Welcome to the official home page of the Manx Music Festival (The Manx Competitive Music, Speech and Dance Festival to give it its full name) or “The Guild” as it is affectionately known on the Island.
Our 2025 Festival has been a huge success! We've had an amazing time watching everyone who entered and took part and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2026.
If you'd like to get more involved please get in touch; we're always looking out for volunteers to help us over our 8 days of classes.
Dates for next year:
The 2026 syllabus will be available later this year so look out for that.
Entries closing date: 31st January 2026
Deadline for backing tracks to be submitted: 31st March 2026
Alongside all the tasks we do throughout the year to bring your Festival to life every April this year we will also be revamping this website. It's been a while and we know it's not looking it's best anymore and we don't use it for promotion as much as we should. So keep checking back to see what we're up to!
The Isle of Man has very strong musical traditions and since 1892, when it was formed, The Guild through its competitive nature, has provided motivation to improve, initially for choirs, followed by solo singing and later to a wide range of music, spoken word and dance. The climax of the Festival occurs with the competition for the Cleveland, Ohio (USA) Manx Society’s Gold Medal, donated annually by this organisation and competed for by the three highest marked ladies and three highest marked men from across the special solo classes held during the week.
The Festival is a member of the British and International Federation of Festivals.
The Festival is held annually in April at the Villa Marina on Douglas promenade. To see the range and size of competitions check out our results section.