28/5/2008

When the Welsh Brass Arts Festival returns to the Park and Dare Theatre, Treorchy, with a performance of of Gustav Holst's The Planets on June 13, Professor Mark Brake will be giving a facinating insight into the planets around us.

Did you know, for example, that there is a crater on Mars named after Porth, and the man who wrote the science fiction screenplay for Dr Strangelove was from Treorchy?

In his passion for the planets and with an eye on science fiction as well as fact, Professor Mark Brake will use his astronomical expertise and enthusiasm to introduce each of the planets from The Planet Suite, in a performance featuring the Catrin Finch, Serendipity female chorus as part of the festival.

Professor Brake holds a chair in science communication at the University of Glamorgan where he founded a unique degree program on the historical interplay between space, science and culture.

A founder member of NASA's Astrobiology Institute Communication Group, he feels we will only settle the life on Mars debate by visiting the surface with a shovel.

Tickets cost 10.00, concessions 8.00. For tickets and further Festival information please contact the theatre's Box Office on 01443 773112.