Opening Night Concert
~ featuring Male Pope, Mared and members of the Urdd Gobaith Cymru Singers
Thursday August 29, 2024, 7:00pm - 9:00pm.
Held at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, 980 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Ticket Required, not covered by a NAFOW day Pass:
Adult ~ $35 / Youth (18 and under or student ID) included in the $15 Youth Weekend Pass.
Mal Pope was born in Brynhyfryd, Swansea, Wales, into a family of teachers. He began learning to play the guitar aged seven and was soon writing songs.
In the early 1970s Pope sent a tape of songs to BBC Radio 1 presenter John Peel, who invited Pope to perform at the BBC. The session resulted in a recording contract with Elton John's record label named The Rocket Record Company.
Whilst studying at Christ's College, Cambridge, he spent much of his holidays recording in London. After leaving Cambridge, Pope moved to London and signed to Harvey Goldsmith's management company AMP. He signed a record deal with Larry Page, wrote songs for Cliff Richard and The Hollies, duetted with Bonnie Tyler and Aled Jones, and toured with Art Garfunkel and Belinda Carlisle.
Pope hosted The Mal Pope Show, a late-night music chat show for HTV, in the 1990s, with the show winning a Welsh BAFTA award in 1995. He went on to host a late-night talk show on HTV called Heaven's Sound, which won an award at the New York Film and Television Awards in 2001.
Mal also makes for an incredible guest, able to regale audiences with stories of Christmas parties and games of Subbuteo with Elton John, of how his sound has been influenced by the soulfulness of the Deep South, befriending the man who invited Dr. Martin Luther King to Memphis in 1968, and how he came to sing one of the most iconic TV themes of all time, ‘Fireman Sam’.
In the early 1970s Pope sent a tape of songs to BBC Radio 1 presenter John Peel, who invited Pope to perform at the BBC. The session resulted in a recording contract with Elton John's record label named The Rocket Record Company.
Whilst studying at Christ's College, Cambridge, he spent much of his holidays recording in London. After leaving Cambridge, Pope moved to London and signed to Harvey Goldsmith's management company AMP. He signed a record deal with Larry Page, wrote songs for Cliff Richard and The Hollies, duetted with Bonnie Tyler and Aled Jones, and toured with Art Garfunkel and Belinda Carlisle.
Pope hosted The Mal Pope Show, a late-night music chat show for HTV, in the 1990s, with the show winning a Welsh BAFTA award in 1995. He went on to host a late-night talk show on HTV called Heaven's Sound, which won an award at the New York Film and Television Awards in 2001.
Mal also makes for an incredible guest, able to regale audiences with stories of Christmas parties and games of Subbuteo with Elton John, of how his sound has been influenced by the soulfulness of the Deep South, befriending the man who invited Dr. Martin Luther King to Memphis in 1968, and how he came to sing one of the most iconic TV themes of all time, ‘Fireman Sam’.
Mared is an award-winning singer-songwriter, actor and musician from Llannefydd in North Wales. Her debut bilingual album, 'Y Drefn' was awarded Welsh Album of The Year in 2021. Since then she has performed these songs with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Cardiff, sold out several shows across Wales and London, and performed in a prestigious Welsh line-up event in Sony Hall in New York, including a duet with international opera star, Sir Bryn Terfel.
In 2019, Mared joined the West End cast of Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre, until lockdown, and rejoined between 2021-22, where she got to enjoy understudying the character of ‘Eponine’ regularly. During the lockdown period, musical theatre singing group, ‘Welsh of the West End’, went viral on YouTube with their videos and coming out of that Mared, and the group, have sang at renowned venues such as The Royal Albert Hall and Hammersmith Apollo.
In November 2023, Mared played the lead in an epic, new, original Welsh language musical, ‘Branwen: Dadeni’ on The Donald Gordon stage at the Wales Millenium Centre. The show, which reimagined the myth of Branwen, then toured Wales and played to 11,000 audience members, going down in history as the biggest Welsh language musical of its scale.
This year, Mared releases her brand new EP in May, and will enjoy performing in several festivals across the UK, including the National Eisteddfod of Wales, International Showcase at Focus Wales, and a Christmas tour with Welsh of the West End. She is also working on writing two new bilingual musicals, so keep an eye out for developments!
In 2019, Mared joined the West End cast of Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre, until lockdown, and rejoined between 2021-22, where she got to enjoy understudying the character of ‘Eponine’ regularly. During the lockdown period, musical theatre singing group, ‘Welsh of the West End’, went viral on YouTube with their videos and coming out of that Mared, and the group, have sang at renowned venues such as The Royal Albert Hall and Hammersmith Apollo.
In November 2023, Mared played the lead in an epic, new, original Welsh language musical, ‘Branwen: Dadeni’ on The Donald Gordon stage at the Wales Millenium Centre. The show, which reimagined the myth of Branwen, then toured Wales and played to 11,000 audience members, going down in history as the biggest Welsh language musical of its scale.
This year, Mared releases her brand new EP in May, and will enjoy performing in several festivals across the UK, including the National Eisteddfod of Wales, International Showcase at Focus Wales, and a Christmas tour with Welsh of the West End. She is also working on writing two new bilingual musicals, so keep an eye out for developments!
The 2024 Urdd Gobeith Cymru National Eisteddfod winners will take part in the concert
Branwen Jones is 17 years old and is from Ruthin, North Wales. She has been performing and competing in the Eisteddfod since a young age and has had success at the Urdd, National Eisteddfod and Llangollen international Eisteddfod through the years. In 2023 she won a scholarship at the Urdd Eisteddfod for the most promising performer under 19. Last year she won the solo, folk song and cerdd dant at the National Eisteddfod and repeated her success at the Urdd Maldwyn Eisteddfod this year. She also won the folk song competition at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in July. Branwen loves signing cerdd dant with the harp and is now composing her own melodies. Branwen also enjoys signing duets and is a member of a local ensemble and enjoys signing in local churches, community events and concerts. She is also a member of Cor Dyffryn Clwyd, a youth mixed voice choir. Branwen has valued each local eisteddfod and the opportunities provided to perform in her local chapel and school. Music brings joy to her life and her dream is to continue to sing whilst finishing her last year in school and is hoping to study dentistry.
Owain Sion ~ Although currently studying politics at Cardiff University, the arts have played a crucial part in making him who I am today. Starting from a very young age reciting at local and national Eisteddfod events, the Urdd gave him a special place where I could both develop my own confidence and be inspired by the power of Welsh-language literature and drama. In 2018, he was accepted to the Urdd's National Youth Theatre Company, gaining my first taste of acting on professional-level stages across the country. This experience opened doors for him to work with leading theatre companies such as Theatr Bara Caws, and appear on a number of Welsh-language TV productions. Being selected as an International Cultural Ambassador for the Urdd earlier this year was a huge honour, and he cannot wait to share my passion for our language and our cultural identity with audiences across the globe.
Rose Datta is 18 years old. Having left school, she is planning to take a gap year. she intends to apply to Music College in August 2025, focusing on writing and singing music, my main passion. Rose has been writing music since I was 13 years old, and taught herself acoustic guitar during the pandemic, she is currently working towards grade 8 in piano and is the lead singer of the band Taran who released their first single “Pan Ddaw’r Nos” in May. They have performed at gigs at Clwb Ifor Bach, Clwb y Bont, Triban festival in the Urdd Eisteddfod, and Tafwyl festival in July. Naturally a shy person, her music teacher at Glantaf persuaded her to compete, for the first time, at the Urdd Eisteddfod in Meifod. and was proud to come first in the Solo Theatrical Performance from a Musical under 19 and received so much positive feedback on the performance.
Morus Jones is an 18 year old traditional Welsh clog dancer from Cardiff. He has been clog dancing since he was 5 years old and has been competing annually in local and national Eisteddfods and competed internationally. By competing as a solo, duet and as part of the group ‘Bro Taf’ he has experienced many successes in the sport and have won dozens of times over the years. Last year compettng with his brother in the ‘Dance World Cup’ in Portugal and they won bronze in the ‘Traditional and Folklore for small group’ category with their duet while representing Wales on the international stage. he has had the opportunity to perform on stages all over the world including at the Lorient Inter-Celtic Festival. It is a pleasure for him to be able to share this tradition and show it to new audiences around the world.
Owain Sion ~ Although currently studying politics at Cardiff University, the arts have played a crucial part in making him who I am today. Starting from a very young age reciting at local and national Eisteddfod events, the Urdd gave him a special place where I could both develop my own confidence and be inspired by the power of Welsh-language literature and drama. In 2018, he was accepted to the Urdd's National Youth Theatre Company, gaining my first taste of acting on professional-level stages across the country. This experience opened doors for him to work with leading theatre companies such as Theatr Bara Caws, and appear on a number of Welsh-language TV productions. Being selected as an International Cultural Ambassador for the Urdd earlier this year was a huge honour, and he cannot wait to share my passion for our language and our cultural identity with audiences across the globe.
Rose Datta is 18 years old. Having left school, she is planning to take a gap year. she intends to apply to Music College in August 2025, focusing on writing and singing music, my main passion. Rose has been writing music since I was 13 years old, and taught herself acoustic guitar during the pandemic, she is currently working towards grade 8 in piano and is the lead singer of the band Taran who released their first single “Pan Ddaw’r Nos” in May. They have performed at gigs at Clwb Ifor Bach, Clwb y Bont, Triban festival in the Urdd Eisteddfod, and Tafwyl festival in July. Naturally a shy person, her music teacher at Glantaf persuaded her to compete, for the first time, at the Urdd Eisteddfod in Meifod. and was proud to come first in the Solo Theatrical Performance from a Musical under 19 and received so much positive feedback on the performance.
Morus Jones is an 18 year old traditional Welsh clog dancer from Cardiff. He has been clog dancing since he was 5 years old and has been competing annually in local and national Eisteddfods and competed internationally. By competing as a solo, duet and as part of the group ‘Bro Taf’ he has experienced many successes in the sport and have won dozens of times over the years. Last year compettng with his brother in the ‘Dance World Cup’ in Portugal and they won bronze in the ‘Traditional and Folklore for small group’ category with their duet while representing Wales on the international stage. he has had the opportunity to perform on stages all over the world including at the Lorient Inter-Celtic Festival. It is a pleasure for him to be able to share this tradition and show it to new audiences around the world.