The RNCM unveils a spellbinding Spring season ft. Schubert, Britten, Dance:Music and more

Led by the BBC Philharmonic’s Zoe Beyers, the RNCM String Orchestra joins forces with renowned UK dance troupe Company Chameleon for the unmissable closing concert of the RNCM Strings Festival.

Part of Dance:Music, the RNCM’s series of dance-inspired musical performances curated to celebrate the timeless relationship between sound and movement, the exclusive live show opens with Stravinsky’s elegant yet visceral Concerto in D, ‘Basle’, before Britten’s irresistibly brooding Lachrymae.

In a fitting conclusion, dancers and musicians unite to perform Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite. A fresh and compelling rearrangement of Bizet’s magnum opus,  the kindred spirits of ballet and opera collide in a pulsating, theatrical finale.

Mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and pianist Julius Drake unveil a brand new interpretation of Schubert’s iconic Winterreise complemented by kabuki interludes, a form of traditional Japanese drama and dance.

Staged as part of the RNCM’s Inspirational Artists series, the one-off concert merges a timeless song cycle with evocative shamisen melodies and the exquisite movements of traditional Japanese dance-theatre to produce a spellbindingly unique musical experience.

Promising a memorable night of soaring harmonies, vibrant rhythm and unbridled spirit, the RNCM Gospel Choir returns by popular demand on Tue 11 Mar following last season’s sold-out show.

Led by acclaimed vocalist and RNCM Creative Multi-Specialist Wayne Ellington, the choir delivers another round of triumphant, infectious optimism with a programme guaranteed to energise and inspire music-lovers of all tastes.

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 twenty-eight singers move through the interior of the Grade II* listed heritage building in a poignant exploration of how music and movement informs our connection to historic sites.

RNCM Chamber Choir with Clod Ensemble is part of the RNCM’s Dance:Music series.

Rounding off the RNCM’s stunning spring season in style, Benjamin Britten’s starkly prescient opera Owen Wingrave brings new dimensions to Henry James’ captivating tale of courage, family, self-determination and the inescapable cycle of history.

Commissioned by the BBC and premiered as a television opera in 1971, Britten’s operatic adaptation recounts the fraught life of a young man who rails against his family’s staunch military traditions to become a pacifist, only to face exile, humiliation and a sudden, suspicious demise.