Saturday
Get Creative
10am - 5pm
Circle foyer
Recommended for families with children in KS1-2.
Pick up a free colouring in sheet from the Circle Choir Foyer and learn more about the history of the Hallé as part of the Ancoats: the Hallé Story project.
Music Makers
10.30am - 12.30pm
Circle foyer
Recommended for families with children in KS1-2.
Ever wanted to have a go on a trombone? Or try out a cello? Drop-in family sessions where you can have a go on a range of instruments and take part in musical games.
This will be a free session in the Circle foyer. Tickets are not required, but space is limited.
A Northern Song
Celebrating the genius of Victoria Wood - for families and the Young at Heart!
11am - 12pm
Main Stage
The Hallé
Stephen Bell conductor
Hallé Children’s Choir
Alan Menkin Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast
A Northern Song: Celebrating the Genius of Victoria Wood A new piece commissioned by the Hallé, celebrating the words and music of Victoria Wood. Musical arrangements by Nigel Lilley & Howard Goodall, script and lyrics by Beth & Emma Kilcoyne. Based on the original works by Victoria Wood
This concert – a world première arrangement – has been commissioned by the Victoria Wood Foundation. The piece will be performed by the Hallé Children’s Choir and the full forces of the Hallé and will feature actors Josie Lawrence and Alex Jennings. It will showcase some of Victoria Wood’s most memorable songs, newly orchestrated for the occasion by composer Howard Goodall CBE and Victoria’s long-term Musical Director and friend, Nigel Lilley. Victoria believed passionately that music and the arts should be a vital part of every child’s education – it’s the theme of her 2014 film That Day We Sang, which also features The Hallé Children’s Choir and the Hallé. They will celebrate Victoria Wood’s unique work and legacy – now woven into the DNA of the UK’s cultural life – with a little help from Henry Purcell and a Dinner Lady…
RNCM Olias Saxophone Quartet
12pm - 12:45pm
Stalls Foyer
Nick Rushworth
Sam Nuttall
Fred Donlon-Mansbridge
Matthew Haworth
Programme includes:
Chick Corea Children's Songs (Nos 2, 3, 7, 18)
Will Gregory High Life; Hoe Down
Bricusse & Newley arr Jasmine Brown Pure Imagination
The Olias Saxophone Quartet met at the RNCM in September 2021 and have performed at various events, both at the RNCM and externally. They enjoy fusing their different musical tastes and influences together to share with audiences their passion for the wide range of repertoire that saxophones can perform. They will be presenting a programme of upbeat and joyful music, perfect for young people and families.
This is a free performance in the stalls foyer.
Music Makers
1.30pm - 3.30pm
Circle foyer
Recommended for families with children in KS1-2.
Ever wanted to have a go on a trombone? Or try out a cello? Drop-in family sessions where you can have a go on a range of instruments and take part in musical games.
This will be a free session in the Circle foyer. Tickets are not required, but space is limited.
Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra
1.30pm - 2.30pm
Main Stage
BBC Philharmonic
Anja Bihlmaier conductor
Brahms Hungarian Dances No. 1, 3 & 10
Bartók Concerto for Orchestra
Anja Bihlmaier conducts three favourite Hungarian Dances by Brahms, brimming with memorable tunes and catchy rhythms. A further dash of spice is added to the mix with the colourful Concerto for Orchestra by Bartók, a perfectly paprika-infused showpiece for the players of the BBC Philharmonic.
Colours of India by Bharatiya Vrund Gaan
3pm - 4pm
Barbirolli Room
BVG: the Indian Adult Choir of England
BVG are the first Indian Choirs of their kind in the UK. Both choirs will present authentic songs of India including popular group songs, raga based Tarana, Vedic chants & hymns, famous poetry and songs of the seasons.
The choir songs are composed and artistically led by Rakesh Joshi from Manchester. The choir will also perform popular songs, written-composed by famous Indian poets-composers.
This will be a free performance in the Barbirolli Room. Tickets are not required, but space is limited.
Neon
4.30pm - 5.30pm
Main Stage
Manchester Collective
Hannah Peel Neon
Michael Gordon Industry
Steve Reich Double Sextet
A place of mystery where anything is possible... Built around Steve Reich’s monumental Double Sextet, Neon evokes the darker side of our urban dreams. Fast, slow, fast. There’s no time for rest. Hannah Peel’s titular piece captures the decadent and bustling spirit of cities at night, with a taste of loneliness. Elsewhere, a guitar distortion pedal called the Ibanez Tube Screamer makes an appearance. Michael Gordon’s Industry for solo cello is raw and jarring –music as a self-destructive force of nature. Merging electronics with contemporary classical sound worlds via American minimalism, this show is quintessential Manchester Collective. Bold and unpredictable.
RNCM K’in Ensemble
5.45pm - 6.35pm
Stalls Foyer
Elena Orsi, Ailsa Burns violins
Conrad Jhering viola
Maria Rocha guitar
Alejandro Urbina Díaz bass
Emilio Yáñez Ruíz percussion
K’in Ensemble is a World-Music Fusion collective of Classical, Pop and Jazz musicians based in Manchester, UK. A varied, multicultural group, they collaborate to create compositions influenced by the rhythms and musical inflections of non-Western genres such as Flamenco, Afro Beat, Latin American and Middle Eastern music. K'in Ensemble's sound is new, exciting, and vibrant.
This is a free performance in the stalls foyer.
Pictures at an Exhibition
7pm - 8pm
Main Stage
The Hallé
Kahchun Wong conductor
Jess Gillam saxophone
John Harle Briggflatts
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)
Superstar saxophonist Jess Gillam performs John Harle’s Briggflatts, a saxophone concerto with three movements, 'Flares', 'Garsdale' and 'Rant!' and is based on an autobiographical poem by Basil Bunting of the same name.
Pictures at an Exhibition is arguably one of Mussorgsky’s most well-known compositions. Originally written as a piece for solo piano, the orchestral arrangement by Ravel, as performed here, is by far the most regularly heard. Mussorgsky wrote the piece in tribute to his friend, artist Vladimir Hartmann, who died at the peak of his career, age just 39, and the music was written to accompany an exhibition displaying Hartmann’s work. When composing the piece, he wrote, 'ideas, melodies come to me of their own accord, like a banquet of music … I can hardly manage to put them down on paper fast enough.'
Rakesh Joshi, Raga Pianist
8.30pm - 9.30pm
The Barbirolli Room
Join us for the late evening raga, folk and summer tunes with pianist Rakesh Joshi, accompanied by Alok Verma on tabla.
Rakesh is Manchester based Indian pianist, singer, composer teacher and Artistic Director of BVG, Indian adult choir and SHIVA, Indian youth choir. He also composes Indian ensemble music based on North and South Indian traditions.
Performed at many renowned venues of the UK, India, Europe and US, currently doing his research (Ph.D.) in Indian music.
This will be a free performance in the Barbirolli Room. Tickets are not required, but space is limited.
I was guided by the following vision
10pm - 11pm
Main Stage
Manchester Camerata
Daniel Pioro violin/director
Caroline Pether leader/director
Agata Zajac conductor
Sonic Meditation
Pioro Saint Boy arr. Tom Coult
Anna Clyne Sound & Fury
Nikki Martin Kolysanka
Holly Harrison Black Ice
Pēteris Vasks Lonely Angel, Meditation for violin and string orchestra
In times of disruption and chaos, the world craves peace and tranquillity.
Our concert with British/Polish violinist Daniel Pioro is the embodiment of the internal struggle between chaos and the need for peace, taking us on a journey somewhere between transcendental spirituality and gut-wrenching disruption. We begin with a sonic meditation for orchestra alongside two newly orchestrated works from Pioro’s recently released album, Saint Boy. Pioro's serene sound is juxtaposed by Anna Clyne and Holly Harrison’s works, full of relentless chaos and anguish. We finish with Vasks' Lonely Angel, which is inspired by the vision of 'an angel hovering over the world, contemplating the state of the battered Earth with tears in his eyes'.
These are troubling times we live in, but we invite you to join us as we look to reconnect with the beauty in all of it.