St Davids Cathedral Music Festival 2026: Your Guide to What's On

One of the highlights of the St Davids calendar is almost here. The St Davids Cathedral Music Festival 2026 runs from Friday 22nd to Saturday 30th May, filling Britain's smallest city — and its breathtaking medieval cathedral — with world-class classical and choral music.

The festival brings together internationally renowned performers and exciting emerging talent in a setting like no other: the soaring nave and legendary acoustics of St Davids Cathedral, just a short stroll from Ty Gwilym Holiday Cottages. Below is our guide to what's on across the week.

Why the setting is so special

St Davids Cathedral has been a place of music and pilgrimage for over 800 years. Its remarkable acoustics make it one of the finest concert venues in Wales, and during festival week the building comes alive from morning coffee concerts to candlelit late-night performances. Many of the daily choral services are free to attend, so there's something for every visitor — whether you're a lifelong classical fan or simply curious.

What's on — day by day

Friday 22nd May

• Festival Launch Concert with the Children's Chorus, led by acclaimed conductor Ula Weber (6.00pm).
• The Royal Harpist — Mared Pugh-Evans, Harpist to His Majesty the King, performs music from Wales and beyond (8.00pm).

Saturday 23rd May

• Choristers Unplugged! — the Cathedral Choristers swap cassocks for popular and musical-theatre favourites (11.00am).
• BBC National Orchestra of Wales – Beethoven's Eroica, conductor Martyn Brabbins with cellist Ivan Karizna; Coleridge-Taylor's Ballade, Huw Watkins's Cello Concerto and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 (7.00pm).

Monday 25th May (Bank Holiday)

• Coffee Concert: Choral Scholars (11.00am).
• Family Concert: Peter and the Wolf — Prokofiev arranged for piano four hands (2.00pm).
• Festival Organ Recital: Jan Liebermann — the 20-year-old TikTok organ sensation on the Cathedral's 1883 Father Willis organ (7.00pm).
• Late-night: Vicars Choral and Choral Scholars — renaissance polyphony to round off the weekend (9.30pm).

Tuesday 26th May

• Young Musician of Dyfed 2026 recital (11.00am).
• Jenkins Jazz — local duo Talfan and Siriol Jenkins, saxophone and piano (2.00pm).
• Choral Evening Prayer, free entry (5.00pm).
• Apollo5 – The Evening Primrose — the acclaimed vocal quintet spanning five centuries of music (7.00pm).

Wednesday 27th May

• BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong — the Cathedral Choir with viol consort Fretwork, celebrating St Davids-born Tudor composer Thomas Tomkins, broadcast live; free entry (3.00pm).
• Fretwork — a viol-consort evening marking the 400th anniversary of John Dowland (7.00pm).

Thursday 28th May

• Oboe Recital — Christopher and Catherine Tanner-Williams, with music by Poulenc and Welsh composers Morfydd Owen and Richard Elfyn Jones (2.00pm).
• Choral Evensong, sung by Vox Angelica, Vicars Choral & Choral Scholars; free entry (5.00pm).
• Jazz Reception with Tom Marsh's Trio — drinks and canapés at Tŷ'r Pererin (6.00pm).

Friday 29th May

• Coffee Concert — organ scholar Llewelyn Blezard-Greenwell on the Father Willis organ (11.00am).
• Choral Evensong, free entry (5.00pm).
• Simmy Singh: Belonging – Perthyn — classical-fusion violinist with a programme from Bach and folk to her own compositions (7.00pm).

Saturday 30th May

• Farewell to Cantorion John S Davies Singers — with the British Sinfonietta; Bach's Magnificat and Haydn's Nelson Mass bring the festival to a glorious close (7.00pm).

Tickets and planning your visit

Tickets for all concerts are available through the St Davids Cathedral box office, and the full brochure is on the Cathedral's festival page. Many of the daily choral services are free to attend, and the Cathedral itself is open to visitors throughout the week.

Stay in the heart of it all

The festival coincides with the late-May half-term — a wonderful time to be in Pembrokeshire, with long evenings, wildflowers on the coast path and beaches at their best. Our three self-catering cottages — Ty Gwilym, Bwthyn Lil and Bwthyn Gwe — are just a few minutes' walk from the Cathedral, so you can enjoy an evening concert and stroll home under the stars.

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