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.
It's now less than one week till our 2024 Festival gets underway! Eight days of classes in dance, singing, music and drama commences on Saturday 27th April and runs through till late on Saturday 4th May.
There's something for everyone to enjoy, whether that's ballet and modern dance, junior and adult choirs, brass bands, Songs from the Musicals, or Stand Up Comedy. If you've never been before, come along and join us. Tickets are £5 per day for the whole day - that covers the morning, afternoon and evening sessions - and are available online on the Villa Gaiety website, or from the Villa Box Office or the Welcome Centre.
Our programmes are also now on sale from various retail outlets around the island and are not just a listing of our classes and entrants, but also mini magazines with interesting articles about the Festival and notable performers and performances from previous years.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We're always looking for people to join us as volunteers to help us with the Festival. If you would like to come and help and become part of our great team do get in touch with the Festival Secretary, Sandra Loach by emailing manxguild@gmail.com
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.