Experience the unexpected with the RNCM’s cutting-edge spring programme

With an extra date added and now only a few tickets remaining, the RNCM stages a collaboration for the ages as legendary Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess joins Dexys Midnight Runners icon Helen O’Hara to lead the RNCM Session Orchestra in an unforgettable night of crossover harmony.

Audiences can expect an electrifying mix of nostalgic tracks and fresh interpretations alike, with a setlist that includes Charlatans’ classics like The Only One I Know and North Country Boy, as well as renditions of Impossible and Try Again Today.

Each piece of music has been arranged ‘to highlight the synergy between Burgess’s vocals, O’Hara’s violin mastery, and the orchestral arrangements of the RNCM Session Orchestra.’

Known for imaginative programming and daring collaborations, Manchester Collective is set to return to the RNCM in March with a show billed as a ‘nervous system reset’. SERENITY 2.0 features Ben Nobuto’s deliriously energetic work of the same name, which employs frantic string arrangements, propulsive rhythms and jarring samples to send audiences on a journey from neurotic digital frenzy to quiet, blissful calm.

Here’s a preview of what you can expect:

Also featured in the programme, multi-faceted musician and DJ Nabihah Iqbal presents her first classical commission for string quartet and electronics with What Psyche Felt, given its world premiere by the Collective.

The Collective are appearing as part of the RNCM’s new Inspirational Artists series, featuring artists who embrace the new, delight in the past, and face challenges with courage and creativity.

As we shuffle off the last of winter’s sodden chill and welcome spring in earnest, the RNCM Chamber Choir and interdisciplinary company Clod Ensemble unite to blend choral music and movement in a captivating, immersive performance in the historic Victoria Baths.

Set to Clod Ensemble’s mesmerically inventive choreography, the choir’s 28 singers move amidst the Grade II listed heritage building and the audience, offering a poignant experience that explores how music and movement can reshape our connection to a historic site.

This event is part of Dance:Music, a series of events from the RNCM that explore the powerful synergy between dance and music.

Founded upon the twin pillars of spontaneity and instinct, the RNCM MIUAWGA (‘make it up as we go along’) Ensemble presents an unmissable night of thrilling improvisation, as the school’s Head of Jazz and Improvisation Steve Berry leads the trailblazing troupe in an exploration of intuitive creativity.

This year, MIUAWGA collaborates with composer, arranger and renowned multi-instrumentalist Fred Thomas, a ‘boundary-blurring’ (Gramophone) artist whose oeuvre spans reworks of J.S. Bach, innovative contemporary styles and beyond.

As no piece will ever be played the same way twice, this is a chance to witness a live event as unique as the musicians creating it.

On Fri 2 May, Scottish Ensemble and esteemed choreographer Örjan Andersson join forces to present a wondrously dynamic reimagination of Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.

Billed as ‘the human condition painted in high-intensity colours’, the fresh, compelling production offers the Ensemble new dimensions in which to create striking visual renderings of the passion, intricacy and deep complexity within both masterworks, uniting performers and audience across sound and spectacle to uncover the heart of the music.

This event is part of Dance:Music, a series of events from the RNCM that explore the powerful synergy between dance and music.