S4C’s St David’s Day schedule highlights Welsh music and opera

S4C will celebrate St David’s Day with a range of programming focused on Welsh music and culture, including factual shows, entertainment, and an opera.

On St David’s Day Eve, Elin Fflur and Trystan Ellis-Morris will be back with an evening of musical entertainment live from the Anglesey Show Ground, as Cân i Gymru (Song for Wales) returns for another year.

Eight songs compete for the prize, which is £5,000 for the composer of the winning song.

Viewers can vote for their favourites on the night and can join in the discussion on social media, using the hashtag #CiG2026.

On St David’s Day itself, the opera film Tanau’r Lloer (Fires of the Moon) will be broadcast across S4C and Channel 4’s platforms, in a landmark first-ever digital simulcast across both broadcasters.

Tanau’r Lloer was commissioned by S4C and Channel 4, and is inspired by scenes from Un Nos Ola Leuad by Caradog Pritchard, a modern literary classic first published in 1961.

Also on 1 March, a programme will document singer Rhys Meirion creating a Welsh version of a song by the late Mike Peters of The Alarm.

Meirion will work with Peters’s sons, Dylan and Evan, to complete the recording..

A special episode of Dechrau Canu, Dechrau Canmol, a congregational hymn singing programme, will air from St David’s Cathedral, presented by Nia Roberts.

Singer Cerys Matthews takes us on a personal journey on 4 March, to discover more about the Welsh language in Stori’r Iaith (The Story of the Language). She returns to Trefin, Pembrokeshire, where she grew up, to hear more about the area’s unique dialect.

S4C’s digital platforms will also feature new content, including the first episode of a YouTube series from the stars of cabaret show Cabarela, which will drop on St David’s Day.

Geraint Evans, S4C’s Chief Executive said: “From the first words of our language to the first notes of a song, S4C is celebrating everyone as part of this year’s St David’s Day festivities.

“The programming on S4C during the celebrations is a feather, or a leek, in the cap of those who’ve worked on the programmes and we look forward to celebrating Wales with our viewers.”