Read our latest highlights from the live classical music offer in Manchester and the North, taking in a number of the region’s most cherished ensembles and venues.
Want more music? Head to our general Music guide for our latest scoop on the North’s best gigs and festivals.
Explore the uplands near Bradford with a sound walk from opera north featuring newly commissions sonic worlds as well as the music of Bradford’s compositional son Frederick Delius.
Home to the Hallé and the BBC Philharmonic orchestras, the Bridgewater Hall attracts some of the biggest names in classical music. Purpose-built to the tune of £42m, the hall was designed around its acoustic needs; it floats on 280 earthquake-proof isolations springs that mute all external noise, perfect for shielding around 250 performances a year from the trams outside.
The Royal Northern College of Music is both a music venue and an academic institution training up some of the country’s finest music students.
Still Manchester’s newest kid on the concert hall block, The Stoller Hall opened its doors in April 2017 to further enhance the city’s already enviable live music provision.
The 1930s Art Deco Philharmonic Hall, home to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, gives no hint of the sensuous curves of the auditorium inside from its hard exterior.
Hallé St Peter’s is a deconsecrated Grade-II listed church, once a theatre prop store, then a knitting factory, before being restored and becoming home to the Hallé orchestra.
Manchester’s Albert Hall is an astounding Wesleyan Chapel turned live music venue, regularly hosting classical concerts.
Manchester Cathedral dates back to at least the 1400s and has been rebuilt many times. In current, striking form, it’s still a place of worship, but also host to regular gigs and events.
“You stumble down a garden path past city fringes and looming industrial structures. Are you lost? No! You’ve only just arrived”.
From £20
Back for 2025, Trafford’s flagship arts festival returns to Waterside for six days of experiential performance and cultural delight.
The Hallé invites audiences to a year of classical masterpieces, world premieres and appearances by some electrifying artists and composers.
From £17
Open-air club Progress scales up to 5000 capacity and launches a spring/summer season of forward-thinking electronic music and grassroots culture.
From £0.00
Manchester Psych Fest, the UK’s trailblazing psychedelic music and arts festival has announced a massive bill for its 2025 edition.
From £44.80
A quietly radical force in contemporary club culture, John Talabot returns to The White Hotel for one of his signature all-night sessions.
From £13.00
BC Camplight has spun deportation, addiction and breakdown into a catalogue of tragicomic brilliance – and his solo show lays it all bare.
From £14.00
Get priority booking on the best seats, special discounts, invitations to exclusive events and much more. Are you in?
From £45.00
One of the most arresting offerings at MIF25 – a haunting, meditative journey through abstraction, perception and performance.
From £10.00
Hallé Youth Training Choir is made up of young singers aged 13-15. In this uplifting event, they will perform a delightful selection of folk, traditional and spiritual songs.
Free entry
The Hallé Ancoats Community Choir performs uplifting music, from traditional songs to folk tunes, gospel pieces and original compositions.
Free entry
Explore art in the moorlands, soundscapes through the glen and appreciate how the city has become totally transformed when you get outside with Bradford 2025.
Free entry
Presenting the best walking tours in Manchester for history buffs, culture enthusiasts, and those looking to scratch beneath the surface of the city.
Take me there
From the team behind the Kazimier, the Invisible Wind Factory is Liverpool’s most eclectic live music venue and nightclub.
District Liverpool is a multi-purpose venue in the Baltic Quarter, hosting gigs, club nights, films, cabaret, festivals and much more.
Florence Mine has been transformed into a centre for cultural activity, offering workshops, gallery space, cinema and music venue.
One of a few remaining Gothic concert halls in the United Kingdom. It has tiered seating for 370 and is housed in the Peel Building which stands at the front of the Peel Park Campus.
It’s a landmark year for Trof NQ. In the years since it first opened, the Northern Quarter has developed around it to become one of the city’s most prominent areas.
A 20-acre estate featuring two castles and a farm shop, set in Flintshire in Wales. Home to The Good Life Experience each September.
Long-established Manchester bar and nightclub, Joshua Brooks is just off student hotspot Oxford Road. Open until 4am on the weekends with regular DJ-led club nights.
Bates Mill Photographic Studio is a creative space in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Summer signals theatre festivals, world premieres and open-air spectacle - from MIF25 to comedy, outdoor circus and beyond, here’s what we’re looking forward to.
From environmental to experimental, our poetry and prose picks from around the North are focused on the unusual and the fun.
Captivating, urgent and intimate - we bring you our top exhibition picks, with even more art festivals, artist-led shows and new venues.
Shape-shifting bands, scorched-earth techno, and off-grid festivals. Our latest music picks catch the live scene at its most urgent, inventive and alive.
Go forth with wild abandon to dance the pavements, dabble with the paint and down the pints in this month's tours and activities guide.
This month's guide is truly eclectic - from free family festivals, to food events, circus school and more!
Outdoor cinema announcements, a major retrospective at HOME, and the best of indie cinema.
