised on several occasions both in London and on Broadway, as well as on tour.
He has shared the stage with his contemporaries Alfie Boe, Michael Ball and Katherine Jenkins and appeared all over the world at theatre such as The Royal Albert Hall, Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and Carnegie Hall in New York.
The festival organisers said that they will be releasing more information about both the appearance of Jon Owen-Jones and the 2022 Guild closer to the time.
The Guild syllabus is available to pick up in shops around the island or to view online at manxmusicfestival.org
The deadline for entries is Sunday, February 5.