Pontevedra, 11 October 2026. The 19. Certame Galego de Bandas in the Pazo da Cultura has come to an end. According to the Xunta de Galicia a total of 17 ensembles took part on 10 and 11 October: ten from Galicia and seven from Portugal. The organisers put participation at around 1,000 musicians across five competition sections: infantil, xuvenil, terceira, segunda and primeira.
At the closing event, the Xunta de Galicia’s Minister for Culture, Language and Youth, José López Campospresented the prizes and diplomas together with the Xunta’s delegate in Pontevedra and the director of the Axencia Galega das Industrias Culturais López Campos highlighted the strong presence of young musicians in his speech and described sustained work with young people as a pillar of the region’s musical culture. The event concluded with a performance by the Minho Reed Quintet, which played the Galician anthem, according to the organisers.
The competition is organised by the Federación Galega de Bandas de Música Populares. The Xunta de Galicia provided organisational and financial support for the Certame. As well as the main competitions, the 19th edition included activities for children and young people, which the organisers said were intended to showcase training within the brass band associations.
The published statements gave no figures for specific funding amounts. It is therefore not possible to make reliable claims at this stage about immediate economic effects for Pontevedra or longer-term funding commitments. What is clear, however, is that the Certame is an established fixture in the Galician amateur music calendar and a platform for exchanges between Galician and Portuguese wind bands.
The event was clearly regional in scope: it took place in Pontevedra (Galicia) and was aimed primarily at the Galician and cross-border musical community, with Portuguese participation. The dates, participant figures and programme were reported consistently by the Xunta de Galicia and local authorities. The news event is the conclusion of the 19th edition on 11 October 2026; earlier descriptions of its content are used here solely for context.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).