Schoolchildren kick off Langollen Eisteddfod week

The 67th eisteddfod will host choirs and performers from all over the world.

Headline acts include Jools Holland, Noah Stewart, Evelyn Glennie, the Buena Vista Social Club and Strictly Come Dancing's James and Ola Jordan.

Today thousands of schoolchildren are set to join a day of performances dedicated to International Children's Day.

Organisers hope the heatwave forecast will draw the crowds to the host town of Llangollen, which has been staging the event since 1946.

Festival music director Eilir Owen Griffiths said: "Everything is now in place for a fantastic event this year which we are hoping will be one of the best ever.

"We have a host of wonderful artistes booked for the concerts and ticket sales are going through the roof while we have some really exciting plans to add to the colour and sense of occasion during the daytime activities. I can't wait."

This year's highlights will see 21 choirs from round the world competing for the Pavarotti Trophy in the Choir of the World competition.

The winners will lift the Pavarotti Trophy, named for the great Italian tenor who made his international debut at Llangollen as a 19-year-old member of the Chorus Rossini, from Modena, in 1955.

This year's choirs come from across Europe, plus South Africa, Indonesia, the USA, Russia, Australia and New Zealand.

British talent is represented by a number of English choirs and, in the male voice section, Cor y Penrhyn, from Bangor, and the renowned Rhos Male Voice Choir, from nearby Rhos-llanerchrugog.

Other attractions include a celebration of the 60th anniversary of three moments in the history of the eisteddfod – when the Obernkirchen children's choir travelled from Germany to take to the stage and were christened 'pig-tailed angels' by Dylan Thomas, who had been in the audience.

His visit – four months before his death – will also be commemorated, as will the visit of the Queen shortly after the Coronation.