Sunshine added a glow to Presteigne's 25th-anniversary celebrations. For some festivals, the Australian theme - honouring artist Sidney Nolan, their first president - might have sufficed. Not for Presteigne. Its irrepressible artistic director, George Vass, went several better by commissioning 16 new pieces, showing commitment with a vengeance.

Young lions were well represented. David Knott's Hover for clarinet and piano combined a natural cut and thrust with glittering poise; John Hymas's Caprice for solo soprano saxophone artfully mixed capriciousness with contemplation, while the early austerity of Huw Watkins' Prelude for solo cello was countered by its soaring flight into ecstatic harmonics. Meanwhile, Joe Duddell's Four (mere) Bagatelles had a wonderful clarity and assurance, expressed most tellingly in the chords of the third bagatelle, which reached a positively serene acquiescence.

There were new works from an older generation, too. Michael Berkeley's Second Still Life for oboe and harp had an unexpected calm. Hilary Tann's Shakkei for oboe and small orchestra was strongest when articulating a nostalgia ostensibly for her native Wales but perhaps also now for her adopted America. David Matthews' Venus and Adonis, for sweetly seductive violin and forceful piano, replicated the success of his recent Proms symphony, with the Welsh folk-song Mae 'Nghariad Ii'n Fenws (My Love's a Venus) emerging as the ultimate distillation and resolution of all that had transpired.

The music of composer-in-residence Peter Sculthorpe radiated its own fiery glow. Cellist Alice Neary and saxophonist Amy Dickson, in particular, did him proud, underlining the vibrancy of this rather remarkable event.