Our friends and RPS Advance Corporate Members Swaledale Festival host music, arts and walking across the stunning hills and dales of North Yorkshire.

Across 15 vibrant days, from 23 May to 6 June, a record 75 events will take place – audiences can look forward to a vibrant kaleidoscope of experiences: wonderful music, compelling visual art, thought-provoking film and literature, hands-on creative workshops and a rich selection of guided walks that explore the Dales’ remarkable landscapes and stories. Events unfold in delightfully unexpected places - from beguiling chapels and churches to charming village halls, from a medieval castle to woodlands, meadows, fellsides, and even Britain’s oldest working theatre.

The 2026 programme welcomes an exceptional array of artists. The opening weekend features the dynamic violin-guitar duo Braimah Kanneh-Mason and Plínio Fernandes, and the ethereal vocal ensemble SYSTIR in their UK debut. Also bringing their magic to the Dales are Afro-Latin percussion-and-brass duo Ladies of Midnight Blue, British jazz and broadcasting legend Clare Teal, star pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, boundary-pushing cellist-singer Hadewych van Gent, the genre-defying sitarist Jasdeep Singh Degun, among many other artists worth discovering.

The rich ideas and charismatic presence of baritone Roderick Williams, violinist Fenella Humphreys, and multi-instrumentalist Eleanor Grant are woven through the programme in a multitude of surprising and imaginative ways. So too is Martin Lever, a Swaledale-based, award-winning visual artist whose work is deeply rooted in the landscape.

The festival also features the premiere of a new work, by RPS Composer Vivek Haria, commissioned by the RPS as part of the RPS Composers programme. Inspired by the Dales and its rivers, Vivek's new piece will be performed by soprano Margaret Lingas and pianist Christopher Glynn.

Public booking opens on Monday 16 February, with Friends early booking opening on Monday 2 February.

You can find out more on Swaledale Festival's website here, and in the festival brochure.