The Hallé Summer Season 2021 at The Bridgewater Hall

The Hallé returns to The Bridgewater Hall in glorious style this summer, with six concerts for audiences to experience – at last – in person. From concert hall favourites to lesser-known gems, there’s some brilliant music to look forward to.

Providing the perfect curtain-raiser to the Hallé Summer Season 2021, Sir Mark Elder conducts Stravinsky’s blazing ballet, Petrushka before Elgar’s Enigma Variations, whose 1899 premiere was conducted by the Hallé’s future Music Director, Hans Richter. The second concert sees young Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund return to the Hallé podium, conducting Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony alongside two singular works by Wagner and Osvaldo Golijov.

Something different for the third concert: The Best of the West End will take audiences on a journey through the world’s best-loved shows, guided by West End royalty Scott Davies and Jacqui Scott. Keeping the spirits high will be Schumann’s Spring Symphony, conducted by Welsh National Opera’s Music Director, Tomáš Hanus. In the same concert, Eldbjørg Hemsing makes her Hallé debut performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Time for another change of pace: Ryan Quigley’s transcription of Gershwin’s folk opera Porgy and Bess, inspired by a recording that featured Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. For the season finale, Sir Mark Elder leads the orchestra in a spectacular Russian programme of Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov and Stravinsky, closing, as the season began, with another of Stravinsky’s great ballets, The Firebird.

Each programme will be repeated on the same day, at 2.15pm and 7pm. Three of these programmes will also be available as streamed broadcasts, via thehalle.vhx.tv. You can either book tickets for individual concerts, or book a subscription for the season at a discounted price.

The Hallé and The Bridgewater Hall have introduced a number of new measures to make the concerts as safe and enjoyable as possible. These measures include socially distanced seating, the encouraged use of face masks, a reduced venue capacity and timed entry into the building.

Also streaming now from the Hallé, Sir Mark Elder conducts a staged performance of Stravinsky’s masterpiece The Soldier’s Tale, directed by Olivier Award-winner Annabel Arden. Now available to watch online.

Here are our picks