RNCM Autumn Season

Johnny James, Managing Editor

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RNCM Autumn Season

12 October-13 December 2025

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

Promotional image of Branford Marsalis playing saxophone
Branford Marsalis by Roger Thomas.
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This autumn, the RNCM unleashes a season of daring stories, fearless players and performances ranging from jazz and opera to improvised film scores and full-blown orchestral spectacle.

Highlights include a rare Manchester appearance by saxophone legend Branford Marsalis, who joins pianist Julian Joseph for a free-flowing jazz set at the College’s annual Saxophone Day. It’s another big moment as The RNCM Symphony Orchestra features in the Hallé’s John Adams Festival, charting America’s grit and imagination through music by Adams and his peers.

Opera and film bring a more surreal edge as part of the RNCM’s Legends and Lore strand of concerts celebrating storytelling through music: Murnau’s classic silent film Faust: A German Folk Legend with live organ, and Prokofiev’s brilliantly bizarre opera L’Amour des Trois Oranges.

From jazz icons to operatic satire, landmark cinema to compositional masters – this is a snapshot of the RNCM’s Autumn Season at its most varied and characterful.

Where to go near RNCM Autumn Season

Manchester
Restaurant
San Carlo Fumo

San Carlo Fumo is a sun trap on St Peter’s Square, serving up traditional Italian food at its best

Utility Gift Shop
Manchester
Shop
Utility Gift Shop

Utility Gift Shop on Oxford Road is all about products that are new, unique, quirky and cool. High street shopping at its best.

exterior of Contact Theatre building
Manchester
Theatre
Contact Theatre

Following a major redevelopment, the iconic venue on Oxford Road will be reopening its doors to welcome the public back into the building this autumn. 

The Salutation pub in Manchester
Manchester
Bar or Pub
The Salutation

This traditional boozer, surrounded by imposing flats and university buildings, was taken over by Trof (of the Deaf Institute fame). The Sally, as the regulars call it, hosts an energetic, arty crowd – and its recently expanded outside area is another good reason to visit.

What's on: Music

Encounter Festival in Preston
FestivalsLancashire
Encounter Festival in Preston

Preston comes alive with outdoor theatre, live music and family-friendly creativity in one of the North West’s most joyful festivals.

Free entry
CinemaManchester
Queer Up North

Queer Up North’s new digital archive sparks a city-wide programme including a return for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at HOME.

Matt Spratt.
MusicManchester
Madra Salach at New Century

This Irish folk six-piece released a stark and often beautiful debut EP that gives little hint of their “feral, snarling” live show.

From £21.00

Culture Guides

Food and Drink in the North

Step into autumn safe in the knowledge that you have the North's very best mid-September guide to food and drink in Manchester and beyond.

Matt Spratt.
Music

Aphex Twin-endorsed electronica, an eight-hour organ marathon and the most exciting band in Ireland's current folk revival all feature this month.

Woodhill by LUNG Theatre.
Theatre

Contemporary performance, verbatim theatre, dark comedy and a bold vision of Gaza - an eclectic mix for the start of autumn.

Exhibitions

Our latest exhibition picks include a lost recording of the Strangeways protest, Manchester's first sound art festival, and queer archives revisited.

Emily Lloyd-Saini as Grace in Space and Harrie Hayes as Lieutenant Strong in Horrible Science
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.