National Youth Arts Wales caps its Summer 2026 Season on a High Note

This summer 355 young people from across Wales came together to train, create, rehearse and perform. Across 8 residencies, there were 19 performances and 2 public sharings, taking our young people from Bangor to St David’s, Swansea to Edinburgh, with more than 3,500 people attending our 9 summer concerts and a further 183 people coming to see new work-in-progress shared by National Youth Theatre of Wales. 

The National Youth Orchestra of Wales celebrated its 80th year with 101 young musicians performing at Prichard-Jones Hall, St Davids Cathedral and Brangwyn Hall, with the concerts also recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 3. The National Youth Choir of Wales brought together 81 singers for performances at St Asaph Cathedral, St Davids Cathedral and Brangwyn Hall, while the National Youth Brass Band of Wales toured with 57 young musicians, performing in Bangor, St David’s and Newport. 

National Youth Dance Wales headed to the Edinburgh Fringe alongside National Youth Dance Scotland to form Celtic Collective, performing 9 sold-out shows and receiving five-star reviews. Back in Cardiff, 20 dancers began work with choreographer Osian Meilir on a new piece which will be performed this autumn. We also welcomed 16 boys aged 8-16 to our Boys Dance Day 2026 in partnership with Ballet Cymru and National Dance Company Wales.

For the National Youth Theatre of Wales, this summer marked the beginning of its 50th year, with 24 young actors working in Aberystwyth with director Hannah Noone and writer Bethan Marlow to devise brand new work. New scenes and songs were shared at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama as the first stage of work which is now being developed towards a new production in 2027. Alongside this, 24 participants took part in our Professional Pathways programme, exploring different aspects of theatre, screen and backstage work. The 50th anniversary has also given us the opportunity to reconnect with those who have been part of NYTW over the past 5 decades, with alumni already reconnecting with us and sharing photographs, programmes, archive material and memories. 

We rounded off the summer with the second National Youth Jazz Wales summer school, bringing together 45 young musicians from across Wales to work with some of the country’s leading jazz musicians at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, with more than 100 people attending the final sharing. 

As part of the summer programme we also launched Play Your Part, our public giving campaign inviting audiences, families, alumni and supporters to help make sure that financial circumstances are not a barrier to young people taking part in National Youth Arts Wales opportunities. The support we receive through this campaign is vital to helping us continue to offer these opportunities in the future. If you have already supported the campaign, thank you. If you haven’t yet, you can still Play Your Part by making a donation and helping us reach more young people across Wales. 

The scale of the summer is important, but what stays with us most is the young people themselves - their commitment, creativity and the way they have supported each other. Across the summer they have made new friendships, gained confidence, worked with professional artists and tutors and experienced what it means to be part of a creative community. 

There is already plenty more to come, with new productions, performances and creative opportunities taking shape over the coming months. Auditions for next year’s National Youth Arts Wales music ensembles are now open - closing 11 October - and we look forward to welcoming the next group of young people and seeing where their creativity takes them. 

Thank you to all our funders, partners, tutors, professional artists, staff and welfare teams who have helped make this summer possible and to the audiences, families, alumni and supporters who have been part of it. We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved summer 2026 and look forward to what’s coming up next. 

[Photos by Evan Dawson, Kirsten McTernan, Ken Grant and Y-Dance]