Sun 29.06.25
10.30am
Main stage
Quentin Blake’s Box of Treasures with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Stefano Cabrera
Quentin Blake’s Box of Treasures
Robert Ames conductor
Duration 60 minutes
Quentin Blake’s Box of Treasures bursts open with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra as they play live accompaniment to two wonderfully animated adventures. Imagine the glorious, multicoloured world of Quentin Blake spring to life as 80 amazing musicians follow Jack, Nancy and Mrs Armitage every step of the way.
Young Jack and his sister Nancy dream of adventure – but they didn’t expect desert islands, talking parrots and exploding volcanoes. Mrs Armitage is taking a quiet bike ride with her dog Breakspear – but when you’re a brilliant inventor, things rarely stay quiet for long.
Everyone knows that Quentin Blake spins a fabulous tale, and with Stefano Cabrera’s delightful music they’ve never looked (or sounded) quite as fabulous as this!
Recommended Age Guidance 5+
You can book tickets for this event here. Please note, festival passes do not include this event.
Quentin Blake’s Box of Treasures was commissioned by BBC Children’s and Education and produced by Eagle Eye Drama in a co-production with Creative Conspiracy and in association with animation studios Spicy Acorn, Tchack and Kong Studio. The series is directed by Gerrit Bekers working to Eagle Eye’s creative director for animation Massimo Fenati with an original score composed by Stefano Cabrera.
The live performances are produced by esk in association with Eagle Eye Drama, the Barbican and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
1pm
Main stage
The Hallé and Chorus of ENO: Opera Favourites
Verdi Overture La Forza Del Destino
Verdi Va pensiero (Nabucco)
Verdi Libiamo (Brindisi) (La Traviata)
Puccini Humming Chorus (Madama Butterfly)
Puccini Che gelida manina, Mi chiamano Mimi, O soave fanciulla (La Boheme)
Britten Choral Dances (Gloriana)
Mascagni Easter Hymn (Cavelleria Rusticana)
Puccini Nessun dorma (Turandot)
Alpesh Chauhan conductor
Madeline Boreham soprano
Tbc tenor
Duration 60 minutes
Operatic favourites with the Chorus of English National Opera and the Hallé.
Join the Chorus of English National Opera (ENO) for their first exciting concert in Manchester, performing in collaboration with the Halle Orchestra. Opera greats Verdi, Puccini and Britten all take centre stage in this unmissable concert conducted by Alpesh Chauhan. Featuring famous chorus numbers, iconic orchestral music and favourite arias, from La traviata to Gloriana and La boheme among many others, sung by Madeline Boreham and current ENO Harewood Artists Zwakele Tshabalala (TBC).
You can attend this performance with a festival pass or a ticket for this performance.
2.30pm
The Barbirolli Room
AMC Gospel Choir
Duration 50 minutes
AMC Gospel Choir is one of the UK’s top live-performance Gospel Choirs and are based across the cities of Manchester and Birmingham.
AMC Gospel Choir is an exciting group of musicians full of the vibrancy and joyfulness of the true spirit of Gospel music. They create soundscapes that will tingle the body and warm the heart, presenting audiences with their harmonious vocal blend, inspiring solos and musical arrangements, all beautifully organised by the director and other gifted musicians within the choir.
Within this creative choir family, you’ll find renowned solo vocal artists and in-demand instrumentalists who all come together to create the rich, distinctive and colourful sound which is simply AMC! Always leaving a crowd shouting for “more” is their aim and they never miss the spot!
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.
3.30pm
Main stage
Manchester Collective:
The Body Electric
David Lang Mystery Sonatas, mvt 1. Joy
J.S. Bach Prelude from Cello Suite No.1 in G Major
Zoe Martlew G-Lude
Missy Mazzoli Vespers
J.S. Bach Allemande and Sarabande from Cello Suite No.1 in G major
Julia Wolfe arr. Rakhi Singh LAD
Rakhi Singh violin (Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Manchester Collective)
Zoë Martlew cello
Duration 60 minutes
From the sublime to the electric, Manchester Collective explores the power of the soloist in a performance of stark contrasts.
Intimate, resonant sounds lull us into a false sense of security, before the violin and cello begin battling it out onstage. The pair end up drenched in delay, distortion and reverb; flitting between chaos, peace and order.
Gate-crashing the calm is Zoë Martlew’s ‘G-Lude’ for solo cello and electronics. A cathartic howl exploding from the quiet, it’s a celebration of the rough edges, complete with wild scrapes, screeches, thwacks and gasps. ‘G-Lude’ is a raucous homage to the Bach ‘Prelude’ also featured in this show.
Not content with letting the cello have the final say, Rakhi Singh’s arrangement of Julia Wolfe’s ‘LAD’, originally for nine bagpipes, is reinvented here for just one very loud violin – plugged into a crunchy guitar pedal.
Consider the mic dropped.
You can attend this performance with a festival pass or a ticket for this performance.
6.30pm
Main stage
Finale
John Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Iain Farrington New commission – world premiere
Borodin Polotsvian Dances
Respighi Pines of Rome
Alpesh Chauhan conductor
Musicians from the Hallé, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Collective, RNCM
The Chorus of ENO
Hallé Choir
Musicians from Manchester’s ensembles assemble under the baton of Alpesh Chauhan for a spectacular concert of fanfares and flourishes to celebrate the finale of a spectacular weekend of music.
The concert begins with John Adams’ joyfully exuberant fanfare for orchestra, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, followed by Iain Farrington’s world premiere for orchestra and choir, inspired by Manchester’s industrial past. The choral forces remain for Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, the exciting climax to the second act of Borodin’s opera, Prince Igor. The concert comes to a thrilling conclusion with Respighi’s Pines of Rome, the second of three tone poems Respighi wrote to recall the glory of the Roman Empire. Ending with spectacular brass fanfares, the piece will raise the roof of The Bridgewater Hall in a vibrant celebration of Manchester’s dynamic classical music scene.
You can attend this performance with a festival pass or a ticket for this performance.
