08 September 2024

Petroc Trelawny in conversation with Rachel Weston: 26 Sept

Petroc Trelawny best known as a presenter on BBC Radio 3. and has introduced hundreds of broadcasts for the BBC, many from the BBC Proms, as well as the Cardiff Singer of the World and the Leeds International Piano Competition.  He currently presents Breakfast.

He is also a loyal Cornishman and tonight he will talk about his book "Trelawny's Cornwall"  as well as his career, with Rachel Weston, a singer and presenter on The World Service.

Please join us on Thursday 26th September at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm)

Tickets are £12 and as always available in the Library by phone (020 7431 1266) and on line Click HERE to connect to Wegottickets.

It would be hard to think of a more thoroughly Cornish name than Petroc Trelawny.

His first name is shared with one of Cornwall's most celebrated saints, his second is the name of its unofficial national anthem. But when a stranger challenges the Radio 3 presenter on his ancestry, he is inspired to return to the lands of his boyhood to rediscover the place where he grew up, and attempt to confirm if he still belongs there.

Part history, part memoir, this is a deeply felt exploration of Cornwall - past, present and future. Petroc embarks on a slow journey that sees him visit old mine workings, ancient churches, sites where new technology was forged, and places where poets, musicians, architects and film makers have worked to shape Cornwall's cultural identity. He explores the Tamar, the river that marks out the Cornish frontier, and holds a finger up to winds of change, exploring the collapse of Methodism, the decline of the Cornish language, and the complex , sometimes lucrative, sometimes destructive, relationship with tourism.

As he travels by road, rail and foot, he conjures marvellously vivid figures and scenes from memory, telling the stories of a loving family full of mysteries and a landscape still redolent of 'Cornish otherness'.

Rachel Weston

Rachel is a classically-trained singer who freelances as a singer/pianist and conductor.  She performs internationally with Synergy Vocals, and spent four years touring with the Swingle Singers and two as their Musical Director. As a soloist, Rachel has appeared with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Halle, the RTE Concert Orchestra and the Lahti Symphony, and with Rambert Ballet in a Cole Porter show.  Rachel has sung on the soundtracks of several hundred Hollywood movies, and the albums of dozens of artists.

Rachel’s work in broadcasting has included four years as an announcer and newsreader at BBC World Service, the presenting of Proms concerts for BBC FOUR, and hosting arts and music programmes for Television New Zealand.

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