The Bridgewater Hall. Photo: Joel Chester Fildes.

Classical Music in Manchester and the North

Creative Tourist

Looking ahead to the Autumn season, Manchester’s classical music calendar is filled to the brim with exciting concerts. Below, we select our top season highlights from the city’s major ensembles, orchestras and institutions.

This includes the BBC Philharmonic 2019/20 Concert Season. Performing over 100 concerts a year for broadcast on BBC Radio 3, the orchestra is a tour de force across Manchester and its neighbouring cities, and their new season ranges from concert-hall rarities to established classics.

Similarly, we explore the The Hallé 2019-20 Season at The Stoller Hall. Ranking amongst the world’s top symphonic ensembles, the Hallé will perform a brilliant range of symphonies, concertos, vocal works, operas and more at The Bridgewater Hall.

As part of The Stoller Hall’s own 2019-20 season, we write about Hannah James, a key figure in the recent revival of English percussive dance. Together with the JigDoll Ensemble, James will present a spellbinding song and dance experience at The Stoller Hall this October.

We also select our top five highlights from the RNCM Autumn Season, whose theme, this year, is Migration. We particularly look forward to Poulenc’s dazzling opera, Dialogues des Carmélites, as well as Sirocco, a highly-celebrated concert by the electrifying Manchester Collective, who are The Stoller Hall’s ‘Ensemble in Residence’.

And speaking of electrifying ensembles, Psappha are the North of England’s only stand-alone, professional contemporary classical music ensemble, and they have some particularly exciting concerts on the near horizon. Taking place at St Michael’s, Lyric Suite will feature cutting edge contemporary works as well as radical works from the 20th Century’s leading visionaries.

Read about all of this and more in the guide below, where you’ll find our selection of the best upcoming classical music concerts in the north.

Here are our picks