More than 1,000 young musicians converged on a Gwent town for a "fantastic two days of music-making".
The Music for Youth festival in County Hall, Cwmbran, saw 65 school and music centre groups play in front of hundreds of spectators yesterday and today.
Most of the musicians, aged between four and 21, came from Gwent but there were groups from Cardiff, the Forest of Dean and Cornwall.
Alun Williams is deputy head of Gwent Music Support, which has hosted the annual event since 1992.
"It's been a fantastic two days of music-making," he said.
"An adjudicator assessing one of the groups on Saturday said it was like listening to a professional orchestra."
The festival was one of 80 across the UK organised by Music for Youth, an educational charity giving young musicians of all abilities the chance to perform in front of an audience.
The judges will announce the results in five weeks, and invitations will be issued to the groups with the best marks to the the National Festival of Music for Youth.
This annual six-day gathering features 12,000 performers, and will take place in venues across Birmingham from July 7 to July 12 this year.
The 30 best groups from this event will go on to perform at the Schools Proms in London's Royal Albert Hall in November.
Last year 15 groups from the Gwent area took part in the national festival, with Newport Music Centre's senior wind band and the North Monmouthshire piano quintet praised for outstanding performances.
First published in the South Wales Argus|
Trombonists at the festival