Young Singer Award
The date for our 2026 Young Singer Award competition is 7th March 2026
Our 2026 Young Singer Award Competition will be held in the afternoon of Saturday March 7th 2026. The winner will have the opportunity to perform as a soloist as part of the Festival’s Friday night concert on 17th July 2026.
£300 prize for the winner; up to three runners-up will each receive £100.
YOUNG SINGER AWARD Competition:
7 mar 2026
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must
Be aged between 15 and 19 years on 16th January 2026.
Either be studying in a school or college in Wales.
Or live in Wales.
Any queries please send us an email.
How to apply:
You can access our application form in english here and our application form in Welsh here
The form you choose should be sent with recordings of two contrasting songs by the application deadline of 16th January 2026. The details of how to do this are on the application form.
Successful applicants will be invited to Brecon to perform three contrasting pieces (one may be from your original entry, and one must be by a Welsh composer and sung in Welsh) at the Competition Day on Saturday, 7th March 2026.
Competitors will be accompanied by our official accompanist, Sue Bird, who will be available to rehearse with you on the day. Paper copies of your solo pieces must be sent to us for the accompanist by 14th February 2026.
The winner will be announced at the end of Competition Day on March 7th.
Our judges for 2026 will be:
Jonathan Rogers who is the Musical Director of Dunvant Male Choir and the Curriculum Leader of Music for Gower College Swansea, as well as an Associate Lecturer with Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and an examiner with the Welsh Joint Education Committee. Jonathan was also the deputy conductor for the Welsh Association of Male Choirs concert in 2024 and led the 92nd National Gymanfa Ganu, in partnership with the North American Festival of Wales, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2024.
Nicola Morgan who has taught singers at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. She very much enjoys adjudicating at festivals and eisteddfodau, most notably at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
Leisa Lloyd Edwards was selected as the winner of the 2025 Brecon Choir Festival Young Singer Award at the competition event in March 2025.
The other shortlisted candidates were Phoebe Gault, Hester Jones-Reddy and Mared Phillips.
Leisa sang at the Grand Concert in Brecon Cathedral on Saturday 19th July.
Leisa is a year 13 pupil at Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen studying AS level Music, Welsh and History. Sian Wyn Gibson is her vocal tutor at Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias. She is a member of Cor Glanaethwy as well as the National Youth Choir of Wales. She regularly competes in local and national competitions including the Urdd and the National Eisteddfod. A recent highlight for her was winning the 15-17 vocal solo at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod. Whilst classical performance is a preference, she's open to learning different singing styles as in 2023 she came first in the solo folk singing competition at the Urdd National Eisteddfod and won the musical theatre solo at the National Eisteddfod.
The 2025 Winner
Past Winners
2024 Winner
Penelope George was the winner of our 2024 Young Singer Award competition. Penelope has gone on to study singing at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
2023 WINNER
Erin Thomas was our 2023 winner. In 2024 she was placed 2nd in the National Eisteddfod - Under 25s Mezzo Soprano and joined the Juilliard’s intensive voice programme in June.
Young Singer Award Sponsors
