Miss out on a ticket to Hans Zimmer’s eagerly anticipated AO Arena concert? Not to worry – Manchester’s live classical music schedule throughout June offers offers incredible performances by an array of world-class talent, from the Hallé to the RNCM and beyond, as well as a glimpse into the future of composition and even the region’s first major classical weekend festival.
Here are five unmissable classical music events this June:
Brimming with ‘lyric beauty, imaginative orchestration, magnificent choruses and gorgeous melodies’, Opera North’s soaring interpretation of Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers masterfully retells the story of best friends Nadir and Zurga, whose relationship is tested by their love of the same woman – the princess Léïla. Conducted by Matthew Kofi Waldren (Don Giovanni, La bohème) and directed by Matthew Eberhardt (Trouble in Tahiti, Street Scene), this new concert staging of Bizet’s compositional jewel notably features ‘perhaps the best-loved baritone/tenor duet in all of opera’, Au fond du temple saint.
Closing their season with a rousing programme featuring Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kije Suite, Dittesdorf’s Harp Concerto in A Major – including soloists from the Royal Northern College of Music – and rounding off the season with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ London Symphony (Symphony no. 2), the Manchester Beethoven Orchestra bring their stirring yet buoyant finale concert to The Stoller Hall on Sat 10 Jun.
Featuring three inventive performances each exploring the ways in which our ideas, experiences, and emotions can be expressed through modern live music, the RNCM hosts a spectacular birthday party to celebrate five decades as a ‘laboratory of innovation’ and hotbed of generational talent.
Beginning with a ‘uniquely curated’ programme from the RNCM String Orchestra and Chamber Choir which blends movement, improvisation, past and present to ‘break the traditional barriers of a concert hall’, the full-scale extravaganza also includes a triumphant performance from the RNCM Symphony Orchestra and an electrifying show from the Session Orchestra which ‘turns up the dial’ on a selection of iconic pop tunes from 1973, the RNCM’s inaugural year.
Gathering the city’s highly esteemed musical organisations and orchestral enthusiasts for two days of food, crafts, free entertainment and world-class live performances, Manchester Classical is the first dedicated classical music festival of its kind in the North West.
In an unprecedented collaboration between The Bridgewater Hall, the Hallé, BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata and Manchester Collective, Manchester Classical hosts a series of hour-long concerts spanning seminal symphonic masterpieces, captivating minimalist compositions, the songs of Victoria Wood and more, as well as a variety of free performances in the foyer.
Priced at just £10 per main show (£2 for under-16s) and with Day and Weekend passes available, Manchester Classical offers the ideal introduction to newcomers while promising an immensely satisfying weekend for lovers of the form.
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Wed 31 May 2023
Built upon a symbiotic foundation of Wagnerian leitmotifs and ‘superb, varied choral writing’, the Hallé deliver a jaw-dropping rendition of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, a transcendent adaptation of Cardinal Newman’s poem on the death of ‘a man like us…a sinner’ with an orchestral account of Angels, Demons and the Almighty, led by acclaimed conductor Sir Mark Elder.