Live: Mid-day concerts at The Bridgewater Hall – early 2020

The year opens with the Magnard Ensemble, a youthful wind quartet whose ongoing work includes Revolting Rhymes and Marvellous Music, based on the work of Roald Dahl. The group brings an altogether more sober, but nonetheless marvellous, programme to The Bridgewater Hall, blending original pieces with new arrangements and featuring the likes of Bach and Gershwin.

It’s not every day that you get to see the world premiere of a new work inspired by geology… This, however, is the concept behind Professor of Composition at the RNCM Adam Gorb’s new piece, entitled 1200 degrees centigrade is the temperature rock becomes molten – try saying that after a few swifties. Performed by the Aurora Percussion Duo alongside a tango, a piece featuring a conch shell and The Song of The Young Accordion Player (we’re sure ‘young’ doesn’t mean ‘unaccomplished’), the world premiere is the star in a highly unusual line-up.

This duo from Munich (again, what is it with the tongue twisters?) brings a programme of two halves to the Bridgewater Hall: the first part is full of war-like themes, featuring Wolf’s The Fire Rider and Finzi’s Channel Firing. The second… includes two distinctly fishier pieces: Schubert Die Forelle (The Trout) and Mahler’s Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt (Anthony of Padua’s Sermon on the Fish). Well, whatever floats your boat – with its nineteenth-century lied (or art song) repertoire this Mid-Day concert is sure to be something else.

For this Mid-Day Concert treat, we’ve got Fenella Humphreys on the violin, Jessica Burroughs on cello and the inimitable Martin Roscoe on piano. One of the UK’s most loved and respected pianists, Martin is also the Artistic Director of the Manchester Chamber Concerts Society – but we are reliably informed that there’s no rivalry here! The trio perform Haydn’s Piano Trio No.40 in F sharp minor and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No.2 in C minor.

The programme for the RNCM Opera Gala is a hush-hush secret for the time being – presumably because it’ll be chosen in collaboration with those selected to perform. The gala is, you see, somewhat high stakes: only the very best talent from an always exceptional group of students at the RNCM will perform, following the College’s opera auditions in November 2019. Just imagine the rivalry! The concert is, needless to say, not to be missed.

An all-French programme from award-winning concert pianist Olga Stezhko is the focus of this mid-day concert, featuring Trois Pièces by Poulenc, Images Book Two by Debussy and Miroirs No. 2, 4 and 5 by Ravel. Debussy and Ravel are among some of the most romantic composers going; alongside the largely self-taught Poulenc, they represent three composers who reached for new sonorities, all of which will be beautifully demonstrated here by Stezhko.