Manchester Camerata are set to bring two free performances of Brian Eno’s seminal album Ambient 1: Music for Airports to Manchester Airport this September.
Released in 1978, the album is widely regarded as one of the greatest ambient records of all time. The record will be brought to life by six Manchester Camerata musicians at Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 on Sun 20 Sep. A small, non-travelling public audience will also be able to attend via free tickets.
The performances form part of Manchester Camerata’s six-day Here We Are celebrations, which will see the renowned organisation’s internationally acclaimed musicians host free concerts and pop-up performances in unexpected public spaces across all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester.
Last year’s inaugural edition of Here We Are saw more than 4,000 people engage with Manchester Camerata’s musicians and with orchestral music. The festival was launched in line with Camerata’s mission to embed itself in the local community, help transform lives through the power of music, and redefine what a 21st-century orchestra should be.
Additional venues where unexpected performances and musical partnerships will take place this time around include Manchester Museum, Salford Crescent Hospital, Bolton Library, Stretford Carpark and St Andrews Care Home in Tameside.
Manchester Camerata will split its orchestra into smaller Wind and String chamber quartets to travel across the region to perform a wide range of co-curated setlists, in partnership with a diverse range of performers and organisations in each Greater Manchester borough.
Collaborations include a set with BBC Proms artist Carmel Smickersgill, storytelling with Goofus Puppet Company and performances with local Rap and RnB artists in Rochdale. Camerata musicians will also be performing on the dementia wing of Salford Crescent Hospital and celebrating the legacy of Wigan’s Northern Soul Scene at the Old Courts.
In addition to the free events, there will be a ticketed headline performance by Manchester Camerata with their Artistic Partner Scottish pianist Ethan Loch, on Fri 18 Sep in its home at The Monastery in Gorton.
The Expansion of Sound, with the acclaimed German conductor Christoph Alstaedt, will feature Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 3; Perotin – Viderunt Omnes; Charles Ives – The Unanswered Question; Terry Riley in C and a new piece written especially for Manchester Camerata by Alan Williams of Salford University inspired by the stories of the carers involved in the orchestra’s groundbreaking Music in Mind dementia music programme.
There will be two free open rehearsals for the Ethan Loch concert at the Monastery in Gorton on Tue 15 and Wed 16 Sep as part of Here We Are. At these, everyone is welcome to see the orchestra up close as it prepares for Friday’s headline concert.
Bob Riley, Chief Executive of Manchester Camerata, comments: “Of the thousands of people we reached last year, over 400 people told us in detailed feedback that music is vital to living well. The number 1 request was for immersive performances in unusual spaces. As a response, this year we are performing minimal masterworks in a car park in Stretford, we’re bringing a story to life in the ‘Living Worlds’ Gallery of Manchester Museum, as well as performing Brian Eno’s ambient masterpiece, ‘Music for Airports’, live from Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport. This is what Here We Are is all about. Engaging with many different voices from many different places, bringing us all together through the power of music.”
You can find more information on Manchester Camerata’s Here We Are 2026 here.
Featured image credit: Mark Allan
- Words:
- Bradley Lengden
- Published on:
- Fri 7 Aug 2026
