Revolution Retrospective at The Stoller Hall

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor

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Revolution Retrospective

The Stoller Hall, Manchester
10 October 2017

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

Actor Timothy West reads poetry at Stoller Hall during Manchester Literature Festival.
Actor Timothy West at Manchester Literature Festival.
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Here on the Literature Desk, we’re partial to a bit of cross-artform shenanigans, so imagine our delight when the missive alerting our attention to this words and music one-off was wafted beneath our noses.

Taking place during Manchester Literature Festival and part of the Stoller Hall’s Russian October, this special event pitches poetry by composers from the Motherland against pieces by composers from the Motherland, the latter including the likes of  Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, as well as Shostakovich and his close friend Benjamin Britten (er, he was from Suffolk, but hey).

Actor Timothy West, star of many an acclaimed production of stage and screen, will be reading work by Aleksandr Blok, including extracts of his long poem ‘The Twelve’ from 1918. Other distinguished Russian writers will feature – think along the lines of Aleksandr Pushkin, Alexei Koltsov and Aleksey Tolstoy, all of whom inspired the musical fellas. Their compositions will be performed as both ensemble and solo works by RNCM Songsters, a collective of emerging vocal performers coached by mezzo-soprano Alice Coote. Should be an interesting mash-up, comrades.

Where to go near Revolution Retrospective at The Stoller Hall

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