The Hallé Presents: Adams Conducts Harmonium at The Bridgewater Hall
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The Hallé Presents: Adams Conducts Harmonium
Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.
As part of the John Adams Festival, the legendary composer makes his much-anticipated return to the Hallé to conduct a selection of his best-loved works, including the break-through Harmonium.
Adams’s long association with the Hallé includes Slonimsky’s Earbox, co-commissioned for the opening of The Bridgewater Hall in 1996. Built from kaleidoscopic, computer-spun patterns, it captures both his wit and his belief that classical music should stay in dialogue with the modern world. It returns to open the festival on 30 October, alongside soprano Mary Bevan in his orchestration of Debussy’s Baudelaire songs and the This is Prophetic aria from Nixon in China, which dragged opera into the media age. At the heart of the programme is Harmonium, the 1981 choral symphony that marked Adams’s breakthrough. Minimalism suddenly had symphonic scale, expressive depth, and the ecstatic force of massed voices. Performed here by the Hallé Choir, its unfolding landscapes – waves of sound looming, swelling and fading as others rise – capture the essence of the composer’s style.
John Adams Slonimsky’s Earbox (14′)
Debussy/John Adams Le Livre de Baudelaire (22′)
John Adams ‘This is Prophetic!’ (Pat’s Aria from Nixon in China) (8′)
John Adams Harmonium (33′)
John Adams – Conductor
Mary Bevan – Soprano
Hallé Choir
