Dartmoor Tors Festival: Gwenno

Event Information

Listen to Gwenno on Spotify
Gwenno's 2025 single, Utopia on YouTube
Gwenno will be performing solo.

“Spacey, strange and richly melodic” The Guardian

Gwenno Saunders is a visionary artist whose eclectic career spans more than 25 years as a musician, songwriter, producer, and performer. Starting out with solo Welsh, Cornish, and English language EPs in the early 2000s, Gwenno went on to front indie-pop group The Pipettes before forging her path as a solo artist. Rooted deeply in her Welsh and Cornish heritage, Gwenno’s work champions minority languages and cultural identity. Singing in Cornish, Welsh, and English, she advocates passionately for language revival and community connection through music. Gwenno’s artistic journey reflects a commitment to place, history, and collective voice — using pop, experimental soundscapes, and performance to elevate languages and cultures at risk of being overlooked in a globalized world.

She has released four acclaimed solo albums: Y Dydd Olaf (winner of The Welsh Music Prize), Le Kov, Tresor (shortlisted for the 2022 Mercury Music Prize), and her latest, Utopia (2025) alongside two full-length records with The Pipettes. Utopia marks a new chapter, Gwenno’s first record sung predominantly in English exploring themes of self-determination, identity, and creative evolution. Recorded live with her band in her living room and produced with long-term collaborator Rhys Edwards, Utopia features lush, textured soundscapes and notable contributions from fellow Welsh musicians Cate Le Bon and H. Hawkline.

In addition to her recording career, Gwenno has composed new scores for theatre and film, including work for The Caucasian Chalk Circle with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru and a live score for Mark Jenkin’s BAIT showcased at BFI Southbank. A dynamic creative force, she also curates festivals such as CAM 15 + 18 and Festival of Voice at the Wales Millennium Centre, blending artistic expression with cultural engagement. Prior to her solo work, Gwenno was a principal dancer in Lord of the Dance and a chorus line dancer in Riverdance, the former of which led to her taking on the lead role at the New York New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas between 1998-2000.







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This is part of the second Dartmoor Tors Festival, happening at various places around Dartmoor from 30 April – 3 May 2026. Tickets for festival events at Ashburton Arts Centre are all available at wegottickets.com/dartmoortorsfestival2026. All of the festival goings on are listed at dartmoortorsfestival.co.uk.



Ashburton Arts Centre
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