The Tenby International Music Festival has celebrated a landmark second year, with audience numbers trebling compared with its inaugural festival in 2025.
The rapidly growing festival brought international musicians and composers to the Pembrokeshire seaside town for four days of concerts, new music and community events from 13–16 August, further establishing the Festival as an ambitious new addition to Wales's cultural calendar.
Founded by Welsh musicians Thomas Mathias and Dominic Ciccotti, the Festival welcomed artists from Wales, England, Scotland, France, Japan and the United States, as it continues its ambition to establish Tenby as a destination for world-class music while maintaining a strong connection with the local community.
Six events took place across the four-day Festival, ranging from major evening concerts at St Mary’s Church to a free open-air performance in Tenby town centre and an interactive children’s concert at Tenby Museum & Art Gallery.
The 2026 Festival featured Welsh violinist and Co-Artistic Director Thomas Mathias, Welsh pianist and Co-Artistic Director Dominic Ciccotti, Japanese pianist and Artistic Adviser Yuki Minami, violinist Hana Mizuta-Spencer, violist Gordon Cervoni, and cellist Zachary Owen.
They were joined by Welsh composer Katie Jenkins and American composer Kian Ravaei, Director of the Festival's Composer Fellowship.
One of the highlights of the Festival was a collaboration between the visiting musicians and the Tenby Male Choir, bringing together the Festival's international outlook with one of the area's longstanding musical traditions in an opening evening concert at St Mary's Church.
Other programmes took audiences on musical journeys across Europe and beyond. Prague to Paris: A Piano Journey Across Europe featured music by composers including Mozart, Liszt, Debussy, Mendelssohn, Elgar and Dvořák, while Fire and Fiddle: An Evening of Hungarian Music celebrated music by Dohnányi, Bartók, Brahms and Monti.
A major development in the Festival's second year was the Tenby International Composer Fellowship, which attracted an extraordinary 256 applications from 39 countries.
Just three composers were selected for the inaugural Fellowship: Fiona Frank from Wales and Bea Carr and Will Stackpole from the United States.
The tuition-free programme, directed by American composer Kian Ravaei, provided the selected composers with professional development, workshops with musicians, and performances and professional recordings of their music.
Their works formed part of the Festival Finale, From the World to Wales, bringing the 2026 Festival to a close with a programme connecting emerging international composers with contemporary Welsh and American musical voices.
The international response to the Fellowship, alongside the threefold increase in audiences, marks a significant step forward for a festival established in Tenby only a year ago.
Alongside its evening concert series, the Festival continued its commitment to making classical music accessible to the wider community.
A free open-air concert brought Festival musicians into the centre of Tenby, while Colours of the Coast, an interactive concert at Tenby Museum & Art Gallery, introduced young children and their families to classical music through an informal and engaging performance.
Together with its growing international programme, these events form part of the Festival's aim to create a world-class music festival with the community of Tenby at its heart.
Festival Co-Artistic Director Thomas Mathias said:
“The growth we've seen in only our second year has been remarkable. To have three times as many people attending as last year gives us real confidence that there is an appetite for what we're building in Tenby.
“Our ambition from the beginning has been to create something that is deeply rooted in Tenby but international in its outlook. This year we've had musicians and composers coming together here from across the world, while our Composer Fellowship received 256 applications from 39 countries.
“We want Tenby to become a place where outstanding international artists, emerging musicians, and the local community come together. We're enormously grateful to everyone who has supported us, and we're already thinking ambitiously about where we can take the Festival next.”
Co-Artistic Director Dominic Ciccotti added:
“As someone from the Tenby area, it is particularly special to see the Festival growing so quickly.
“We want to build something the town can be proud of: bringing exceptional musicians to Tenby while ensuring that the Festival remains welcoming and accessible to everyone.
“Seeing our audiences treble in just one year has been incredibly encouraging, and we're excited about what that could mean for the future.”
Robert Smith, Festival Patron said:
“In its two years the festival has packed an enormous amount into its concert programmes and wider musical activities.
“The festival is the product of its two imaginative, ambitious Artistic Directors, Dominic Ciccotti and Thomas Mathias. The festival is truly international in the music, musicians and composers who are at the heart of it. Added to which it strives to be as local in its commitment to the town, its community, and more widely to the greater Wales.”
