Music lovers in the West Midlands are in for a special treat this Friday and Saturday as Music For Youth hosts its annual National Festival.

More than 4,000 talented young musicians are set to perform on world-class stages in Birmingham city centre and organisers have made the event completely free of charge to the public.

This year’s theme is ‘A Festival For All’ and will include a range of genres such as jazz, brass, classical, folk, choral, pop, rock and everything in between.

The Festival gets under way on Friday 8 July with a Showcase Evening Concert at Town Hall in Victoria Square from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. It will feature six specially selected acts from an exciting group of up-and-coming artists, including a soul band, Scissett Youth Band and a year 11 piano duet.

Symphony Hall in Broad Street will host an Industry Day on Saturday 9 July to help budding musicians. Sessions include: How to produce music digitally with ICMP; Sustaining your career as an independent artist with Punch Records; The power of online platforms with Tik Tok; and a song writing and composition workshop with a Music for Youth Music Mentor.

For more information about the festival visit mfy.org.uk and for tickets visit B:Music