Factory International unveils a bold and eclectic autumn season at Aviva Studios

Equal parts film screening and live concert, Opera Omnia blends Valentin Noujaïm’s striking visuals with Space Afrika’s haunting soundworld to chart the journey of two Black teenagers through a hallucinatory Manchester night that spirals into a Lynchian descent into the city’s sinister underbelly. Framed by a reading from Dante’s Inferno, the work conjures a vivid portrait of urban unease after dark.

The evening culminates in a one-off collaboration with Manchester Camerata, widely regarded as the UK’s most pioneering orchestra, as they join Space Afrika to present new and unreleased material. Renowned for their genre-bending compositions and immersive projects, the duo craft an unmissable night of multi-disciplinary experimentation rooted in Manchester’s cultural spirit.

On Sun 19 Oct, Factory International presents a rare and soul-stirring evening with Black trans elder and visionary composer Beverly Glenn-Copeland, alongside theatre writer, eco-poet and longtime collaborator Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland. Together, they weave music, storytelling and lived experience into an intimate performance that resonates with beauty, insight and profound humanity.

Celebrated for the cult classic Keyboard Fantasies, Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s synth-driven, genre-breaking work has earned long-overdue acclaim, while Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland’s career in theatre, poetry and activism brings a rich layer of connection and community. They are joined on the night by F*Choir, a 70-strong, queer-led ensemble whose bold performances reimagine choral traditions with radical joy, eschewing conventional music styles in favour of work from underrepresented groups including women, trans, non-binary and queer artists.

On Halloween night, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard take over the Aviva Studios Warehouse with a night of unprecedented sonic reinvention, as they trade their fuzzed-out guitars for a fully modular synthesis table, channelling their trademark improvisation and epiphanic energy into a set of floor-filling rave tracks.

With 26 albums to their name – 13 charting in Australia’s Top 20 – and a global cult following devoted to the endlessly expanding ‘Gizzverse’, King Gizzard remain one of the world’s most prolific and unpredictable live acts. Featuring Stu Mackenzie, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Cook Craig, Joey Walker, Lucas Harwood and Michael Cavanagh, this is a rare chance to see the band transform themselves in real time, in a setting built for ecstatic evolution.

Now Wave mark Halloween with a Day of the Dead party in the Warehouse, headlined by Fat Dog in their biggest show to date. Formed in 2021 when front-man Joe Love brought his lockdown demos to the stage, the South London outfit quickly built a reputation through chaotic, euphoric live shows that grew in scale and frenzy with every performance.

Their debut album, WOOF, produced by Love alongside James Ford and Jimmy Robertson, hurtles through electro-punk, industrial-pop and rave-fuelled abandon, cementing Fat Dog as one of the UK’s most exciting new acts. With follow-up single Peace Song hinting at bold new directions and more artists still to be announced, Day of the Dog promises a night of electrifyingly eerie celebration.

Experimental pop duo Tune-Yards return to Manchester with their sixth album Better Dreaming, taking over Aviva Studios’ Hall with their fearless rhythm and spellbinding showmanship. Formed by Merrill Garbus in 2006 and later joined by bassist Nate Brenner, the pair have built a reputation for explosive live shows, bold songcraft and a restless drive to fuse kinetic sound with social consciousness.

Praised for their DIY ethos and unshakable energy, Tune-Yards now deliver their smoothest, funkiest and most direct pop to date.

On Sat 29 Nov, Everything Everything return to Manchester’s Warehouse to celebrate 10 years of Get To Heaven, the cult 2015 album that fused Black Mirror-style dystopian concepts with thrilling art-pop immediacy. Marking its anniversary with a special reissue featuring exclusive, never-before-heard B-sides, the record stands as a defining moment in the band’s intrepid catalogue.

Renowned for setting esoteric ideas to irresistibly inventive sound, Everything Everything have earned six consecutive Top 10 albums, five Ivor Novello nominations and two Mercury Prize nods. This milestone show promises a night of sharp social commentary, nostalgic anthems and all the forward-thinking flourishes that established the group as one of Britain’s best acts of the 2010s.