Jazz pianist Joe Webb returns to his former college for Cardiff Music City Festival homecoming double bill with Gwenno

Wednesday, 30 September 2026

Acclaimed Welsh jazz pianist Joe Webb will return to the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama where he previously studied, for a special Cardiff Music City Festival double bill with Gwenno on Thursday 8 October.

The Neath-raised musician, whose album Hamstrings & Hurricanes was shortlisted for the 2025 Mercury Prize, will perform in the Dora Stoutzker Hall as part of a double bill with Cardiff-born Gwenno, whose avant-pop album Tresor earned a Mercury Prize nomination in 2022.

Tickets are on sale now and available here: https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/events/gwenno-plus-joe-webb-trio

The unique show has been curated by broadcaster and long-time champion of Welsh music, Bethan Elfyn. Speaking about the event, she said: “Joe’s return to the Royal Welsh College is a lovely full-circle moment. Here is an artist raised in Wales, who studied in Cardiff and has gone on to become one of the most exciting names in British jazz. Then you have Gwenno, who has become one of Wales’ most celebrated musical voices. Two very different artists but both of them creating ambitious, distinctive work with Wales at its heart.”

Earlier this year, Joe Webb released his latest album ‘Neath Beat’ which reflects on his experience of growing up in Wales. The pianist previously told NME that his work was “inspired by everyone from Beethoven, to Liszt, to Duke Ellington, to Oscar Peterson, to Oasis, to Welsh male voice choirs.”

Having released three albums in Welsh and Cornish, Gwenno’s latest album Utopia is the first to be sung predominantly in English. Hailed by Clash Magazine on its release as “a lush, resplendent journey into its creator’s past” it explores a life that has seen a Cardiff schoolgirl become a Las Vegas dancer, a singer in an indie pop group, appear in a Bollywood film, have a stint cleaning floors in an East London pub, and eventually become a Welsh Music Prize winner and acclaimed songwriter.

Cardiff Music City Festival (October 2 – October 17) brings together Sŵn, Llais, the Welsh Music Prize and a diverse programme of performances, talks, pop-ups, exhibitions and special events in venues across Cardiff. The festival, which celebrates the power of music to unite and inspire, is supported by Welsh Government and Cardiff Council.