The RNCM stages a strikingly diverse live concert programme this autumn

Wholly unique in her towering romanticism and achingly resonant songwriting, few voices in British pop have proved quite as enduring as Eddi Reader’s, whose career has stretched from Fairground Attraction’s chart-topping Perfect to a celebrated solo catalogue that has seen her traverse folk, pop and traditional song with characteristic warmth.

This October, the three-time BRIT Award winner and MBE brings her singular vocal presence to the RNCM  for an intimate evening spanning her remarkable oeuvre, where Scottish tradition, contemporary songwriting and Reader’s instinctive emotional connection with an audience meet in a joyous, intimate setting, promoted by Band on the Wall.

The following evening, Manchester Collective joins forces with Ivorian percussionist and griot musician Sidiki Dembélé for a cross-cultural musical voyage, bringing West African storytelling and European classical traditions into vivid conversation.

With Dembélé and his band performing traditional songs from the Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal alongside the Collective’s strings and bass guitar, the programme moves freely and fluidly between baroque music, African percussion and improvisation. Northern artist Nwando Ebizie adds an Afrofuturist dimension with a brand-new work exploring ancestral heritage and imagined futures, while violinist Rakhi Singh guides the ensemble through the profoundly interconnected musical landscape.

Having recently appeared on this season of Channel 4’s The Piano, American pianist Tiffany Poon makes her Manchester debut with selections from Nature, her critically acclaimed album of French repertoire that bridges the worlds of Alkan, Debussy, Rameau and Ravel.

With a focus on interpretation, atmosphere, and emotional precision, Poon’s sensitive, technically assured playing on Nature earned lavish praise for its ‘astonishing virtuosity and tongue-in-cheek humour’ (Gramophone). With the album reaching No. 1 on Apple Classical, this one-off RNCM recital offers a chance to hear the celebrated pianist up close.

The RNCM Session Orchestra and soloists from the Popular Music department invite audiences to a boogie night with a twist on Halloween, as Feel the Fever transforms the theatre into a full-throttle celebration of all-things disco, reworking iconic dancefloor anthems for ensemble and vocals.

Under Musical Director Callum Au, music from Chic, Gloria Gaynor and Diana Ross receives a fresh orchestral treatment, combining the irresistible rhythms of the disco era with the scale and punch of the full orchestra.

Expect high-energy arrangements, glittering nostalgia and the city’s most contagious case of Saturday Night Fever.

On Fri 27 Nov, Steve Reich’s groundbreaking Music for 18 Musicians arrives at the RNCM as part of a special 90th-birthday celebration for a defining figure of minimalism, performed by the extraordinary Paraorchestra under the direction of Charles Hazlewood.

First performed 50 years ago, Reich’s hypnotic masterpiece changed the possibilities of contemporary orchestral music, transcending the form with pulsating marimbas, pianos, voices and shifting patterns subsequently influencing artists from David Bowie and Björk to Aphex Twin. Paraorchestra brings a further dimension to the piece, assembling disabled and non-disabled musicians in an ensemble built around radically different approaches to performance and collaboration.