Entries for Woking Music Festival's 100th year close at 6pm on Sunday 4 October. 328 classes from £7.50, run 6 to 29 November at St John's and two schools.
Woking Music Festival is 100 years old this autumn, and entries for the centenary festival close at 6pm on Sunday 4 October.
The festival was founded by Nancy Leigh in 1926. It now describes itself as one of the largest of its kind in Surrey, with about 1,000 people taking part each year (Woking Music Festival, 2026 syllabus).
It is a competitive festival for amateurs of all ages. Each performer is heard by a professional adjudicator and gets written feedback. The 2026 festival runs from 6 to 29 November.
What you can enter
The syllabus lists 328 classes across five sections. Choirs can enter, and so can a seven-year-old reciting a poem, a family piano duet or a barbershop quartet.
Entry fees, from the same syllabus:
| Entry | Fee |
|---|---|
| Solo verse speaking, under 7s | £7.50 |
| Solo singing, under 10s to under 16s | £8.50 |
| Solo singing, 19 and over | £10.50 (£11.50 for pop and jazz) |
| School choirs | £19.50 to £23.50 |
| Adult choirs | £21.50 |
| Bands and ensembles from other organisations | £26.50 |
Ages are counted as on 1 September 2026. The open classes accept professionals as well as amateurs, and there are composition classes in the choral and instrumental sections.
Entries are made online through the festival’s Run My Festival page. Payment must show as received by 6pm on Monday 5 October, 24 hours after entries close, or the entry is not processed (Woking Music Festival, entering through Run My Festival). After the deadline, a late entry is accepted only at the section secretary’s discretion.
When and where
The syllabus gives these provisional sessions. Times of individual classes are not set until the programme is finalised in mid-October, and entrants are told by email.
| Section | Dates in November | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Piano | 6, 7, 16, 18 and 21 (24 if needed) | St John’s Church, St John’s |
| Vocal and choral | 10 | Woking High School, Horsell |
| Vocal and choral | 13, 17 and 20 | St John’s Church |
| Instrumental | 11, 12 and 19 | St John’s Church |
| Speech and drama | 14 | St John’s Church |
| Speech and drama | Sundays 22 and 29 | Halstead St Andrew’s School, Woking |
The public can come and listen. Becoming a Friend of the Festival, for a donation of £30 or more, brings a complimentary ticket to all the November sessions or a ticket to the February final.
The prizes
The festival has more than 90 trophies. One award is new this year. The Woking Music Festival Centenary Award goes to two entrants, one aged 14 or over and one under 14, who have shown “excellence and commitment” in two or more sections (Woking Music Festival, syllabus page).
The best young performers, aged 14 to 20, are picked from the solo classes for the Woking Young Musician of the Year final. It is at 7pm on Saturday 6 February 2027, adjudicated by Michael McHale. The prizes:
- first, £400 and the Gordon Brown Trophy
- second, £325 and the Yorkshire Building Society Trophy
- third, £250 and the H R Taylor Charitable Trust Trophy
- £125 for every other finalist
One trophy has a borough story of its own. Woking Borough Council donated a prize in honour of Dame Ethel Smyth, the composer and suffragette who lived in Woking. It goes to the best performance of a work by a female composer.
What it means for you
- If you or your child want to take part, enter by 6pm on Sunday 4 October and pay by 6pm on Monday 5 October.
- If you teach a choir or a group, the festival asks you to talk to the section secretary before entering large groups, so it can fit you in.
- If you just want to listen, sessions run on weekday evenings and some Saturdays and Sundays through November. Check the festival’s site for the final timetable in mid-October.
The festival is a registered charity, number 287647, run entirely by volunteers, and it welcomes offers of help with stewarding.
For more in the borough this autumn, see what’s on in Woking this month and the October half term guide.
Sources
- Woking Music Festival, 2026 syllabus (founding, size, sessions, venues, fees, closing date, prizes), read 2 October 2026
- Woking Music Festival, syllabus page and Run My Festival entry page (Centenary Award, online entry and payment deadline), read 2 October 2026
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