The eleventh Hay Music Festival is being held over the weekend of 11th to 14th September 2026, with three days of concerts, discussion and special events, and a final day where our performers will support an extensive outreach programme with local schools, The Family Place and the Hay Day Café, all in and around Hay-on-Wye.

Titled “The healing power of music” the programme has been designed to deliver a weekend filled with music and joy. The Festival will open Friday 11th with an evening concert featuring The Fitzwilliam Quartet and renowned pianist Simon Callaghan, playing Schumann’s joyous Piano Quintet, Mozart and Beethoven.

On Saturday, 12 September, we start the day with two very different concerts displaying the wide range of youthful talents of a String Nonet and Wind Quintet from Sinfonia Cymru, with works by Mozart, Barber, Bernstein, Farrenc, Thuille, Mustonen, Françaix and Boulanger with the second concert featuring Mendelssohn’s String Octet –a work brimming with joy.

In Hay Castle on the evening of Saturday, 12 September, ‘The Doctors of Jazz’ bring together an amazing collection of great British Jazz players whose aim is to explore ‘The Healing Power of Jazz.

Sunday morning will start with a fascinating discussion on ‘Music as a treatment’ with composer Nigel Osborne and Michael Trimble (Emeritus Professor of Neuroscience at Queen’s Square and UCL), chaired by Christpher Best, composer and music educator.

The 2014 film ‘Love and Mercy’ will be shown in the early afternoon, a biographical drama about Brian Wilson, founder of The Beach Boys, which explores his struggles with mental illness and how music was central to his recovery.

We finish the weekend with another concert from The Fitzwilliam Quartet featuring the World Premiere of a new String Quartet by Nigel Osborne and end with Beethoven’s monumental String Quartet No.15, Op 132.

Michael Peake, Chairman at Hay Music said: “Never have we needed music more than now to lift our spirits and engender optimism! With its world class musicians and a great programme, this weekend can’t fail to achieve that!”