This October, the RNCM explores uncharted frontiers in musical innovation with a captivating programme of live performances featuring cutting-edge keyboard arrangements, subconscious expeditions and even live science experiment accompaniments, as the north’s foremost music college continues to lead the way in sonic experimentation and shatter the upper limits of musical possibility.
Part of the RNCM’s new Inspirational Artists series, Fever Dreams demonstrates the inimitable power of string orchestra as Manchester Collective breathe new life into beloved classics while charting a bold course into the future with trailblazing sonic panoramas from ‘cyborg pianist’ Zubin Kanga.
Alongside Tchaikovsky’s timeless technicolour romance, Serenade for Strings, infused with a unique Manchester Collective twist, the programme features Bacewicz’s frenetic, muscular Concerto for String Orchestra. With each work inspired by its composer’s heritage, the orchestra joins forces with Zubin to ask what happens when a retreat into history turns violent, producing an ‘auditory hallucination’ in which the pianist reimagines the construction of the instrument itself with strange, spectral samples of hand saws and sandpaper drills.
On Wed 23 Oct, the groundbreaking Kantos Chamber Choir bring their unique orchestral style to the RNCM with a transcendent musical interpretation of our kaleidoscopic dream dimensions.
Billed as a quest to discover the unique soundscapes of sleep, the choir invites audiences on a journey through improvisation, poetry and choral music from the likes of Eric Whitacre, Laura Mvula and Ralph Vaughan Williams, alongside a new commission by Kristina Arakelyan.
On this occasion, the RNCM Research Department and the University of Manchester join proceedings with a short demonstration of their analytical processes before conducting a live study of how our brains respond to live music, capturing cerebral data in real time and projecting it behind the choir.
RNCM, 124 Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9RD
www.rncm.ac.uk
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Fri 6 Sep 2024
Centred around six grand pianos, this acoustically ferocious and visually breathtaking free afternoon concert promises the perfect escape from the lunchtime rush, as the RNCM’s staff and student pianists deliver an unforgettable programme of arrangements for music-lovers of all tastes.
Commencing with Nikki Yeoh’s vibrant, abstract musical maelstrom Six as 1, the concert celebrates piano as a boundless artistic form, with Steve Reich’s Six Pianos showcasing the composer’s innovative approach to sonic patterns, textures and layering, before the ensemble conclude their performance with a spellbinding rendition of Fitkin’s Totti – named in honour of Roma’s favourite footballing son – a heady blend of movement and repetition which creates a captivating embodiment of Francesco’s deftness and agility.