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Manchester Collective: Hidden Mechanisms at the RNCM

Johnny James, Managing Editor

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Manchester Collective: Hidden Mechanisms

Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Manchester
7 February 2025

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

From £12.50
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Manchester Collective
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Exploring some of the best contemporary chamber music, Manchester Collective’s new Hidden Mechanism show comes to the RNCM this February.

Intimate, personal and intricate. Chamber music has always invited a close-knit chemistry, in which you can hear every bow and breath. The quiet, spectral strings of Oliver Leith’s Ivor nominated The Big House exemplifies this, exploring textures and timbres in a way that’s uncanny yet alluring. If chamber performances originally took place in homes, then the perfect setting for this piece would be a derelict mansion.

A brand new piece comes courtesy of Héloïse Werner, a singer and composer who’s one of the most exciting voices on the contemporary British scene. Written for the Collective, Hidden Mechanisms peers into a music box and examines the tiny mechanical parts that power it, each inspiring a different movement. Expect a fun approach to vocals and a bunch of theatrical flair.

But it’s not all delicate sounds in this concert. Cranking up the volume is Olli Mustonen’s Piano Quintet. The piece has a coiled intensity, full of tension, ready to strike with musical jumpscares, scurrying energy and a hint of mischief.

Lean in, make yourself at home and listen closer as Manchester Collective show you what contemporary chamber music is all about.

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