Johnny James

Jazz titan Shabaka Hutchings brings his group Sons of Kemet to Manchester’s Band on the Wall this October, in support their Mercury Prize-nominated new album ‘Your Queen is a Reptile’.

Signed to Manchester’s Gondwana records, Portico Quartet make deeply entrancing music that combines jazz, electronic and ambient styles. Catch them at Belgrave Music Hall in Leeds on the 12 October. From £15.75

Sir Mark Elder brings the 2018–19 Opus One Series to a triumphant close with Berlioz’ best-known work, ‘Symphonie fantastique’. Also in the programme is the brilliantly virtuosic overture to Smetana’s ‘The Bartered Bride’, as well as Dvorák’s beautiful ‘Violin Concerto’.

The Hallé is joined by conductor Jamie Phillips for Mozart’s ‘Paris’ Symphony, John Casken’s ‘Madonna of Silence’, and the centrepiece of the evening, Prokofiev’s ‘Fifth Symphony’.

Part opera, part oratorio, Berlioz’ ‘The Damnation of Faust’ is an epic retelling of the Faust story. Celebrated for its orchestral brilliance, this tempestuous work will be performed by the Hallé for the first time in seventy years.

This concert features three highly contrasting masterpieces: ‘The Rite of Spring’ by Igor Stravinsky, ‘Verklärte Nacht’ by Arnold Schoenberg, and ‘Parade’ by Erik Satie, each of which represents a significant landmark in our cultural history.

At the top of a packed season, we’re taking a closer look at six Hallé concerts that lean toward the more contemporary, adventurous end of things.

‘The Glagolitic Mass’ by Leoš Janáček is one of the twentieth century’s finest choral works. Conducted by Edward Gardner and played alongside ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ by Richard Strauss’, this will be a wonderful concert.

As the summer sun recedes, Lightpool Festival prepares to take over, lighting up October’s half-term with an array of live performances, unique collaborations, and light-based art installations. Its launch event, ‘Light Odyssey’, features a special collaboration with the BBC Philharmonic.

PRiSM presents ‘The Music of the Primes’, a truly illuminating event from which you will gain an insight into the fascinating and often surprising links between music and maths. Don’t fear if it’s been a while since you’ve practiced your equations – you don’t need to be Pythagoras to take something interesting away from the evening!

Part of Get It Loud In Libraries, an exciting project which puts on music events in beautiful libraries across the UK, Eleanor Friedberger’s gig at Lancaster Library is definitely one for the diary!