The new event, Land of Song Festival, will celebrate Wales' famous singing and choral traditions across two major days of music at Cardiff's Principality Stadium on 7th and 8th May 2027.

Andrea Bocelli will open the festival on Saturday 7th May with what organisers say will be his first-ever headline concert in Wales.

Andrea Bocelli to headline Principality Stadium

The Italian tenor's performance will transform the Principality Stadium into a fully seated indoor concert venue, with the stadium roof closed for the event.

Bocelli won't be performing alone.

He is set to be accompanied by the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera and a massed choir, creating what organisers are billing as the biggest operatic event ever staged in Wales.

The concert will also coincide with the 30th anniversary year of Bocelli's hugely successful 1997 album Romanza, with songs from the record expected to feature in the show.

What is Land of Song Festival?

Rather than being another conventional multi-stage music festival, Land of Song is being created around Wales' international reputation for singing.

The plan is for the event to become a biennial festival, bringing together major artists, choirs and audiences from Wales, elsewhere in the UK and around the world.

Following Bocelli's stadium performance on Saturday, the focus changes dramatically on Sunday 8th May.

More than 20,000 singers are expected to come together for the return of Côr World Choir, creating one of the largest mass choral events staged in Wales.

The concept has roots stretching back more than three decades.

An original mass choir event was held at Cardiff Arms Park in 1992 by the organisation that would later establish Young Voices. Land of Song brings that idea back to Wales on a significantly larger scale.

A major new addition to the UK festival calendar

The launch is interesting not only because of Bocelli's involvement, but because Land of Song is attempting to establish a very different kind of major UK music event.

Instead of focusing exclusively on contemporary bands and artists, the festival is building its identity around Welsh musical culture, large-scale choral performance and international headline concerts.

That gives Cardiff another potentially significant annual — or in this case biennial — music attraction alongside the city's already busy stadium and live-event calendar.

Further Land of Song announcements are expected, meaning Bocelli and Côr World Choir may only be the beginning of the programme.

When is Land of Song Festival 2027?

The inaugural festival takes place across Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th May 2027 at Cardiff's Principality Stadium.

Andrea Bocelli performs on Saturday 7th May, followed by the Côr World Choir event on Sunday 8th May.

Tickets for the Bocelli concert went on general sale on Friday 14 August.

With one of the world's best-known classical voices launching the event and thousands of singers expected in Cardiff the following day, Land of Song could quickly establish itself as one of the most unusual additions to the UK festival calendar for 2027.

Keep checking UK Festival Guides for further Land of Song Festival 2027 announcements and additions.