Early tickets sales for a Powys music festival are at an all-time record

Early ticket sales are at an all-time record for an internationally celebrated Powys music festival.

Organisers of the Presteigne Festival which takes place from August 27 until 31, say ‘amazingly over 1,000 tickets have already been sold, an all-time record for the festival.’

Now in its 44th year, the festival brings an exceptional roster of world-class musicians, composers, artists and writers to Radnorshire for five inspiring days of music, ideas and imagination over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

In 2026, the Festival is celebrating the remarkable contribution of women composers from the 20th and 21st centuries, also marking three important composer anniversaries: the 75th birthday of celebrated choral composer Cecilia McDowall, together with the 70th birthdays of Sally Beamish and the Presteigne Festival’s founding Artistic Director, Adrian Williams.

Michael Zev Gordon is featured as composer-in-residence and we shine a spotlight on Mathilde Wantenaar, one of the Netherlands’ most exciting talents.

Contemporary music features prominently with a rich selection of new and recent works from some of today’s most exciting voices – Michael Berkeley, Cameron Biles‐Liddell, Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade, Lillie Harris, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Gabriel Jackson, Tayla-Leigh Payne, Robert Peate, Electra Perivolaris, Lynne Plowman, Emma-Ruth Richards, Claire Victoria Roberts, Natalie Roe and Daniel Soley are programmed alongside timeless classics from Bach, Bartók, Beethoven, Britten, Elgar, Holst, Prokofiev, Ravel, Schumann and Stravinsky’s masterpiece The Soldier’s Tale, in a semi-staged version.

As a whole, a fresh mix of voices and styles which showcases and celebrates the creativity, innovation and diversity that define today’s classical music landscape.

Beyond concert performances, the programme includes a three-film retrospective of New Zealand director Jane Campion and talks from, among others, Sioned Davies, Carwyn Graves, Stephen Johnson and Fiona Sampson.

The Festival also continues to partner with Presteigne ‘Open Studios’, offering visitors the chance to engage with the town’s thriving community of artists and makers.

The 2026 artists roster includes: HearAndNow Collective (Amsterdam), violinist Fenella Humphreys, pianists Clare Hammond and Jâms Coleman, James Gilchrist (tenor), Rowan Pierce (soprano), narrator Jonathan Gunthorpe, Ben Goldscheider (horn), Imogen Whitehead (flugelhorn), cellist Rainer Crosett, Sally Pryce (harp), guitarist Eva Victoria Schockmel, the Choir of King’s College, London under Joseph Fort and the ever popular Presteigne Festival Orchestra and Ensemble conducted by artistic director, George Vass.

General online and telephone booking is open, visit presteignefestival.com to view the full programme, or call 01544 267800.