Culture

International music stars to join Welsh artists for five-day festival

01 Sep 2026 3 minute read

Rufus Wainwright performing at Llais Festival in 2025. Image credit: Llais

Nation.Cymru Staff

International music stars and leading Welsh artists will come together for a five-day festival celebrating the power of the human voice in Wales this autumn.

“Inspired by the instrument that connects us all”, Llais, meaning voice, is a partnership between Cardiff Music City Festival and Wales Millennium Centre.

The 2026 edition marks the festival’s 10th, and will run from 7 – 11 October 2026 in Cardiff Bay.

Cardiff Music City Festival highlights Llais as “a week of extraordinary musical encounters”, offering a chance to watch exclusive shows from “artists rarely seen elsewhere in the UK.”

The cross-genre lineup spans folk, gospel and orchestral music alongside more experimental performances using immersive technology, bringing together artists from Wales and around the world.

In a performance developed especially for the festival, multimedia artist Laurie Anderson will perform in Wales for the first time with Friends and Teachers.

The following evening, the London African Gospel Choir performing Paul Simon’s Graceland will take the Donald Gordon Theatre stage, with Grammy-winning gospel group Blind Boys of Alabama from 10pm.

Other international artists include Buena Vista All Stars, composer-sitarist Jasdeep Singh Degun alongside BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales at the BBC Hoddinott Hall, as well as Orchestra Baobab, and Lisa Hannigan with Sirens.

The WMC’s Weston Studio will also host events, including Shovel Dance Collective + Naima Bock, Bess Atwell, Tristwch y Fenywod + Joanne Robertson + Jasper Llewelyn, and Tomos Williams’ Cwmwl Tystion III / Empathy.

The centre’s adjoining Cabaret venue will host an Oram Awards and Tŷ Cerdd collaboration, championing women and gender-diverse artists working across sound, music and technology.

The wider two-week programme from Cardiff Music City Festival (2 – 17 October) incorporates Sŵn Festival and the Welsh Music Prize, which will take place on 7 October at the Donald Gordon Theatre.

As well as live performances, Llais will also feature four virtual reality experiences at Wales Millennium Centre’s VR Cinema, exploring themes including memory, identity and the relationship between people and the natural world.

The programme includes Ôl | Haunts, a coming-of-age story set in north Wales in 2006, combining memories of adolescence with music and the Welsh party scene.

Graeme Farrow, Chief Creative Officer at Wales Millennium Centre, said: “Llais isn’t a festival built by algorithms or streaming charts. It’s a carefully curated week of extraordinary voices, unexpected encounters and unforgettable live experiences.

“Llais is about discovery. We all spend so much of our lives being recommended what to listen to next, but nothing replaces hearing something new and live and leaving completely transformed. That’s what Llais exists to do.”

Tickets are available now from the WMC site here. For more information on Cardiff Music City Festival and to explore the full line-up, visit their site here.

Llais is supported by the Welsh Government and Cardiff Council.

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