St Edward's Music & Arts Centre

St Edward’s Church is a flourishing centre of worship in the Anglican tradition, with weekly Sunday services of Choral Eucharist and Choral Evensong. For over 40 years the Church has recognised its special ministry to musicians and artists in the locality, and St Edward’s Music & Arts Centre coordinates that collaboration with the community, providing opportunities for amateurs and professionals to rehearse and perform in an auditorium of outstanding acoustic quality.

The Centre

The Centre is overseen by Director of Music, Dr Alan Mayer, who is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the very busy music and arts provision at St Edward's. Instruments available at the church include a three-manual pipe organ, and an excellent grand piano. A second grand piano is available in the community room (for rehearsals).

Music & Arts Groups

Currently seventeen music and arts organisations meet, rehearse and perform at St Edward's. We are fortunate to have the support of professional musicians and artists who lead many of the groups and organise concerts, lectures and exhibitions. Some of our leaders are listed in the index at the foot of these pages.

While some of the organisations are made up entirely of professional musicians, many of them welcome new members from the local community.

Click here to see a list of forthcoming concerts, workshops and talks.

Community Groups

Community groups also meet at the church, including a "Forget Me Not" Cafe, Gardening Club, WI Craft Group and Community Choir. There is also an online Craft Group called Chatty Crafters.

Local Music Groups

Lots of local groups rehearse, perform or record at the church. Regular guests include:

Women in Harmony and Voice Male
Cardiff County & Vale of Glamorgan Symphonic Brass
Chepstow Chatelaines

Pupil Concerts

One of the most important functions of the Music & Arts Centre is to offer young people the opportunity to perform with a good piano in an outstanding auditorium. Several local music teachers help us to achieve this by bringing their pupils regularly to give concerts for family and friends, often performing to an audience of 70 or 80 people. Local teachers and organisations that help with this include:

Nicole Boardman
Matthew Bromley
Giordano Ferla
Joelene Griffith
Dan Nicholson
Esther Walker
Linda Walsh
Tongwynlais Music Academy

Organisations

Seventeen music and arts organisations currently meet, rehearse and perform at St Edward's.

St Edward's Choir

Rehearsals: Thursday 8pm. More

St Edward's Orchestra

Rehearsals: Monday 7pm. More

Cardiff Friendly Strings

Rehearsals: Monthly Sunday 2pm. More

The Inner Voices

Rehearsals: Tuesday 7.30pm. More

Julian Martin's Jazz Workshop

Rehearsals: Monday 7pm. More

Opera in Situ

Rehearsals: Sunday 8pm. More

Pavane Early Music Consort

Rehearsals: Saturday 10.30am. More

Penylan Singers

Rehearsals: Thursday 1.30pm. More

South Wales Clarinet Choir

Rehearsals: Wednesday 7pm. More

Roath Local History Society

Meetings: Second Wednesday of the month 7.30pm. More

Cardiff Recorded Music Society

Meetings: Wednesday 7.25pm in the Community Room. More

Jubal's Lyre

Rehearsals: Sundays prior to concerts. More

Cantorion Taliesin

Rehearsals: Sundays prior to concerts. More

Concert Series

As well as a large number of individually arranged concerts, several sequences of charity concerts are organised each year by Jayne Thomas. Some are given by the resident music organisations, but the majority are performances by other local musicians.

Coffee Concerts

Coffee Concerts take place on the third Saturday of each month at 11am. More

Piano Recitals

Piano Recitals are often arranged on the second Sunday of the month at 3pm. More

Spring Concerts

In the Spring we have a series of Saturday evening concerts. More

Jazz Month

Jazz Month is an annual series of four or five Jazz Concerts on consecutive Saturday mornings at 11am, usually around March/April. More

St Edward's Music & Arts Festival

In October, we celebrate the Feast of St Edward the Confessor (13th October) with a three week Music & Arts Festival. More

Touring Concerts

From time to time we also host concerts from touring British or International Musicians. Recently these have included:

Jean-Samuel Bez UK Concert Tour "Northern Lights"
28th April 2023

French Violinist Jean-Samuel Bez gave a concert at St Edward's in support of the AngelmanUK and FastUK charities. Jean-Samuel Bez Facebook Page

Friendship Concert by Roseburg Concert Chorale
28th March 2023

Roseburg Concert Chorale from Oregon, USA, were joined by Roath Community Chorus in a charity concert for Forget Me Not Chorus and St Edward's Church. Their performance is available on YouTube. Roseburg Concert Chorale Facebook Page

The Telling UK Tour "Empowered Women"
16th September 2022 & 3rd December 2022

In September, Early Music Group "The Telling" performed one of their Empowered Women shows "Unsung Heroine", telling of the imagined life & love of troubadour Countess Beatriz de Dia, accompanied by plaintive music and poetry of the troubadours and medieval dances. They returned in December to perform a candlelit concert of traditional and medieval carols from around Europe. The Telling Homepage

More details of Touring Concerts