Sat 28.06.25

10am

The Barbirolli Room

Musical Storyland LIVE! 
Three Billy Goats Gruff

Daniel Whibley Musical Storyland: Three Billy Goats Gruff

Sean Chandler presenter and trumpeter
Musicians of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Duration 40 minutes

Sean Chandler presents a live and interactive performance of Three Billy Goats Gruff from the CBeebies series Musical Storyland with musicians from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. 

A family of goats eat all the grass in their meadow and must go in search of fresh, green grass. They discover a beautiful new meadow but it's on the other side of a squelchy, muddy stream. Little Billy Goat tries to cross the stream but wakes up a hungry, grumpy troll! Will the brothers make it across the bridge safely? 

The performance is aimed at children aged 3 - 7 but all ages will enjoy it!

To guarantee a space at this performance, you can book your free ticket in advance. There will be some seating reserved for walk-up on the day.

11am

Main Stage

Hallé Children’s Choir:
Stage and Screen

Duration 30 minutes

The Hallé Children’s Choir always steals the show with its exceptional performances and polished presentation.

In this performance, the choir will perform a selection of songs from Lin Marsh’s songscape, Stage and Screen, including songs from Beauty and the Beast, Singing the Rain and Come Follow the Band, led by its inspirational Director, Shirley Court.

Listening to the choir and watching the young people perform is food for the soul, so don’t miss your chance to see these exceptional singers shine on The Bridgewater Hall stage!

You can attend this performance with a festival pass or a ticket for this performance.

12.30pm

The Barbirolli Room

Hallé Youth Training Choir

Arr. Robert I. Hugh The Cuckoo
Matt Roughley ‘Ej lasko, lasko’
Kirby Shaw Take Me to the River
Sally K Albrecht 3 Shakespeare Settings 

Duration 60 minutes

Hallé Youth Training Choir is made up of young singers aged 13-15. In this uplifting event, they will perform a delightful selection of folk, traditional and spiritual songs.

To guarantee a space at this performance, you can book your free ticket in advance. There will be some seating reserved for walk-up on the day.

2pm

Main Stage

RNCM Symphony Orchestra: Mahler 2 ‘Resurrection’

Gustav Mahler Symphony No 2 ‘Resurrection’

Antony Hermus conductor
Ellie Forrester soprano
Yvonne Howard mezzo-soprano
RNCM Symphony Chorus
RNCM Symphony Orchestra

Duration 90 minutes

Antony Hermus returns to conduct RNCM students in a performance of one of Mahler’s most profound works – an awe-inspiring journey from darkness to light. Mahler is alone in his ability to convey emotions at their most extreme, from anguish and turmoil to rapturous joy. He poured his deepest fears and hopes into this symphony and was a composer tormented by existential questions.

Beginning with a funeral march, his Resurrection Symphony wrestles with doubt, loss, and the search for meaning beyond life itself. But, as it unfolds, it builds towards something astonishing – an overwhelming vision of redemption and renewal. Tension gives way to transcendence, as chaos and catharsis surge forward, culminating in a final, breathtaking revelation.

Expect moments of fury and tenderness, haunting solitude, and triumphant grandeur, before the earth-shattering final movement: a colossal choral eruption of hope and resurrection.

This is music that demands to be felt, that speaks to the soul, and that leaves an indelible impression on all who listen.

You can attend this performance with a festival pass or a ticket for this performance.

3.45pm

The Barbirolli Room

Bharatiya Vrund Gaan
The Indian Choir of England:
Swaranjali

Dr. Rakesh Joshi director and conductor

Duration 60 minutes

Bharatiya Vrund Gaan (BVG), will be performing traditional Indian choral compositions includes Vedic hymns, folk songs, raga-based tarana, songs of the nature

To guarantee a space at this performance, you can book your free ticket in advance. There will be some seating reserved for walk-up on the day.

5pm

Main Stage

Riot Ensemble:
Coral Formations

Alex Paxton Shrimp BIT Babyface (UK premiere)
Kristine Tjøgersen Seafloor Dawn Chorus (UK premiere)

Aaron Holloway-Nahum conductor

Duration 45 minutes

Like birds in the forest, coral reef fish sing dawn and dusk choruses of clicks, purrs and growls. In Seafloor Dawn Chorus, descend to the Great Barrier Reef with the Riot Ensemble and Norwegian composer Kristine Tjøgersen.

It is a world full of the territorial and mating sounds of fish, shrimp and coral but one that is slowly being lost to the impacts of climate change. Meanwhile, back on land, Shrimp BIT Babyface by British composer and trombonist Alex Paxton (and commissioned by Riot Ensemble and Nouvel Contemporain Ensemble) piles layer upon layer of colour and ornamentation, like encrusted coral formations, into a contrasting, surrealist excess of joy.

You can attend this performance with a festival pass or a ticket for this performance.

7pm

The Barbirolli Room

Hallé Ancoats Community Choir

Stuart Overington director
Matthew Roughley director

Duration 40 minutes

The Hallé Ancoats Community Choir perform uplifting music, from traditional songs to folk tunes, gospel pieces and original compositions. Directed by Stuart Overington and Matthew Roughley, the choir is now in its 10th year and regularly performs around Manchester, spreading the joy of community music!

To guarantee a space at this performance, you can book your free ticket in advance. There will be some seating reserved for walk-up on the day.

8pm

Main Stage

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra:
Gershwin, Bernstein and Strauss

Strauss Death and Transfiguration
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue
Bernstein Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Anja Bihlmaier conductor
Hayato Sumino
piano

Duration 60 minutes

Music for beginnings and endings. It’s hard to find a more famous, or iconically flamboyant first few seconds than the clarinet solo at the start of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. ‘Metropolitan madness’ and a ‘musical kaleidoscope of America’ is how Gershwin described this musical montage of the jazz age.

From the Roaring Twenties to the streets of 1950s New York, Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story launches headlong into the high drama and searing rhythmic energy of one of the greatest musicals of all time. To open, Richard Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration captures the final moments of a life – the ticking clock in a dark room, existential struggle, a flood of memories before finally, transcendence.

You can attend this performance with a festival pass or a ticket for this performance.