The Festival of Voice will run in venues throughout Cardiff

Highly acclaimed Welsh artists and productions are featured across the 10-day festival. Among them are Charlotte Church, Bryn Terfel, John Cale, Georgia Ruth, Gwyneth Glyn, Scritti Politti and Gwenno, with major new productions from National Theatre Wales, Welsh National Opera and Patrick Jones.

This landmark event aims to transform Cardiff into one of Europe’s major festival centres, on a par with Edinburgh International Festival, Manchester International Festival, the Holland Festival and Festival d’Avignon.

The festival builds on the unique heritage of Wales as the Land of Song – a nation that is celebrated for its profound tradition of choral singing and its stream of world famous vocal artists.

The programme aims to reflect that heritage and create a new kind of festival that breaks down boundaries, taking as its theme all forms of vocal expression: opera alongside grime, musical theatre alongside rock, cabaret alongside gospel and swing alongside a cappella choral music.

Wales Millennium Centre has co-produced and/or commissioned several major new projects for Festival of Voice.

These include:

The Last Mermaid - a brand new commissioned music theatre work based on the story of The Little Mermaid, starring Charlotte Church. The work is co-curated by Church, Jonathan Powell and Sion Trefor. Directed by Bruce Guthrie, it will be presented for audiences of aged eight plus at Wales Millennium Centre.

La Voix Humaine - a rare staging of Francis Poulenc’s forty-minute, one act opera, La Voix Humaine is directed by David Pountney and co-produced with Welsh National Opera. Based on the play of the same name by Jean Cocteau, the production stars Claire Booth and will be performed in a modern Cardiff apartment for an audience of just 35 people at a time. 

Before I Leave - a new play by Patrick Jones, directed by Matthew Dunster and co-produced with National Theatre Wales. Inspired by the true story of the Cwm Taf Choir, a choir of men and women living with dementia, with covers of songs by artists ranging from Tom Jones to the Sex Pistols and new music by Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers.

Opera for the Unknown Woman - a science-fiction vision of Earth in the 21st and 22 centuries, co-commissioned with Yorkshire Festival in association with Warwick Arts Centre, this is a new sound work for voices created and directed by Melanie Wilson with co-composer Katarina Glowicka and projection designer Will Duke. Fusing contemporary classical and electronic music, choral singing, film and choreography, this production blends these different art forms to create a bold new expressive work.

Ffatri Vox - Shetland islander Inge Thomson will be premiering a new work ‘Ffatri Vox’ commissioned exclusively for The Festival of Voice, influenced by and including some ‘Voices from the Factory Floor’ an amazing collection of accounts by factory workers between1945 – 1975, collated by The Women’s Archive of Wales. Thompson will be joined on stage by her regular musical partner, Fraser Fifield (whistles, kaval, sax and effects) with Julie Murphy (voice) and Tom Cook (electronics and live manipulation).

Choir Clock - a new community singing project on a grand scale, devised to mark the final weekend of the festival and produced by Serious with Wales Millennium Centre. Featuring 20 different choirs in 20 locations across central Cardiff, there will performances in a different location every hour on the hour, animating the city and its communities. The day will culminate in a late evening mass singalong at the Wales Millennium Centre of the great Welsh song - ‘Myfanwy’.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan - in a unique collaboration with Artes Mundi, the internationally acclaimed Beirut based artist, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, will create a new sound work for the festival.

In addition to these major commissioned works and co-productions, there will be a string of star performances.

Welsh rock legend John Cale, with ensemble and chorus, will open the festival on the 3rd of June, supported by last year’s Welsh Music Prize winner, Gwenno.

John Grant, performing on June 9, will be supported by Meilyr Jones. Van Morrison meanwhile is to be joined on stage by special guest, Bryn Terfel, at his concert on the 7th of June, while Bryn himself will be performing at two special concerts at Llandaff Cathedral.

Beyond Borders – Songs of Separation & Songs of Unity, directed by Karine Polwart, is a rare celebration and collaboration of the vocal styles and language of Wales, Scotland, England and Ireland and will feature star vocalists, including Welsh folk singers Georgia Ruth and Gwyneth Glyn.

Rufus Wainwright, Laura Mvula, Ben Folds, Ronnie Spector, Les Mystere des Voix Bulgares, Femi Kuti, Mbongwana Star, Hugh Masekela, Juliet Kelly, Sianed Jones, Jamie Woon, Flavia Coelho, Scritti Politti & Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip), Mariza, Lera Lynn, Woman’s Hour, yMusic, Fatima, House Gospel Choir, Candi Staton, Anna Calvi, The Hot Sardines, Keaton Henson, Rustavi Voices of Georgia and Amartuvshin Enkhbat are among the artists on the international line-up for Festival of Voice.

Festival of Voice will encourage participation – with opportunities for all ages and all styles of music and levels of experience to get involved. It will feature over 12,000 participants across 78 performances over the ten days. 

Innovative productions celebrating Welsh culture include Access all Arias – where the Chorus of Welsh National Opera will take to the streets of Cardiff and Wales 1000 – A Millennium of Welsh Music for Male Voices - a joint presentation

by Wales Millennium Centre and Aloud, curated by Tim Rhys-Evans MBE, where some of the finest male choirs from across Wales will come together to celebrate this musical and cultural heritage.

Land of Song – is a Wales-wide schools’ project where Wales Millennium Centre and The Aloud Charity have joined forces to encourage primary schools across Wales to celebrate Roald Dahl through song. Schools will come together at concerts in Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Venue Cymru and the concluding performance at the Festival of Voice to sing together.

A festival celebrating voice in Wales would not be complete without a Cymanfa Ganu.  Supported by Ty Cerdd and curated by Caryl Parry Jones, this Welsh tradition of a festival of hymns sung by the audience in four-part harmony aims to raise the roof at St David's Hall.

Higher Learning - is a night of raw underground Hip-hop, held at Tramshed, featuring some of the UK’s freshest MCs with a rare appearance from Godfather of British hip hop, Rodney P with the legendry DJ Skitz, as well as modern day hip hop pioneers 4 Owls.

In Peski Nacht Welsh record label and cultural curators, Peski celebrate new and seasoned voices from the alternative Welsh music and visual arts landscape at a special night at Jacobs Market featuring Anelog, ACCÜ (ex Trwbador member Angharad Van Rijswijk), Y Pencadlys and Plyci.

Venues participating in Festival of Voice include Wales Millennium Centre, Chapter, St David’s Hall, New Theatre, Tramshed, Sherman Cymru and smaller city venues. A pop-up club at Wales Millennium Centre will launch at the festival - creating a relaxed space for artists and festival goers to enjoy live music, DJ’s and beautiful crafted cocktails.

Festival of Voice is produced and curated by Wales Millennium Centre in collaboration with Serious, Welsh National Opera, National Theatre Wales, Artes Mundi and other venues and organisations across Cardiff. It is supported by The Colwinston Trust, Arts Council Wales, Cardiff City Council and private donations. It is directed by Graeme Farrow and curated by Sarah Dennehy.

Mathew Prichard, Chairman, Colwinston Charitable Trust said: “Wales has always been known for its love of singing and the human voice and the Trust is pleased to support this special celebration of Welsh life and culture, ranging from children’s choirs to the premiere of a new opera.”

Booking for tickets opens on Thursday, February 25 via www.festivalofvoice.wales / www.gwylyllais.cymru