Returning for its 29th year, The Bridgewater Hall’s marquee International Concert Series gathers the world’s best orchestras, choirs and award-winning musicians for a soaring programme of live shows in the heart of the city, with a stunning array of performances spanning legendary classical masterworks, innovative new arrangements, fresh interpretations of beloved film soundtracks and more.
The world-leading choir Tenebrae presents an exhilarating new collaboration with the trailblazing Third Culture Collective, uniting contrasting musical traditions in a captivating debut at The Bridgewater Hall this October.
Under directors Nigel Short and Kavi Pau, the two groups produce a seamless sound from their differing styles; through Tenebrae’s complex harmony and notations and Third Culture’s raga-based intricacy and improvisation, the partnership creates a breathtakingly beautiful blend of western choir, Hindustani vocals and resonant instrumental textures.
On Tue 14 Oct, the renowned pianist and 1992 BBC Young Musician of the Year Freddy Kempf joins the Brno Philharmonic for a showcase of jazz-infused American classics – George Gershwin’s irresistible I Got Rhythm variations and Dave Brubeck’s Bach-inspired Brandenburg Gate.
Elsewhere, the Brno Philharmonic reinforces its status as one of the finest Czech orchestras with sparkling renditions of homeland masterworks, opening with Janáček’s Lachian Dances and concluding with Dvořák’s mesmerising Seventh Symphony – widely regarded as his best arrangement.
Hailed as ‘the country’s favourite violinist’ by The Times, instrumentalist, recording artist and director of Edinburgh International Festival Nicola Benedetti returns to Manchester on her first solo tour in more than a decade this November.
On this occasion, she brings a hand-picked international ensemble to perform a selection of personal favourites, including romantic classics, virtuoso party pieces and stirring Scottish folk music.
In February 2026, the English National Opera takes its first-ever bow at The Bridgewater Hall since moving to Manchester with two semi-staged performances of Mozart’s lustrous Cosi fan tutte.
While Ferrando and Guglielmo believe they’re settled happily in a lifetime of romantic bliss, their older brother Don Alfonso takes a more cynical view: ‘Cosi fan tutte’ – women are all the same. Keen to prove his theory and save his siblings from heartache, he sets about trying to prove them wrong in a comic masterpiece that celebrates love, loyalty and timeless human foibles.
On Fri 13 Mar, Marin Alsop and the Philharmonic Orchestra join forces with Alisa Weilerstein for a concert centred on the incredible first cello concerto by Grammy-winning composer, Gabriela Ortiz.
Opening to rapturous acclaim last year, Dzonot draws inspiration from the spellbinding cenotes of the Yucatan Peninsula, a network of subterranean deep-water wells that hold deep spiritual meaning for the Maya people of southern Mexico.
The concert begins with Mexico’s best-known arrangement, Arturo Márquez’s electrifying Danzón No.2, before voyaging across the Atlantic for Rimsky Korsakov’s vivid iteration of Arabian Nights, Scheherazade.
Returning after a memorable ICS debut in 2023, the National Symphony of Ukraine pay homage to their homeland and the profound friendship between our nations with a programme featuring native works and English classics alike, including Berezovsky’s Symphony in C, Delius’ ‘On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring’ and a pair of Beethoven masterpieces – the soaring ‘Emperor’ concerto and the triumphant Seventh Symphony, both showing soloist Maria Pukhlianko at the peak of her powers.
On Mon 13 Apr, renowned guitarist Thibaut Garcia joins the Galicia Symphony to bring a welcome dose of Spanish sunshine to the city.
Programme highlights include Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, widely regarded as the greatest guitar concerto ever written, as well as Turina’s Andalucian Sinfonia Sevillana, three vibrant dances from Manuel da Falla’s ballet The Three-Cornered Hat, and Ravel’s enchanting Mother Goose Suite and the iconic Boléro.
Known around the world as Britain’s greatest living pianist, Sir Stephen Hough returns to The Bridgewater Hall to close the International Concert Series with a programme of singularly dazzling works on Tue 12 May.
Beginning with Schubert’s titanic Klavierstücke, the programme charts a wondrous odyssey through 20th-century music with pieces from Shoenberg, Stockhausen and Beethoven, before Schumann’s vivid Carnaval suite and Hough’s own arrangements of songs from Mary Poppins provide a fittingly joyous conclusion to a showstopping concert schedule.
The Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley St, Manchester, M2 3WS
www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk/series/international-concert-series
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Sat 27 Jun 2020
On Mon 22 Sep, the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra transports audiences on a thrillingly eclectic journey across 850 years of music at The Bridgewater Hall.
Led by esteemed director Hugo Ticciati alongside percussionist Evelyn Glynnie, the concert offers an all-embracing account of musical evolution from the 12th century to the modern age, beginning with Hildegard of Bingen’s shimmering, spiritual Vos flores rosarum, before embarking on a genre-hopping path across history with Arvo Pärt’s propulsive Fratres, Bryce Dessner’s Aheym – Yiddish for ‘homeward’, Henry Purcell’s What Power Art Thou? And even Nirvana’s Lithium, concluding with the pulsating rhythms of Philip Glass’ Third Symphony.
Book tickets below.