Download RNCM Live: Autumn 2014 - Royal Northern College of Music

COMING
SOON...
2
THE BRAND
NEW RNCM
CONCERT
HALL
STATE-OFTHE-ART
FACILITIES
FOR THE 21ST
CENTURY
WORLD-CLASS
MUSIC IN
THE HEART OF
MANCHESTER
A VIBRANT
SPACE
FOR A
THRIVING
CITY
DOORS OPEN
6 NOVEMBER
COME
AND
JOIN
US!
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Autumn 2014 is an
historic time for the
RNCM as we open the
doors to a brand new
Concert Hall for the first
time in over 40 years.
For four decades thousands of talented students and professional musicians
have graced the stage of this special venue and now, as the transformation
nears completion, our new season is set to continue this tradition with a
quality programme full of diversity.
Officially opening on Thursday 6 November with a celebratory concert by
world-renowned baritone Sir Thomas Allen, the RNCM Concert Hall hosts an
array of unique events. Our new season takes in international competitions
and exciting music from across the breadth of musical genres. From a
series marking the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth to specialist
masterclasses, classical favourites, contemporary music, jazz, folk and pop;
our programme explores music that intrigues and delights in equal measure.
Complementing the RNCM’s Theatre, Studio, and Carole Nash Recital Room,
the Concert Hall will enhance Manchester’s thriving cultural scene, so please
do take a look through this brochure and join us as we embark on a new phase
in our history.
We look forward to welcoming you.
Dr Michelle Castelletti – Artistic Director
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The redevelopment of the RNCM
Concert Hall has been an incredible
12 month process that incorporated
new flooring and seating, a balcony,
state-of-the-art technical facilities, and
improved backstage areas.
Take Your Seat
There are still many ways that you
can get involved and make a lasting
impression on what promises to be
one of Manchester’s most vibrant
performance venues.
Lower Hall £600
(or 12 monthly payments of £50)
Naming a seat in a venue you enjoy can be the
perfect way to make a personal contribution.
You can Take Your Seat in our transformed
Concert Hall for yourself, as a gift, to celebrate
a special occasion, or in memory of a loved one
Seats are available at the following prices*:
Upper Hall £450
(or 12 monthly payments of £37.50)
Balcony £300
(or 12 monthly payments of £25)
To Take Your Seat please contact
the Development team on 0161 907 5394 or
email [email protected]. Alternatively,
visit www.rncm.ac.uk/yourrncm/nameaseat
for more information.
*Take Your Seat before Friday 31 October and
receive an invitation to see our spectacular new
Concert Hall at a behind-the-scenes special
event ahead of our opening concert with
Sir Thomas Allen on Thursday 6 November.
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James Rhodes
Friday 29 August
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
The Fairey Band and the
Youth Brass Band of Upper
Austria
with Steven Mead
The Youth Brass Band of Upper Austria team
up with one of the UK’s finest brass bands in
a concert featuring euphonium virtuoso Steven
Mead and culminating in a special massed
finale with up to 85 musicians including players
from local youth brass bands.
Tickets £8
Concessions available
Promoted by Steven Mead
Wednesday 10 September
Doors 7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Gruff Rhys
Through nine albums with Super Furry Animals,
two with Neon Neon and a handful of solo LPs,
Gruff Rhys has distinctively documented the lives
of others. His new album American Interior is an
interconnected collection of songs documenting
the true story of a Welsh explorer’s fantastical
journey across the heart of the unmapped
American continent in the late 18th century.
Gruff Rhys
Tickets £15
No concessions
Promoted by Now Wave
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Saturday 20 September
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
James Rhodes
Music to include:
Franz Schubert Piano Sonata in A major D 664
Frédéric Chopin Ballade No 3 Op 47;
Fantasie in F minor Op 49; Scherzo No 2 Op 31
Felix Blumenfeld Étude pour la main gauche
seule Op 36
Tickets £18
Concessions available
Promoted by Glynis Henderson Productions Ltd
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Claire Martin
with the Montpellier Cello Quartet
Claire Martin
Sunday 21 September
Claire Martin brings her wealth of experience
as a jazz vocalist into a brand new arena with
the Brighton-based Montpellier Cello Quartet.
This exciting new venture combines her love of
The Great American Songbook and popular
classics with brand new arrangements especially
commissioned for this project by internationally
renowned composers including Sir Richard
Rodney Bennett, Mark-Anthony Turnage and
Django Bates.
Thursday 25 September
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Madame X
A New Opera by Tim Benjamin
Masetto and Zerlina – a young immigrant
couple – are impoverished, cold and starving.
Masetto, a brilliant portrait artist, is being
ripped off by his unscrupulous agent, and
circling art collectors will not take ‘no’ for an
answer. Shivering in a shabby loft, struggling to
make ends meet and exploited by the wealthy
and powerful collectors Lady Brannoch and Mr
Wilmore, Masetto lives for his art, protected
only by his muse and love, Zerlina. Their plight
becomes increasingly perilous, desperate and
deadly, until at last: revenge.
Saturday 27 September
Doors 7pm RNCM Theatre
Ian Hunter
and The Rant Band
plus special guests Federal Charm
As leader of 70s British rock legends Mott the
Hoople and a hugely influential solo artist, Ian
Hunter is widely revered as one of rock ‘n’ roll’s
most compelling performers, as well as one of
its most articulate songwriters.
Tickets £25
No concessions
Promoted by The Gig Cartel
Madame X
Tickets £20
Concessions available
Promoted by Senbla
Madame X is a new opera by Tim Benjamin,
inspired by the Italian operas of Handel and by
Jacobean revenge drama. This dark, passionate
and obsessive tale is peppered with black
humour and explores the potent combination of
money and power in the world of art.
For more information see
madame-x.co.uk/trailer
Tickets £12
Concessions available
Supported by Arts Council England
Promoted by RNCM
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Monday 29 September
Thursday 2 – Saturday 4 October
1.15pm Carole Nash Recital Room
7.30pm RNCM Studio Theatre
Monday Recital Series
Opera Seria
Jean-Michel Damase Berceuse Op 19
Robert Schumann Adagio and Allegro Op 70
Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci
Franz Schubert Ganymed
Robert Schumann Nachtlied
Hugo Wolf Der Jäger; Ganymed
Timothy Langston tenor
James Hendry piano
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Monday 29 September
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Kathryn Stott
and Martin Roscoe
Local company Opera Seria present an
explosive double-bill. Jealousy and betrayal are
the central themes in these two compelling and
dramatic short operas.
Tickets £16
Concessions available
Promoted by Opera Seria
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
Eleanor Hey horn
Thomas Hicks piano
Manchester Chamber Concerts
Society
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sonata in
D major K 448
Sergei Rachmaninov Suite No 2 Op 17
Claude Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi
d’un faune
Percy Grainger Fantasy on Gershwin’s Porgy
and Bess
Tickets £25 £12.50
Concessions available
www.chamberconcerts.org
Promoted by MCCS
+
6.30pm RNCM Theatre
Pre-concert talk: The artists discuss their musical lives
Free admission to ticket holders
Thursday 2 October
1.15pm RNCM Theatre
RNCM String Orchestra
Henry Purcell Fantasias No 11 in G major
Z 742 and No 6 in F major Z 737
Alessandro Marcello Oboe Concerto in
D minor
Antonio Vivaldi Concerto for four violins in
B minor Op 3 No 10
Levon Chilingirian director
Helen Clinton oboe
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
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Friday 3 October
5.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Workshop with Sir Peter
Maxwell Davies
RNCM students perform one of the iconic Naxos
Quartets in an open workshop with composer
and Master of the Queen’s Music, Sir Peter
Maxwell Davies.
You can also join Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for
a special 80th birthday concert on Saturday 4
October performed by Manchester’s premier
new music group, Psappha. Please visit www.
psappha.com/diary for full details.
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers
Sunday 5 October Tuesday 7 October
Çiğdem Aslan
Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers
Making Tracks
Thundering rhythms on huge taiko drums,
mysterious masked choreography with inventive
lighting, muscular synchronisation timed to
perfection, post-apocalyptic martial imagery
and infectious belly laugh humour – all in a
spellbinding display of sheer athleticism. Feel
the energy and experience the power of this
unique performance.
7.30pm RNCM Studio Theatre
Çiğdem Aslan (pronounced ‘Cheedem’) is
a rising star in the revival of rebetiko, the
bitter-sweet, devil-may-care songs of an exiled
underclass, sung in hash dens and café aman
music houses of Athens, Piraeus and Istanbul of
the turbulent 1920s. A culture shared by Greeks
and Turks, developed with musical roots on both
sides of the Aegean, rebetiko was famously
outlawed in both countries as a music of the
underground, the alternative, free-thinking and
freedom-loving people; just as timely then as it
is now.
Tickets £14
Concessions available
www.makingtrackslive.org.uk
Promoted by RNCM
Monday 6 October
1.15pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Monday Recital Series
Benjamin Britten A Charm of Lullabies
Michael Head A Green Cornfield
Jessica Eccleston mezzo-soprano
Dominic Degavino piano
Manuel de Falla (arr K Ragossnig) Suite
populaire espagnole
Inés Mota cello
James Girling guitar
8pm RNCM Theatre
As the most successful touring taiko drum group
on this continent, Mugenkyo have developed
a spectacular passionate style with music
for the soul, fusing the traditional spirit with
a contemporary look and sound, creating a
modern stage performance that has captivated
audiences everywhere.
Tickets £20
Concessions available
www.taiko.co.uk
Promoted by RNCM
Thursday 9 October
1.15pm RNCM Theatre
RNCM Wind Ensemble
Richard Strauss Serenade Op 7*
Adam Gorb Symphony No 1 in C major
Mark Heron, Thiago Santos* conductors
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
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Thursday 9 October
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Brand New Orchestra
An opportunity to hear new works for symphony
orchestra by RNCM composition students in this
workshop performance.
Piero Lombardi Iglesias, Steffan Morris,
Daniel Parkinson conductors
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
+
Clint Mansell
6.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Spotlight: The NZ/UK Connection – Electroacoustic
music for clarinet
Free admission, no ticket required
Sunday 12, Tuesday 14 and Thursday 16
October
The Chamber Music
of Russia
Moscow Rachmaninov Trio
and Yair Kless
Celebrating the UK-Russia Year of Culture in
2014, we are delighted to host some of the finest
chamber musicians from Russia to perform three
concerts featuring works by the most prominent
Russian composers from the 19th and 20th
centuries, with two programmes devoted entirely
to the music of Rachmaninov and Shostakovich.
The Moscow Rachmaninov Trio come together
with the RNCM International Chair in Violin,
Yair Kless, to perform Shostakovich’s Violin
Sonata in the final concert of this gloriously rich
and diverse series of chamber music.
Sunday 12 October
6pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Mikhail Glinka Trio Pathétique in D minor
Anton Arensky Piano Trio No 2 in F minor
Op 73
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A minor
Op 50
Tuesday 14 October
7.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Friday 10 October
Doors 7pm RNCM Theatre
Clint Mansell
English musician Clint Mansell is an acclaimed
performer and celebrated composer who has
worked extensively in film scoring. Clint is a
long-time collaborator with ground-breaking
director Darren Aronofsky, for whom he has
scored each of his major films, including Black
Swan, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The
Wrestler, and Pi.
This live show includes music from his most
loved scores, performed by Clint and a
remarkable group of musicians. In addition
there are bespoke visual projections created by
independent film-makers and artists.
Tickets £25
No concessions
Promoted by DHP and Hey! Manchester
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Sergei Rachmaninov Trio élégiaque No 1
in G minor Op post
Sergei Rachmaninov Cello Sonata in G minor
Op 19
Sergei Rachmaninov Trio élégiaque No 2
in D minor Op 9
Thursday 16 October
7.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Dmitri Shostakovich Piano Trio No 1
in C minor Op 8
Dmitri Shostakovich Violin Sonata Op 134*
Dmitri Shostakovich Piano Trio No 2
in E minor Op 67
Mikhail Tsinman violin
Natalia Savinova cello
Victor Yampolsky piano
Yair Kless* violin
Individual concerts £12
Series ticket £30
Concessions available (individual tickets only)
Supported by Russian Ministry of Culture
Promoted by RNCM
Monday 13 October
Thursday 16 October
Monday Recital Series
RNCM Brass Ensemble
Frédéric Chopin Berceuse Op 57
Maurice Ravel Sonatine
Under the Spell of Spain
1.15pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Iwan Owen piano
Robert Schumann Three Romances Op 94
Qiran Chen clarinet
Xingua Xu piano
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Monday 13, Tuesday 14, Thursday 16,
Friday 17 and Saturday 18 October
1.15pm RNCM Theatre
Willem van Otterloo Serenade for brass and
percussion
Gaspar Sanz (arr D Powell) Los Canarios
Jim Rattigan Juancar
Ernesto Lecuona (arr S Malcolm) Malaguena
John Miller, Adam Kornas conductors
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Saturday 18 October
7.30pm RNCM Studio Theatre
12.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Wednesday 15 October
Junior RNCM Formal
Concert
8.45pm RNCM Studio Theatre
Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop is a rock horror musical about a
hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant
that feeds on human blood and flesh.
Tickets £10 opening night only, £13 all other performances
No concessions
www.smaos.org.uk
Promoted by South Manchester AOS
Wednesday 15 October
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Ádám György
Franz Liszt Piano Sonata in B minor S178;
La Campanella S141; Hungarian Rhapsody No
2 S244/2
Frédéric Chopin Ballade in G minor Op 23
Giuseppe Verdi−Franz Liszt Rigoletto S434
Paraphrase
Neil Cowley Trio
Tickets £22.50
Concessions available
Promoted by AGP Agency Inc. New York
A varied and exciting programme featuring
students of the Junior RNCM.
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Saturday 18 October
8pm RNCM Theatre
Neil Cowley Trio
In 2006, the Neil Cowley Trio burst onto the
scene with a début that turned the concept
of the piano trio on its head. Fizzing with
energy, their rip-roaring riffs and hook laden
tunes sat side by side, heart shattering musical
whisperings, while their dynamic shows marked
them as one of Britain’s most exciting live bands.
Tonight, they present new material from their
fifth studio album, Touch and Flee. Described by
Cowley, as ‘our concert hall record’, expansive,
elegant and exquisitely graceful movements
meet with dark haunting passages and gentle
surprise, casting a spotlight on the everincreasing brilliance of Cowley as a composer.
Performing with long-time compatriots Evan
Jenkins on drums and Rex Horan on bass,
expect a showing of Cowley classics and a set
that demands attention and, as always, delivers
the most blissful of rides.
Tickets £18 £15
Concessions available
www.neilcowleytrio.com
Promoted by RNCM
11
4Square
Monday 20 October
1.15pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Monday Recital Series
Maurice Ravel Cinq mélodies populaires
grecques
Rachel Maby mezzo-soprano
Philip Sharp piano
Madeleine Dring Three Piece Suite
Isabelle Orford oboe
Hayley Parkes piano
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Tuesday 21 October
7.30pm RNCM Studio Theatre
Tuesday 21 October
4Square
RNCM Outreach Children’s
Opera Project
4Square – described as Manchester’s ‘ferocious
folk foursome’ – play their music with finesse,
fire and maturity. The sight and sound of
simultaneous fiddle and clog dancing and
virtuosic mandolin stirs the senses and quickens
the pulse, galvanized by an engine room of
drive and percussion. By contrast, the listener is
then softened by their mellow, melancholic threepart harmony singing. The band features RNCM
alumnus Jim Molyneux (piano/accordion/
vocals), Nicola Lyons (fiddle/vocals/clog
dancing), Michael Giverin (mandolin/guitar)
and Dan Day (percussion/vocals).
2pm and 7pm RNCM Theatre
Before the Storm
Kate Pearson composer
Primary Schools from across the North West
RNCM Students
A beautiful undiscovered island, full of magical
plants, secret places and strange creatures, lies
in the middle of a vast ocean – far away from
the bustle of modern life. For many years, a tribe
of strange people, the Ariels, have lived there
in peace and harmony, but all changes when
visitors start to arrive – firstly, Sycorax and later,
Prospero. Are they friends or enemies, and what
will life be like on the island now?
Based on The Tempest, this year’s Children’s
Opera Project considers the pre-story to
Shakespeare’s play, focusing on the power
struggles and quest for freedom on this idyllic
island.
Free admission by ticket only
Promoted by RNCM
Tickets £12
Concessions available
www.4squaremusic.co.uk
Promoted by RNCM Tuesday 21 October
7pm Carole Nash Recital Room
The Stars of St Petersburg
Showcase
Artists to include:
Evelina Petrova accordion, voice
In-Temporalis Duet
Vladimir Volkov Trio
Furthering our links with Manchester’s twin city,
the RNCM welcomes some of St Petersburg’s
finest alternative musicians to perform in
tonight’s showcase, including the pianopercussion duo ‘In-Temporalis’ featuring Cuban
percussionist Yoel Gonzalez, and a trumpet,
double bass, piano jazz trio led by Vladimir
Volkov.
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
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The trial
Philip Glass’
Thursday 23 October
1.15pm RNCM Theatre
RNCM Concert Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein Candide Overture*
Leonard Bernstein West Side Story: Symphonic
Dances
Clark Rundell, Jan Wierzba* conductors
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Thursday 23 October
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Chetham’s Symphony
Orchestra
Wednesday 22 October
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
The Trial
Music Theatre Wales
Music by Philip Glass
Libretto by Christopher Hampton
Michael Rafferty conductor
Michael McCarthy director
The meeting of two extraordinary minds – Philip
Glass and Franz Kafka. Both are masters of their
craft. Each has his own instantly recognisable
style. Together, they are the perfect match.
Kafka’s nightmarish tale of a man arrested and
prosecuted for an unknown crime by a relentless
and inaccessible authority has lost none of its
chilling potency down the years. Now, Philip
Glass brings his signature music and dramatic
force to this literary classic. Working with
Christopher Hampton as librettist, this new
opera, coming to Manchester direct from the
Royal Opera House, will wring every nuance
of tension and paranoia from the story as Josef
K seeks to confront the system that is set on
destroying him.
Leonard Bernstein On the Waterfront:
Symphonic Suite
Sergei Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 2
in G minor Op 63
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6
in B minor Op 74 ‘Pathetique’
Tickets £18 £14
Concessions available
www.chethams.com
Sponsored by Dewhurst Torevell
Promoted by Chetham’s School of Music
Thursday 23 October
7.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
The Helen Porthouse
Paganini Prize
RNCM violinists and viola players compete for
this prestigious annual prize, which tonight is
adjudicated by violinist and RNCM alumna
Sarah Brandwood-Spencer.
Tickets £8
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
And it’s not all darkness and despair. Glass and
Kafka share an infectious sense of humour and
the ability to delight in the absurd.
Tickets £15
Concessions available
www.musictheatrewales.org.uk
Promoted by RNCM
+
6.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Pre-concert talk: Michael McCarthy introduces The Trial
Free admission, no ticket required
13
Saturday 25 – Sunday 26 October
Rawsthorne Trust Weekend
The Rawsthorne Trust, set up to promote the
music of the Lancashire-born composer Alan
Rawsthorne, brings its celebratory weekend of
performances to the RNCM, featuring works by
Rawsthorne himself, as well as marking special
birthdays of composers Gerard Schurmann,
Peter Dickinson, Anthony Gilbert and John
McCabe. The stage, film and television actress
Eleanor Bron joins a distinguished line up of
performers to narrate Rawsthorne’s take on
T S Eliot’s Book of Practical Cats on Sunday
morning.
For full details, please visit www.rncm.ac.uk/rawsthorne
HIGHLIGHTS
Saturday 25 October
7.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Alan Rawsthorne String Quartet No 3;
Quartet for clarinet and strings
William Alwyn Rhapsody for piano quartet
Patric Standford Quintet for recorder and
strings (world première)
John McCabe Snowfall in Winter for piano
(Study No 9)
Anthony Gilbert String Quartet No 3
Sunday 26 October
11am Carole Nash Recital Room
Alan Rawsthorne Practical Cats; Tzu-Yeh
Songs
William Alwyn Clarinet Sonata
Gerard Schurmann Moonbird for solo
recorder; Six Blake Songs
Joseph Phibbs Moonsongs for
soprano, recorder and piano (world première of
complete version)
Edward Isaacs Moonlight for piano Op 8 No 1
Peter Dickinson Fantasy for clarinet and piano;
Sonatina for solo bassoon (world première);
Bach in Blue for recorder, clarinet and piano
(world première of new version)
Performers include:
Eleanor Bron narrator
Lesley-Jane Rogers soprano
Linda Merrick clarinet
Rosie Burton bassoon
John Turner recorder
Harvey Davies, Peter Lawson piano
New World Ensemble
All events are free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by Rawsthorne Trust in association with RNCM
14
Monday 27 October
1.15pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Monday Recital Series
J S Bach Cantata ‘Ich habe genug’ (excerpts)
BWV 82
Steven Griffin baritone
Jingle Lau piano
J S Bach Allemande and Double from Partita
No 1 in B minor BWV 1002
Anton Webern Four Pieces Op 7
Antonio Bazzini The Round of the Goblins
Op 25
Adriana Cristea violin
Liga Korne piano
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Monday 27 October
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Vienna Piano Trio
Manchester Chamber Concerts
Society
Joseph Haydn Piano Trio in E flat major
Hob XV:30
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Trio
in G major K 496
Johannes Brahms Piano Trio in B major Op 8
(original version)
Tickets £25 £12.50
Concessions available
www.chamberconcerts.org
Promoted by MCCS
Tuesday 28 – Wednesday 29 October
IN MEMORIAM HARVEY
‘He [Harvey] talks of the essential things that he
thinks great music should express: “Freedom,
light, and love.” He’s too modest to suggest
that his own music radiates those qualities. Yet
that’s exactly what it does.’ Tom Service, The
Guardian, 2012
The RNCM commemorates the 75th anniversary
of one of the UK’s most extraordinary composers,
Jonathan Harvey, a composer who transformed
the transcendental and the beyond into sound.
This festival features an all day installation of
his electronic works, a talk by Harvey expert Dr
Michael Downes, and culminates in his epic work
Bhakti – a mystical exploration of the Sanskrit
Hymns of the Rig Veda for chamber ensemble
and quadrophonic tape. For full details, please see www.rncm.ac.uk/harvey
HIGHLIGHTS
Tuesday 28 October
Wednesday 29 October
1.15pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Lunchtime Concert
Jonathan Harvey Three Sketches for solo cello
Zakiya Leeming New work
Jonathan Harvey The Riot for flute,
bass clarinet and piano
Jonathan Harvey Tombeau de Messiaen for
solo piano
Free admission, no ticket required
7.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
RNCM New Ensemble
David Curington New work*
Jonathan Harvey Bhakti for ensemble and
electronics
Clark Rundell, Carlos Agreda* conductors
Tickets £12
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
1.15pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Lunchtime Concert
Jonathan Harvey ff for solo piano
Jonathan Harvey Nataraja for flute and piano
Lucy Pankhurst New work
Jonathan Harvey Death of Light, Light of Death
for five players
Free admission, no ticket required
8pm RNCM Studio Theatre
Decontamination 1
Darkness & Light:
Harvey, Haas and Curgenven
Jonathan Harvey Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco
Georg Friedrich Haas In iij. Noct (String
Quartet No 3)
Robert Curgenven Gran Coda Andante
The brainchild of composer Larry Goves,
this evening concert is the first of our new
Decontamination series in which we’ll be
exploring different and unusual settings
for performances. The inclusion of this first
performance within our In Memoriam Harvey
festival was an obvious one, due to the spectral
nature of tonight’s repertoire.
Tickets £8
Concessions available
15
Nils Frahm
Thursday 30 October
8pm RNCM Theatre
The Fall of the House of
Usher
Combining elements of several Edgar Allan
Poe short stories, Jean Epstein’s 1928 silent
cinema classic is presented alongside a live
performance of a new score for chamber
orchestra by composer Charlie Barber, based on
existing sketches by Claude Debussy.
Nils Frahm
Berlin-based pianist Nils Frahm is known for
his unconventional approach to an age-old
instrument as well as his collaborations and
production work for contemporaries such as
Ólafur Arnalds, Peter Broderick and most
recently Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire. His live
performances showcase a unique combination
of piano motifs on the upright, grand piano and
Rhodes with heavy synthesiser sounds.
Tickets £16
No concessions
www.nilsfrahm.com
Promoted by WOTGODFORGOT
Wednesday 29 October
Doors 7.30pm RNCM Theatre
ASIA
A supergroup made up of some of the 70s most
legendary progressive rock bands, Asia ruled
the 80s with albums like the quadruple platinum
Asia which Billboard magazine named 1982’s
Album of the Year.
Tickets £24.50 advance
No concessions
Promoted by The Gig Cartel
16
Barber’s new score has been composed
especially for an ensemble of 16 musicians,
taking as its starting point Debussy’s
uncompleted opera La Chute de la Maison
Usher, and adds further depth to the
atmosphere of this cinematic tour de force.
Tickets £12
Concessions available
www.soundaffairs.co.uk
Promoted by RNCM
The Fall of
the House of Usher
Tuesday 28 October
Doors 7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Defined by atmospheric imagery and
haunting interiors, The Fall of the House of
Usher is considered a pioneering silent horror
masterpiece, and Epstein’s best known work. So
we’re delighted to be programming this gothic
gem in the run up to Halloween…
The Full English
Friday 31 October
Saturday 1 November
RNCM Big Band
with Julian Joseph
The Full English
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
The Atomic Mr Basie
Mike Hall director
Julian Joseph piano
The first RNCM Big Band show of the Autumn
season features one of the finest pianists to
emerge this side of the Atlantic for over two
decades – Julian Joseph. A towering figure in
contemporary jazz, Julian is also a prodigious
composer and arranger plus a respected band
leader, broadcaster and educator. His ideas
reflect the eclectic influence of all forms of music
in the history of jazz: from classical to rock and
pop, everything is relevant. Tonight he’ll open
the show with a set of his own arrangements,
followed by a performance of The Atomic
Mr Basie presented as part of this year’s
Manchester Science Festival.
Julian Joseph
Tickets £18 £15
Concessions available
www.julianjoseph.com
www.manchestersciencefestival.com
Promoted by RNCM in association with Manchester
Science Festival
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Last year, folk singer and scholar Fay Hield was
invited to assemble a group of stellar musicians
in order to record The Full English album,
with material based on a new EFDSS digital
archive of folk music and related materials. The
line-up included Fay, traditional singer and
fiddle player Nancy Kerr, boundary-crossing,
award-winning singer/songwriter Seth Lakeman,
internationally renowned guitarist Martin
Simpson, double bassist of choice Ben Nicolls,
and two of the most dazzling, in-demand multiinstrumentalists playing today, Rob Harbron and
Sam Sweeney.
The album was released in October 2013 and
was followed by a sell-out UK tour. In February
2014, The Full English won a stunning double at
the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards; Best Group and
Album of the Year, with Fay Hield also gaining
a nomination for Folk Singer of the Year.
Following the band’s performances at this
year’s Hop Farm Festival and Cambridge Folk
Festival, we’re delighted to welcome them to
the RNCM as part of a short UK tour. You can
read more about The Full English project at
www.thefullenglishband.co.uk/the-project
Tickets £21
Concessions available
www.thefullenglishband.co.uk
Promoted by RNCM
+
6.30pm RNCM Studio Theatre
Spotlight: Project Jam Sandwich take on the Folk Song
Free admission, no ticket required
17
Sunday 2 November
Monday 3 November
Barbara Robotham
Celebration Concert
Spyro Gyra
3pm RNCM Theatre
Music to include:
Benjamin Britten Abraham and Issac from The
Canticles
Jules Massenet Meditation from Thaïs
Giuseppe Verdi Arias and Duets from La
Traviata, Aida and Il Trovatore
Richard Strauss Beim Schlafengehen from Four
Last Songs
Edward Elgar Sabbath Morning at Sea from
Sea Pictures
Artists to include:
Jane Irwin, Nadine Livingston soprano
Heather Lowe, Kathleen Wilkinson mezzosoprano
Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, Nicholas Sharratt tenor
Roderick Barrand, Jonathan Fisher piano
Steven Wilkie violin
The RNCM is honoured to present an evening
dedicated to the memory of the late Barbara
Robotham. This internationally renowned
performer and vocal teacher joined the RNCM
in 1979 and made an incredible contribution
to the College. Tonight’s concert features the
music Barbara loved performed by some of the
students she taught over the years. Proceeds from
tonight’s event will be donated to the Barbara
Robotham Fund, which supports students from
the School of Vocal Studies and Opera.
Tickets £15
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
Monday 3 November
1.15pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Monday Recital Series
John Dowland Lachrimae Pavane; Fantasia
No 7; Melancholy Galliard and Allemande
Sam Rodwell guitar
Hannah Caldecott Ophelia’s Mad Song from
Hamlet
Nino Rota (arr H Caldecott) A Time for Us
from Romeo and Juliet
Samuel Barber (arr H Caldecott) Give me my
Robe from Antony and Cleopatra
Hannah Caldecott horn
Jingle Lau piano
18
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Doors 7pm RNCM Theatre
When this group first gathered in a club in
Buffalo, New York to found what was to be
known for a while as ‘Tuesday Night – Jazz
Jam’, no one would have predicted their
eventual success. Spyro Gyra would go on to
release 30 albums of new material with sales of
over 10 million copies while playing over 5000
shows over the course of this remarkable career.
Tickets £25
Concessions available
Promoted by Horizon Events Ltd
Tuesday 4 November
Doors 7pm RNCM Theatre
Joanne Shaw Taylor
plus special guest Bernie Marsden
British blues rock guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor
was originally discovered by Eurythmics’ Dave
Stewart as a 16 year old guitar prodigy. She
is now regarded as one of the hottest young
names on the British Blues circuit and is admired
and respected by many leading blues guitarists
including Joe Bonamassa and John Mayall.
Joanne was voted Best British Female Vocalist
at the British Blues Awards in 2010 and 2011,
and was invited as special guest to perform with
Annie Lennox at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
concert in June 2012. This show also features
former Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden as
Joanne’s special guest.
Tickets £17.50 advance (£50 VIP tickets also available)
No concessions
www.joanneshawtaylor.com
www.facebook.com/joanneshawtaylor
Promoted by The Gig Cartel
Thursday 6 November
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Sir Thomas Allen
Franz Schubert Winterreise
Sir Thomas Allen baritone
Joseph Middleton piano
To celebrate the opening of our
newly-refurbished Concert Hall,
we’re delighted to welcome the
British baritone Sir Thomas Allen
to the RNCM to perform Schubert’s
sublime song cycle, Winterreise.
Sir Thomas is an established star
of the great opera houses of the
world. At the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden, where this season
he celebrates the 40th anniversary
of his début with the company, he has
sung no less than 50 roles. In 2006,
he celebrated his 25th anniversary of
his début at the Metropolitan Opera,
New York. He has also sung for international
companies including La Scala, the Vienna State
Opera and at the Salzburg Festival.
In Winterreise, Schubert creates a desolate
landscape (both internal and external) as a
solitary traveler, whose heart is frozen in grief,
faces a savage winter. The 24 verses are based
on the poetry of Wilhelm Müller but Schubert
altered their order so that the occasional
flashes of consolation offered by the poet in the
original sequence are no longer visible. The
protagonist, a rejected lover, seems on the verge
of madness as we follow his lonely journey
through a snowbound landscape. As his journey
progresses, so his vision becomes all the more
inward and the subjectivity of the songs all the
more pronounced.
Tonight’s recital is a very special event indeed,
as it is the first performance to take place in
our brand new, state-of-the-art Concert Hall
following a year-long major refurbishment
programme. We’re very grateful to everybody
who has supported us over the last 12 months
and enabled this wonderful resource to come
to life.
If you would like to find out more about our work
and how you can help, please see pages 2-5 of
this brochure or visit rncm.ac.uk/yourrncm
Tickets £20 £18
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
+
6.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Spotlight: ‘Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!’
– The Quays Quintet present King Lear
Free admission, no ticket required
19
Friday 7 November
Friday 7 November
Friday Chamber Series
Oldham Choral Society
A performance by the A4 Brass Quartet, the
most recent winners of the Christopher Rowland
RNCM Chamber Ensemble of the Year Award.
A Centenary Commemoration of
the Outbreak of the First World War
1.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Friday 7 November
Doors 7.30pm RNCM Theatre
An Evening with
Roger McGuinn
Legendary former Byrds frontman and
founding member, Roger McGuinn’s trademark
Rickenbacker 12−string sound has influenced
generations of musicians. The Byrds’ era
defining songs like Eight Miles High, Mr
Tambourine Man, Turn, Turn, Turn and All I
Really Wanna Do became classics of the new
folk rock sound.
This show will draw from Roger’s huge back
catalogue, including his Grammy-nominated
project, Treasures From The Folk Den and his
critically acclaimed 4 CD box set, The Folk Den
Project.
Roger McGuinn
Tickets £32.50
No concessions
Promoted by Chas Cole for CMP Entertainment
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Joseph Haydn Missa in tempore belli (Mass
in Time of War) in C major Hob XXII:9
‘Paukenmesse’
Howard Goodall Eternal Light: A Requiem
George Butterworth The Banks of the Green
Willow
Tickets £14
Concessions available
Promoted by Oldham Choral Society
Saturday 8 November
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
RNCM Session Orchestra
After they brought the house down at their April
2014 show, the RNCM Session Orchestra returns
by popular demand for an eclectic evening
concert including hits by Aloe Blacc, Tower of
Power, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Earth,
Wind and Fire, Snarky Puppy and Beyoncé.
Tickets £10
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
+
6.30pm RNCM Studio Theatre
Spotlight: The James Vezer Trio – Everyday I Have
the Blues
Free admission, no ticket required
Saturday 8 November
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Salford Choral Society
Bob Chilcott Aesop’s Fables
John Rutter Feel the Spirit
Tickets £17
Concessions available
Promoted by Salford Choral Society
20
Sunday 9 November
7.45pm RNCM Theatre
RNCM SAXOPHONE DAY
Concert 2: Big Idea
Returning for its 14th year, the UK’s leading
saxophone event takes place two days after the
200th anniversary of the birth of Adolphe Sax,
the Belgian musician and instrument designer
who gave us the instrument we celebrate at the
RNCM Saxophone Day.
This is also the first RNCM festival to take
place in our redeveloped Concert Hall. With
these significant occasions in mind, this year’s
Saxophone Day promises to be the best yet
– with participatory classes for players of all
saxes, a huge trade exhibition and the chance
to hear some of the leading performers working
today, this is truly an event for all saxophone
enthusiasts.
For full details, please see www.rncm.ac.uk/saxophoneday
HIGHLIGHTS
9.30am RNCM CONCERT HALL
Massed Saxophone
Orchestra
The Massed Saxophone Orchestra has become
the traditional start to the day, where all
participants come together to perform under
the direction of festival Artistic Directors Rob
Buckland and Andy Scott. This informal session
is appropriate for performers of all saxophone
instruments and all abilities.
Mark Lockheart
The initial concept for this heavily saxophoneled music came when Mark Lockheart recorded
his own music at home, improvised fragments/
short melodies and then layered and edited
parts together on a computer. These small
spontaneous ideas became the building blocks
for the compositions that formed the album
Moving Air. When faced with the challenge
of playing the music live, Big Idea was formed
to tour and promote the record. This special
performance at the RNCM Saxophone Day
is the first time this music has been performed
since the 2006 tour.
This special performance at the RNCM
Saxophone Day brings together a stellar line-up
from the cream of the UK’s jazz scene.
‘With a huge stylistic and emotional range,
Lockheart’s music is contemporary and
compelling’ Mojo Magazine
Mark Lockheart, Steve Buckley, Rob
Townsend, James Allsop saxophones, clarinets
John Parricelli guitar
Dudley Phillips bass
Martin France drums
Tickets £15
Concessions available
Day Ticket £34
Promoted by RNCM
Admission for day ticket holders only
2pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Philippe Geiss
Teacher at the Strasbourg Conservatory and
Superior Academy of Music and Arts in France,
saxophonist, composer and improviser Philippe
Geiss is also the Artistic Director of the World
Saxophone Congress. This internationally
regarded saxophonist and widely performed
composer is one of the first musicians from the
French saxophone school who has built his own
crossover style between classical and improvised
music and plays the entire saxophone family
from sopranino to bass saxophone. As an active
musician worldwide, Philippe has given concerts
and masterclasses all over the world.
Tickets £7
Concessions available
21
Monday 10 November
Tuesday 11 November
Monday Recital Series
Giovanni Sollima and
Kathryn Stott
1.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
Johannes Brahms Violin Sonata in A major
Op 100
Luke Coomber violin
Simon Passmore piano
Frédéric Chopin Ballade No 2 Op 38;
Ballade No 3 Op 47
Ryan Drucker piano
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Monday 10 November
7.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
John McLeod 80th Birthday
Concert
John McLeod Three Protest Pieces; The Song
of Phryne; Twelve Preludes; Piano Sonata No 1
John McLeod (arr Margaret Murray) Three
Interludes from Another Time, Another Place
(world première of new arrangement)
John McLeod Piano Sonata No 5
Murray McLachlan, Philip Sharp,
Iyad Sughair piano
Linda Merrick clarinet
Murray McLachlan performs John McLeod’s
newly composed Piano Sonata No 5 in
this special concert celebrating the Scottish
composer’s 80th birthday, featuring Linda
Merrick and pianists from the RNCM.
Tickets £12
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
+
6.30pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Pre-concert interview: David Horne in conversation
with John McLeod
Free admission, no ticket required
22
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Claudio Monteverdi Lamento d’Arianna
Ludwig van Beethoven Cello Sonata No 4
in C major Op 102 No 1
Alfredo Piatti Sonata No 2 in D major Op 29
Robert Schumann Fünf Stücke im Volkston
Op 102
Giovanni Sollima Il Bell’Antonio
Frédéric Chopin Cello Sonata in G minor
Op 65
Tickets £17
Concessions available
Promoted by Midgehole Productions
Thursday 13 November
1.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
RNCM First Year String
and Wind Orchestras
Felix Mendelssohn String Symphony No 10
in B minor
Kenneth Hesketh Masque*
Nigel Clarke Samurai
Mark Heron, Matt Weites*, Chris Hoyle
conductors
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Pascuala Ilabaca & Fauna
Friday 14 November
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Friday 14 November
7.30pm RNCM Studio Theatre
RNCM Symphony Orchestra Pascuala Ilabaca & Fauna
Hector Berlioz King Lear Overture Op 4*
Sergei Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 3
in C major Op 26
Sergei Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet
Clark Rundell, Piero Lombardi Iglesias*
conductors
Oliver She piano
As well as being the first evening public
performance by an RNCM student ensemble
in our newly re-opened Concert Hall, tonight’s
concert celebrates Shakespeare’s 450th
anniversary in style. Berlioz was inspired to write
his overture while reading King Lear during a
holiday in Florence and it certainly conjures the
play’s tragic atmosphere. Prokofiev’s music for
the ballet Romeo and Juliet is one of his greatest
achievements and it has been argued that no
other composer has so perfectly interpreted
Shakespeare’s greatest romance. Our Symphony
Orchestra also performs the most popular of
Prokofiev’s piano concertos, written as a virtuoso
vehicle for the composer himself for its première
by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1921.
Tickets £17 £14
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
+
Making Tracks
Accordion-wielding Chilean songstress Pascuala
Ilabaca is a true hidden gem. A favourite on the
new scene of young Chilean singer-songwriters,
her music is rooted in traditional sounds but
effortlessly integrates shades of jazz, pop and
rock, with influences gathered in such distant
places as India or Mexico. Accompanied
by her formidable band Fauna, her unique
stage presence conjures up sweetness and
empowerment at the same time, setting her
songs alive with both fragility and verve.
Tickets £14
Concessions available
www.makingtrackslive.org.uk
Promoted by RNCM
Saturday 15 November
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Altrincham Choral Society
Roger Shelmerdine The Poppies Blow
(world première)
Tickets £12.50
Concessions available
Promoted by Altrincham Choral Society
6.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Spotlight: The Sacred and Profane − Scenes from
Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet
Free admission, no ticket required
23
Cara Dillon
Saturday 15 November
Sunday 16 November
Cara Dillon
161114
Cara Dillon returns to the RNCM to showcase
her fifth solo album A Thousand Hearts –
another small masterpiece of song and emotion,
ethereal and radiant, beautifully honed and
perfectly true. Cara has risen to become one
of the finest exponents of traditional Irish song
anywhere in the world. Together with her
husband and musical partner Sam Lakeman, she
has successfully steered an eclectic musical path,
defying the typical pigeonholes that hinder most
artists in her genre and picking up a BBC Radio
2 Folk Award and many other accolades along
the way.
Laurence Tompkins New work (world
première)
Larry Goves A glimpse of the sea in a fold of
the hills
Laurence Crane Octet
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Tickets £20 £18
Concessions available
www.caradillon.co.uk
Promoted by RNCM
+
6.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Spotlight: The Art of Welsh Song – Music for Voice
and Harp
Free admission, no ticket required
24
7.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
ddmmyy is a new music concert series for
Manchester, which focuses on new ways of
exploring and presenting contemporary acoustic
and electronic music. This first concert for
14/15 features Manchester composers Laurence
Tompkins and Larry Goves, plus Laurence
Crane’s Octet for an unconventional line-up
featuring electric organ and accordion.
Tickets £6
Concessions available
www.ddmmyyseries.com
Supported by Sound and Music
Promoted by RNCM
Monday 17 November
Wednesday 19 November
Monday Recital Series
Sir John Barbirolli Cello
Prize
1.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
Paul Hindemith Konzertstück
Pierre Max Dubois Selection from Six Caprices
Emily Burkhardt, Vykintas Civas saxophones
Arthur Lipner Space Dancer
Steve Reich Nagoya Marimbas
Jan Bradley Super Sonic
Peter Mitchell, Anthony Mann percussion
7.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Cello students from the RNCM compete for
this prestigious prize. Tonight’s adjudicator is
Stephen Threlfall, Director of Music at Chetham’s
School of Music.
Tickets £8
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
Monday 17 November
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Vertavo Quartet with Paul
Lewis (piano)
Paul Lewis
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Manchester Chamber Concerts
Society
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto
in A major K 414
Béla Bartók String Quartet No 6
Antonín Dvořák Piano Quintet in A major
Op 81
Tickets £25 £12.50
Concessions available
www.chamberconcerts.org
Promoted by MCCS
+
6.30pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Pre-concert talk: David Horne on Bartók’s String
Quartet No 6
Free admission to ticket holders
Thursday 20 November
Monday 17 November
7.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Clarinet Masterclass with
Andreas Ottensamer
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear the
Principal clarinettist of the Berlin Philharmonic,
who works with RNCM musicians and gives a
short performance.
1.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
RNCM Concert Orchestra
Carl Maria von Weber Oberon Overture*
Franz Schubert Symphony No 8 in B minor D
759 ‘Unfinished’
Lancelot Fuhry, Steffan Morris* conductors
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Tickets £8
Concessions available
www.andreasottensamer.com
Promoted by RNCM
25
The King’s Singers
Thursday 20 November
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
The King’s Singers
with RNCM Chamber Choir
Thomas Morley Sing we and chant it
Thomas Weelkes Thule, the period of
Cosmography; The nightingale, the organ
of delight; As Vesta was from Latmos Hill
descending
Johannes Brahms All meine Herzgedanken;
Dein Herzlein mild; Abendstänchen
Eric Whitacre Alone; The Stolen Child
Paul Drayton A Rough Guide to the Royal
Succession
Bob Chilcott High flight
Paul Patterson Timepiece
Songs from The Great American Songbook
One of the world’s most celebrated vocal
ensembles, The King’s Singers are instantly
recognisable for their spot-on intonation,
impeccable vocal blend, flawless articulation
of the text and incisive timing. They are also
consummate entertainers – a class act with a
delightfully British wit – and their global success
has earned them a Grammy Award and an
induction into the Gramophone Hall of Fame.
26
Tonight’s programme shows two very different
sides to the group. They will begin with the
sort of repertoire that has built their reputation,
including madrigals by Thomas Morley and
Thomas Weelkes, followed by a slice of
humour with a comic exploration of the British
monarchy. They also perform compositions by
Paul Patterson, Eric Whitacre and Bob Chilcott,
for which they will be joined by the RNCM
Chamber Choir. To complete the programme,
the evening also features more light-hearted
material, including Irving Berlin’s Cheek to
Cheek, Young and Heyman’s When I Fall in Love
and Rodgers & Hart’s The Lady is a Tramp.
Tickets £20 £18
Concessions available
www.kingssingers.com
Promoted by RNCM
+
2pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Ahead of their evening performance, The King’s Singers
will coach two RNCM vocal ensembles in a short
masterclass. RNCM Friends are invited to join them as they
share their experience and expertise with RNCM singers.
Free admission, by ticket only.
RNCM Friends can also book tickets for the 7.30pm
performance from just £15.30. See p38 for further details.
Emma Kirkby
Saturday 22 November
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Emma Kirkby and
Jakob Lindberg
Songs of the Golden Age
Music to include:
Alfonso Ferrabosco So Beauty on the Waters
Stood
John Dowland When Phoebus First did
Daphne Love
Robert Johnson Where the Bee Sucks; Full
Fathom Five
Thomas Morley It was a Lover and His Lass
William Byrd Constant Penelope
Henry Purcell Dear Pretty Youth; The Cares of
Lovers; Ye Gentle Spirits of the Air; Thrice Happy
Lovers
Friday 21 November
from 6.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Spotlight Triple-Bill
RNCM students present another evening of free
concerts. Tonight they explore guitar music with
a Latin-American influence.
6.30pm Minerva Duo – A Postcard from
Buenos Aires
7.10pm Romancero Gitano – Music for Choir
and Guitar inspired by Federico García Lorca
7.50pm Juan Vassallo Tango Ensemble –
Piazzolla’s Suite del Angel
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Emma Kirkby soprano
Jakob Lindberg lute
Continuing our Shakespeare-themed
programming strand, we’re delighted to
welcome soprano and world-renowned early
music specialist Dame Emma Kirkby back to the
RNCM, this time joined by lute player Jakob
Lindberg.
Tonight’s programme is a fascinating mixture
of themed pieces by composers such as John
Dowland, William Byrd and Henry Purcell plus
examples of Shakespeare in song, including
restoration re-imaginings that feature in The
Tempest, Timon of Athens and The Fairy Queen.
Tickets £18 £15
Concessions available
www.emmakirkby.com
Promoted by RNCM
Friday 21 November
Doors 7pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Gareth Gates
In 2002 Gareth was famously runner–up to
Will Young in the UK’s first Pop Idol. Instead of
disappearing into ‘Pop Oblivion’ he has since
carved out a successful career with worldwide
tours, chart success and TV appearances.
Tickets £17.50 (advance)
No concessions
Promoted by Live Nation
27
Monday 24 – Saturday 29 November
RNCM JAMES MOTTRAM
INTERNATIONAL PIANO
COMPETITION 2014
Media Partner
from 10am RNCM CONCERT HALL
Public Masterclasses
Competitors eliminated from the competition in
Round 1 work with members of the international
jury.
This major biennial event offers an all-round
learning experience for young pianists from
all over the world, mixing opportunities to
perform on the concert platform with a series
of masterclasses given by a distinguished
international jury. Attend the early rounds and
masterclasses for free throughout the week,
before hearing the three finalists perform a
concerto accompanied by the Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Chief
Conductor, Vasily Petrenko.
Thursday 27 November
COMPETITION JURY
Michael Lewin (USA)
Piotr Paleczny (Poland)
Matti Raekallio (Finland)
Martin Roscoe (UK)
Graham Scott (UK) chair
Nelita True (USA)
Dan-Wen Wei (PR China)
Eleanor Wong (Hong Kong)
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
For full details, see www.rncm.ac.uk/jmipc. Please check
the website for updates through the Competition.
Monday 24 November
and Tuesday 25 November
from 10am RNCM CONCERT HALL
Round 1
From the hundreds of applications received,
the selected final 30 competitors perform for
the international jury.
28
Wednesday 26 and Friday 28 November
from 10am RNCM CONCERT HALL
Semi-finals
At this stage of the competition, a maximum
number of 12 competitors perform pieces by
Claude Debussy and works of their own choice
written before 1918.
Saturday 29 November
Concerto Final
with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra
Vasily Petrenko conductor
The three finalists perform their chosen work
from a shortlist of concertos by Beethoven,
Chopin, Grieg, Liszt, Mozart and Schumann.
Tickets £17 £14
Concessions available
Admission to all events is free, no ticket required,
unless otherwise stated
Supported by James Mottram Bequest
Promoted by RNCM
7.30pm RNCM Studio Theatre
O’Hooley and Tidow
The Hum
One of the most exciting acts on the
contemporary folk scene today, Belinda
O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow are accomplished
interpreters of everything from Massive Attack
to traditional Irish ballads, but it’s their own
boundless songwriting and exquisite harmonies
that truly shine. Their new album The Hum,
produced by Mercury−nominated Gerry Diver, is
receiving high praise from Radio 2, 6 Music and
the national press. They have the originality and
skill to invite comparison with the folk scene’s
most celebrated North American harmony
duos, from early Simon and Garfunkel to the
iconic Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Lyrically and
musically, Belinda and Heidi’s powerful, deeply
moving, and at times spine-tingling performances
are infused with an honesty and empathy that
will disarm even the hardest of heart.
Tickets £12
Concessions available
www.ohooleyandtidow.com
Promoted by RNCM
Thursday 27 November
9pm RNCM Studio Theatre
Decontamination 2
Melodies, harmonies, hymns,
anthem and lament: John Cage
and Bill Viola
John Cage Six Melodies for violin and any
keyboard instrument
Bill Viola Anthem
John Cage Apartment House 1777: 44
Harmonies (No 5)
Bill Viola Angel’s Gates
John Cage Apartment House 1777: 44
Harmonies (No 15, 21, 28 and 42)
For the second of our new Decontamination
concerts, two of Bill Viola’s extraordinary films
Angel’s Gates and Anthem will be shown
alongside a selection of Roger Zahab’s beautiful
arrangements of the Harmonies from Apartment
House 1777. Opening the concert is Cage’s early
modularly constructed masterwork Six Melodies.
O’Hooley and Tidow
Wednesday 26 November
Sunday 30 November
8pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Magic Voices
Featuring a live orchestra and 120 singers,
Magic Voices amateur choir presents some of
the hit songs and music from the last 50 years of
West End shows.
Tickets £20
No concessions
Promoted by Magic Voices Ltd
Monday 1 December
1.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
Monday Recital Series
Hugo Wolf Selection from Italienisches
Liederbuch
Sarah Elizabeth Gilford soprano
Thomas Cameron baritone
Hayley Parkes piano
Frédéric Chopin Andante Spianato and
Grande Polonaise in E flat major Op 22
Lee Jae Phang piano
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Lyn Fletcher violin
Benjamin Powell piano
Tickets £8
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
29
Monday 1 December
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
New Zealand String
Quartet with Peter Cropper
(viola)
Manchester Chamber Concerts
Society
John Psathas Unbridled, Manos Breathes the
Voice of Life into Kartsigar
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart String Quartet in
B flat major K 589
Bela Bartók String Quartet No 3
Johannes Brahms String Quintet in G major
Op 111
Tickets £25 £12.50
Concessions available
www.chamberconcerts.org
Promoted by MCCS
Tuesday 2 December
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
RNCM Brass Ensembles
with Markus Stockhausen
Launch of Philip Jones Centre for
Brass
John Miller director
Markus Stockhausen trumpet
RNCM Brass Ensembles The popularity of the brass ensemble of today
stems from the pioneering work of the Philip
Jones Brass Ensemble in Europe in the 1950s,
and the American Brass Quintet in North
America. This foundation influenced a luxuriant
flowering of groups active until the end of the
century and beyond. Philip Jones was active at
the RNCM in the 1970s, when his group was in
its heyday, and the RNCM’s new Philip Jones
Centre for Brass carries on his vision.
Tonight’s launch will be compèred by John
Miller, Head of the School of Wind, Brass and
Percussion, and will feature the brass ensembles
of the RNCM, the richesse of their achievements.
John will welcome Ursula Jones as well as
Markus Stockhausen, one of the most visionary
brass players of these times, who will perform
two of his improvised works.
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
30
Wednesday 3, Friday 5*, Tuesday 9*, Thursday
11 and Saturday 13* December
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
Sunday 7 December
3pm RNCM Theatre
The Merry Widow
Franz Lehár
Sarah Foubert, Isabella Gage* Hannah
Benjamin Lewis, Timothy Langston* Danilo
Philip Clieve, Rory Mulchrone* Zeta
Jennifer Parker, Rosanna Harris* Valencienne
Alexander Grainger, Adam Temple-Smith*
Camille
James Fisher, Richard Moore* Kromov
Rachel Abbott, Joanna Harries* Praskovia
Graham McCusker, Aaron O’Hare*
Bogdanovitch
Alexandra Lowe, Rebecca Starling* Sylvaine
James Berry, Nathan Bellis* Pritchtich
Emma Walton, Stephanie Stanway* Olga
Alexander Banfield, Dominic Stewart* St
Brioche
Steven Griffin, Matt Mears* Cascada
Nathan Jenkins Christopher Littlewood* Njegus
Lara Harvey, Charlotte Trepess* Lolo
Eleanor Sanderson-Nash, Katie Wood* Dodo
Louisa Haggerty, Rachel Maby* Jou Jou
Holly-Anne Bangham, Rebecca Barry* Frou Frou
Sarah Gilford, Alice Gildea* Clo Clo
Alexandra Downie, Josephine OrganJennings* Margot
Wyn Davies conductor
Piero Lombardi Iglesias assistant conductor
Stefan Janski director
Kate Ford set and costume designer
Nick Ware lighting designer
Kevin Thraves chorus master
Bethan Rhys Wiliam choreographer
RNCM Opera Orchestra
RNCM Chorus
An intoxicating whirl of elegant ladies, eligible
bachelors, Maxim’s can-can dancers, and
ever-flowing champagne, Franz Lehár’s The
Merry Widow has long delighted audiences
with its effervescent tale of suitors seeking the
coveted hand of wealthy widow Anna Glawari
in fin-de-siècle Paris. Events unfold against the
back story of the small, struggling Balkan state of
Pontevedro whose entire GDP has ended up in
the young widow’s jewellery drawer…
This much-loved operetta has been a huge crowd
pleaser since its 1905 première in Vienna and
features many well-known arias, including Vilja,
You’ll Find Me At Maxim’s, and The Merry
Widow Waltz.
This production will be sung in English.
Tickets £34 £28 £21 (weekdays)
£36 £30 £23 (weekends)
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
+
Tuesday 9 December
6.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Spotlight: A Night at the Theatre – A Musical Journey
through the Opera Stage
Free admission, no ticket required
31
Thursday 4 December
Friday 5 December
RNCM Concert Orchestra
Friday Chamber Series
Ralph Vaughan Williams The Wasps*
Felix Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s
Dream (excerpts)
RNCM Cello Ensemble with
Chris Hoyle
1.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
1.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
Matthew Coorey, Daniel Parkinson*
conductors
J S Bach (arr A Gorb) Contrapunctus 9 from
The Art of Fugue
Heitor Villa Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No 5
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
RNCM Chamber Orchestra
Carl Maria von Weber Der Freischütz
Overture*
Richard Wagner Wesendonck Lieder WWV91
Wim Henderickx Le visioni di paura
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No 7
in A major Op 92
Peter Manning, Harish Shankar* conductors
Lauren Fielder soprano
Following its performance at Manchester’s Holy
Name Church in June, the RNCM Chamber
Orchestra takes to the stage of the new Concert
Hall under the baton of RNCM alumnus Peter
Manning, Concert Master with the Orchestra of
the Royal Opera House.
The programme includes Beethoven’s energetic
Symphony No 7 and Wagner’s Wesendonck
Lieder. This series of five love songs, composed
to poems by Wagner’s muse Mathilde
Wesendonck, will be performed by recent
RNCM Gold Medal winner, soprano Lauren
Fielder. It also includes Henderickx’s Visions of
Fear, a poetic interpretation of fear, which sits
excitingly between the Wagner and Beethoven,
and is performed in the presence of the
composer.
Tickets £15
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
+
6.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Spotlight: Winter Images – Cantatas for soprano and
baroque ensemble
Free admission, no ticket required
32
Lauren Fielder
Thursday 4 December
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
ROOF St Petersburg Charity
Concert
Bryony Williams
Friday 5 December
This concert showcases the talents of
Manchester’s unique Kalinka Youth Balalaika
Orchestra and guests in a programme of music,
song and dance from both the British Isles and
Russia.
Tickets £6
Concessions available
Promoted by One Education Music
Sunday 7 December
9.30am, 1.30pm and 5pm
RNCM CONCERT HALL
Trafford Music Service
Trafford Music Service presents three concerts
showcasing the talents of some of the youth
groups from across the district.
Tickets £8.50
Concessions available
Promoted by Trafford Music Service
Monday 8 December
Monday 8 December
Bryony Williams
Monday Recital Series
RNCM International Artist Diploma
Vocal Recital
1.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
Maurice Ravel Violin Sonata No 2 in G major
Lily Whitehurst violin
Leif Kaner-Lidstrom piano
Nino Rota Trombone Concerto in C major
Nicholas Conn trombone
Amy Frenzel piano
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
7.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Bryony Williams soprano
Robin Humphreys piano
Bryony Williams is one of New Zealand’s most
promising emerging sopranos, and is currently
a member of the Glyndebourne Chorus. She
began studying at the RNCM in 2012 and
was awarded the Lady Maria Fisher Opera
Scholarship, enabling her to take up a place on
the prestigious Opera and Voice Studio leading
to the International Artist Diploma for 2013/4.
During her postgraduate year at the RNCM,
Bryony won the Frederic Cox Award for Singing
and the Joyce and Michael Kennedy Award for
the Singing of Strauss. She has also performed
with the RNCM Chamber Orchestra as part
of the College’s 40th anniversary celebrations
and sang the role of Adina in RNCM Opera’s
production of L’elisir d’amore. Tonight, Bryony
sings a selection of Lieder, French song and
opera arias.
Tickets £10
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
33
Northern Dance
Orchestra
Wednesday 10 December
Thursday 11 December
RNCM Big Band
RNCM Concert Orchestra
The Music of the Northern Dance
Orchestra
Johannes Brahms Piano Concerto No 1
in D minor Op 15
The (BBC) Northern Dance Orchestra was a
much loved big band formed by the BBC in
1956 that featured the legendary sax player
Johnny Roadhouse and Syd Lawrence. The band
played in many BBC radio and TV programmes,
doing both inside and outside broadcasts
including regular slots at the Playhouse Theatre
in Hulme. Fairly quickly, the radio show Make
Way for the Music, introduced by Roger Moffat,
made the NDO into a household name.
Mark Heron conductor
Thomas Hicks piano
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
It’s now exactly 40 years since the band last
performed and fortunately, some of the NDO’s
unique music library has been preserved. So
tonight, the RNCM Big Band will be playing a
selection of their most popular and interesting
numbers, recreating the spirit of a band that is
still greatly missed.
Tickets £18 £15
Concessions available
Promoted by RNCM
+
6.30pm Carole Nash Recital Room
Pre-concert talk: A panel discusses the history of the
NDO and its music, featuring Ian Reed (NDO archivist)
and Dr Richard Witts (Edge Hill University)
Free admission, no ticket required
1.15pm RNCM Concert Hall
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
Thursday 11 December
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
RNCM Christian Union
Carol Service
Hosted by the Christian Unions of Manchester,
this first-ever joint carol service promises to be a
joyous and thought−provoking event with
well−loved carols led by RNCM musicians.
Tickets £2
No concessions
Promoted by RNCM Christian Union, University of
Manchester Christian Union and Manchester Metropolitan
Christian Union
Saturday 13 December
from 10.15am Various Venues
Junior RNCM
Performance Day
Performance Day profiles the work of the full
range of Junior RNCM ensembles, from the
Symphony Orchestra and Vocal Ensemble
to the Foundation Section and Brass Band.
For full details, contact the Junior RNCM on
0161 907 5264.
Free admission, no ticket required
Promoted by RNCM
34
Sunday 14 December
11am − 4pm Various Venues
RNCM CHRISTMAS
FAMILY DAY
A Stocking Full of Music!
Join us for the launch of a new series of Family
Days at the RNCM, full of activities and musicmaking for all ages. You don’t need to be a
musician to enjoy this day of fun workshops,
storytelling and concerts. You can also have
your face painted and tuck into some themed
food to help you get creative! For full details, please visit
www.rncm.ac.uk/christmasfamilyday
Promoted by RNCM
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Society of Strange and
Ancient Instruments
Nine Daies Wonder
Steven Player dancer, guitar, cittern
Clare Salaman director, nyckelharpa, hurdy
gurdy, Hardanger fiddle Jeremy Avis voice, percussion, cittern
Alison McGillivray violone, viola bastarda
Ian Harrison pipe and tabor, voice, cornett,
whistle, pipes, percussion We think of the publicity stunt as peculiar to our
age but the antics of Will Kemp − a shameless
self-publicist and one of the leading actors in
Shakespeare’s company − prove otherwise. In
1600 he danced his way from London to Norwich
in nine days, entertaining an adoring public
en route. The Society of Strange and Ancient
Instruments, with dancer Steven Player, celebrate
Will Kemp’s account of the journey, Nine Daies
Wonder, with raucous dance tunes and more
refined music of the Elizabethan age. They will
breathe new life into this celebrated event, which
remains awe-inspiring 400 years on, and still has
the power to delight, baffle and amuse.
Kemp was renowned for his ‘jigs’, which were
light-hearted entertainments performed for the
audience’s pleasure at the end of theatrical
performances. The Society will collaborate with
playwright and actor Simon Paisley Day, to
present a brand new 21st century Elizabethan
jig as part of Nine Daies Wonder.
Tickets £18 £15
Concessions available
www.strangeandancientinstruments.com
Promoted by RNCM
Friday 19 and Saturday 20 December
7.15pm RNCM Studio Theatre
Musical Youth UK
My Kind of Christmas: A Musical
Revue Show
My Kind of Christmas is Manchester Hub 1’s
Christmas revue show following their huge
success with Phantom of the Opera. Expect a
festive medley of Christmas songs and musical
theatre hits.
Tickets £12.50
No concessions
Promoted by MYUK
Society of Strange and
Ancient Instruments
Tuesday 16 December Saturday 20 December
7.30pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
Salford Choral Society
Handel Messiah
Tickets £17
Concessions available
Promoted by Salford Choral Society
35
COMING SOON
Friday 9 – Sunday 11 January
RNCM Chamber Music
Festival
Ma Vlast (My Country)
A survey of the finest in Czech chamber music
featuring three generations of Czech ensembles:
Pavel Haas Quartet, Talich Quartet and
Guarneri Trio Prague.
Thursday 19, Saturday 21, Monday 23,
Wednesday 25, Friday 27 and Sunday 29
March
RNCM Theatre
A Midsummer Night’s
Dream
Benjamin Britten
Our Spring Opera brings Britten’s masterwork
based on Shakespeare’s comedy to the RNCM
Theatre stage.
Sunday 22 March
Friday 23 – Sunday 25 January
RNCM Festival of Brass
Black Dyke, Fairey, Tredgar Town, Foden’s,
Grimethorpe Colliery and Cory Bands return
to the RNCM for a weekend of performances.
Tuba soloist and conductor James Gourlay will
be in residence.
Saturday 14 February
7.30pm RNCM Theatre
National Youth Jazz
Orchestra
My Funny Valentine
NYJO present an evening of elegant, romantic
and swinging love songs, classic and original
for Valentine’s Day.
Tuesday 24 February
7.30pm RNCM Concert Hall
Alexandra Dariescu
The RNCM alumna kicks off a four-part piano
recital series, featuring the complete Preludes by
Chopin and Dutilleux.
Wednesday 25 – Saturday 28 February
FutureEverything
We are delighted to collaborate with
FutureEverything once again to create
a festival of sonic art.
36
5pm RNCM Concert Hall
RNCM Symphony
Orchestra
Gustav Mahler Symphony No 2 in C minor
‘Resurrection’
Jac van Steen conductor
Jane Irwin soprano
Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano
A weekend of celebrations culminates in this
highly anticipated performance of Mahler’s
gargantuan Symphony No 2.
RNCM on the Road
Wednesday 19 November
RNCM ensembles and soloists perform regularly
throughout the UK, including concerts at prestigious
venues and festivals. Over recent years, our
musicians have performed at The Bridgewater Hall,
Wigmore Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, St Martinin-the-Fields, Royal Albert Hall, and at festivals
including Huddersfield, Deal, Buxton, Chester,
Lichfield and Salisbury.
RNCM Brass Band
Highlights of our travels this Autumn:
Friday 26 September
7.30pm The Church of the Ascension, Torrisholme
RNCM String Orchestra
Torrisholme Music Festival
Henry Purcell Fantasias No 11 (Z 742) and
No 6 (Z 737)
Georg Frideric Handel Organ Concertos Op 4
No 4 and Op 7 No 1
Tomaso Albinoni Adagio
Alessandro Marcello Oboe Concerto in D minor
Arcangelo Corelli Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 4
in D major
Antonio Vivaldi Concerto for four violins in B
minor Op 3 No 10
Levon Chilingirian director
Jas Hutchinson-Bazely organ
Helen Clinton oboe
7pm Peel Hall, University of Salford
The RNCM Brass Band conducted by John
Miller joins the University of Salford Brass Band
conducted by Howard Evans for a concert of
repertoire from the 19th century and First World
War era, featuring Roger Webster as guest cornet
soloist.
Thursday 11 December
1.15pm The Bridgewater Hall
RNCM Jazz Collective
Manchester Midday Concert Series
The RNCM Jazz Collective perform a selection of
classic signature tunes from the heyday of big band
swing and throw in a couple of seasonal medleys
for good measure.
The RNCM also provides musicians for regular
concert series at Emmanuel Church in Didsbury
and St Ann’s Church in Manchester City Centre.
Didsbury Coffee Concerts
Emmanuel Church, Didsbury
Concerts take place on Saturday mornings at 11am
13, 27 September, 18, 25 October
8, 22, 29 November, 13 December
Tuesday 7 October
St Ann’s Piano Recital Series
Kathryn Williams flute
James Vaughan piano
11 October, 1, 29 November
1pm St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
Georg Philipp Telemann Fantasia in A minor
Carl Reinecke Sonata in E minor Op 167
‘Undine’ Brian Ferneyhough Unity Capsule
Friday 10 October
7.30pm Town Hall, Deal
Duo Yoo and Kim
Following the first concert launching a new
partnership between RNCM and Deal Festival of
Music and the Arts this July featuring the Pether Trio
and Henry Clay, we are now going to Deal, Dover
and Sandwich with more concerts throughout the
year.
St Ann’s Church, Manchester
Concerts take place on Saturday afternoons at 3pm
St Ann’s Chamber Music Series
St Ann’s Church, Manchester
Concerts take place on Wednesday lunchtimes at 1pm
22 October, 12, 26 November
Looking for
musicians?
The RNCM’s Professional Engagements team
co-ordinates a large number of engagements on
behalf of music societies, clubs, companies and
individuals throughout the year. Performances
range from formal recitals, soloists for choral
societies and for concertos, through to background
music for weddings and events, and incorporate
a wide range of styles from classical to jazz.
Contact Abi Collins on 0161 907 5352
or [email protected] for further details.
37
Support the RNCM RNCM Friends
Events
Thursday 25 September
5pm RNCM Theatre
Thursday 6 November
3.30pm – 6pm RNCM CONCERT HALL
The Concert Hall Re-Opens!
RNCM Friends are invited to join Concert Hall
donors for a private view of the RNCM Concert
Hall before the venue re-opens to the public. The
first RNCM Principal, Sir John Manduell will cut
the ribbon in a ceremony introduced by current
Principal Professor Linda Merrick. Guests are
invited to tour the full scale of this £7.1 million
transformation project in the company of the RNCM
Estates staff and building contractors. Tours will
include the Concert Hall, backstage areas, the new
Student Learning Deck and the Lecture Theatre.
If you are already an RNCM Friend, you will
receive an invitation. If not, and you join before
Friday 31 October, you will be invited to this
special event. Email [email protected] or
call 0161 907 5394 for more information.
Sponsor a Costume
Be part of the RNCM’s production of Lehár’s The
Merry Widow and help us dress the cast.
‘Putting on a costume is the completion of your
characterisation. It can change the way you stand,
walk and gesture. With a show like The Merry
Widow the costumes will play a key role in adding
the glitz and glamour of the time’
Timothy Langston, performing the role of Danilo in
The Merry Widow
Sponsors will receive great benefits including
access to dress rehearsals, back stage tours and
signed prints of the designs. Sponsoring a costume
is the next best thing to being on stage yourself!
Sponsorship starts at just £50 and is open to
individual and corporate supporters. Further details
are available at rncm.ac.uk/sponsoracostume,
or alternatively contact the Development team on
0161 907 5394 or email [email protected].
Meet the composer Madame X, a new opera
by Tim Benjamin
Inspired by the Italian operas of Handel and by
Jacobean revenge drama, Madame X is a dark,
passionate and obsessive tale, peppered with black
humour and exploring the potent combination of
money and power in the world of art.
Join a host of RNCM alumni, including composer
and director Tim Benjamin and members of the
cast, for a tour of the set and an introduction to the
new opera, followed by tea and coffee.
Tickets £4
RNCM Friends can book tickets for the 7.30pm
performance of Madame X for just £10.20
Thursday 20 November
2pm RNCM Concert Hall
Masterclass with
The King’s Singers
Ahead of their evening performance, The King’s
Singers will coach two RNCM vocal ensembles
in a short masterclass. RNCM Friends are invited
to join them as they share their experience and
expertise with RNCM singers.
Free admission, by ticket only
RNCM Friends can book tickets for the evening
performance from just £15.30
Sunday 30 December 3pm (Franz cast)
Tuesday 2 December 3pm (Lehár cast)
RNCM Theatre
Opera Previews
Join RNCM Staff, students and fellow RNCM
Friends and be one of the first to see our new
production of Lehár’s The Merry Widow. See page
31 to find out more about the production.
Tickets: £12.50, free to Silver Members and above
(restrictions apply)
Membership to the RNCM Friends starts at just
£2.50 a month. Visit www.rncm.ac.uk/friends or
contact the Development team on 0161 907 5394 or
email [email protected] to find out more.
38
RNCM Outreach
The Outreach team engages with the RNCM’s
wider community through a year-round programme
of events. In addition it also designs bespoke
projects for a range of community groups and is
always happy to discuss new ideas. The Youth
Perform musical theatre group runs on Wednesday
evenings and is a low-cost, non-audition group for
all young people of secondary school age.
To find out about any of our projects contact Jennie
McCusker or Fiona Stuart on 0161 907 5281 or
[email protected], or visit
www.rncm.ac.uk/communityoutreach.
RNCM Outreach is grateful for the support of the
Eric and Margaret Kinder Charitable Trust.
Research Forums
at the RNCM
Come along for some refreshing mental stimulation,
hopefully in an area of musical activity that you
may not be that familiar with yet. Research Forums
are FREE and open to the public; RNCM staff and
guest speakers give presentations on an aspect of
their work - whether it’s musicological, creative,
educational, music-psychological or other kinds of
research. The talks last about 45 minutes and then
the floor is open for questions and discussion.
This Autumn, we’ll be exploring:
Wednesday 22 October
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Steve Berry
Liberate Your Ear (but not the Van Gogh
Method…)
Wednesday 29 October
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Garth Knox
Stretching the String
Wednesday 5 November
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Sarah Watts
Spectral Immersions – Bass Clarinet
Multiphonics
Wednesday 12 November
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Professor Liza Lim
Knots and Other Forms of Entanglement; a
Discussion of Recent Compositions
Wednesday 19 November
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Victoria Williamson
Earworms - Tunes that get Stuck in the Head.
Stories, Suspects and Solutions.
Wednesday 1 October
Wednesday 26 November
Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Professor Roger Marsh
Not the End: Untangling Contemporary Music
History
Ways of Telling Tales
Wednesday 8 October
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Simone Rebello
Martial Hauntology
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Percussion in Brass Bands
Wednesday 15 October
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Simon Clarke
Derrida and Top Theory: Musical Semiotics
Folded Back into Philosophy
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Wednesday 3 December
Toby Heys
Wednesday 10 December
5.15pm RNCM Lecture Theatre
Rob Buckland
Just One Note: the What, When, Why and
How of Musical Performance
Open to all, free admission, no ticket required. You
can read more about these sessions at www.rncm.
ac.uk/research/research-events/forum
39
Booking
Information
Group Discounts
Booking online
Flexible Series
Booking by phone
Save 15% or more on your tickets by creating your
own flexible series. Simply choose at least three
concerts you’d like to attend (marked with
logo).
www.rncm.ac.uk/whats-on
0161 907 5555
Booking in person or by post
Box Office, RNCM, 124 Oxford Road,
Manchester M13 9RD
Booking Fees
A booking fee of £1 per ticket applies to most
transactions. No booking fee applies to tickets
bought in person at the Box Office.
Payment
Payment can be made by cash, Mastercard, Visa
or Maestro.
Enquiries by email
[email protected]
Box Office opening hours
September – June
11am - 6pm Monday to Saturday
(later on performance nights)
Sunday 1 hour before performances
(closed on non-performance Sundays)
For full terms and conditions visit www.rncm.
ac.uk/whats-on/terms or contact the Box Office.
Concessions
Concessions are available for events where the
RNCM is the promoter. For all other events please
contact the Box Office for precise details of
concessions as they vary according to the event
promoter. All concessions are subject to availability
and it is advisable to book well in advance to
ensure the seats you require are available. Please
note that proof of concession will be required. For
further details please check with the Box Office or
visit www.rncm.ac.uk/discounts
Ticket Exchange & Refunds
Exchanges may only be made under current
guidelines. Contact the Box Office or visit
www.rncm.ac.uk/exchanges for full details.
Refunds are only made in the case of a cancelled
performance.
40
Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more
for all events promoted by the RNCM. For more
information contact the Box Office or visit www.
rncm.ac.uk/groups
Sonic Manchester
Sonic Manchester is a free scheme for students
run by the RNCM, The Bridgewater Hall, BBC
Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata. It gives
students the opportunity to buy tickets to a diverse
range of concerts from as little as £3. (NB Tickets
are subject to availability and prices may vary
depending on the event.) For more information and
to sign up for the latest offers please visit
www.facebook.com/sonicmanchester
Email & Mailing List
Keep in touch with events at the RNCM by joining
our free mailing list for regular updates. Sign up
at www.rncm.ac.uk/mailinglist or contact the Box
Office for details.
RNCM Historic Instrument
Collection
The RNCM Historic Instrument Collection is located
in the basement of the Library part of the College
building (to the left of the main entrance on Booth
Street West). It can be accessed using the staircase
behind the Box Office or by the lift situated
opposite the RNCM Library. Autumn 2014
opening hours can be found at
www.rncm.ac.uk/instrumentcollection
Artists and programmes are correct at the time of going
to press and we reserve the right to change artists and/or
programmes without notice if necessary.
We aim to deliver a quality events programme with
efficient and courteous service. If you have any comments
please contact Head of Marketing & Communications,
RNCM, 124 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9RD.
Artistic Proposals
We are always interested to hear your suggestions
for future programming. If you have an artistic
proposal you would like us to consider, please
email Richard Collins, Programming Manager, at
[email protected]
Access
How to find us
All public spaces and facilities are accessible to
wheelchair users (via lifts).
Large print and audio versions
of this brochure are available
from 0161 907 5555 or
[email protected]
Guide dogs are welcome, please inform the Box
Office when booking your ticket. The RNCM
Concert Hall and RNCM Theatre are fitted with
hearing assistance systems and receivers (available
from the Front of House team on request). Receivers
can be used in all venues in conjunction with a
standard hearing aid in the ‘T’ position or an
earpiece provided. Free parking is available
for disabled patrons, reserve your space with
reception on 0161 907 5300. Please contact the
Box Office or visit www.rncm.ac.uk/access for
detailed access information.
RT PLATFORM
The RNCM is located on the corner of Oxford
Road and Booth Street West. Oxford Road
connects the RNCM by bus to the City Centre,
Piccadilly and Victoria train stations. Oxford
Road station is a 10 minute walk away. Go to
www.tfgm.com for details of public transport
in the Greater Manchester area.
Parking
(1) The RNCM car park is located next to the
College in the basement of the Sir Charles Groves
Hall of Residence, off Rosamund Street West. Open
from 5pm weekday evenings and anytime over
weekends and bank holidays, costing £3 (payable
on entry). Closes at 11.30pm.
(2) The University of Manchester Booth Street car
park is situated off Booth Street West. Open 6am
- midnight.
(3) The Aquatics Centre car park is situated off
Booth Street East. Open 6am - 11pm.
For more information, please go to
www.rncm.ac.uk/findus
PIT SEATS
RNCM
Theatre
plan
Lower Hall
Upper Hall
Balcony
Oglesby Balcony
N1 M1
C1 B1 A1
CONCERT PLATFORM
D1
E1
New RNCM
Concert Hall
plan
F1
G1
A18
A11
D28
D17
E28
E16
F28
F15
Lower Hall
G29
G14
Upper Hall
Balcony
Oglesby Balcony
P1
T1
C24
C15
GG1
U1
B21
B13
H1
H17
I1
I17
J1
J17
K1
K17
L27
L1
Q1
R1
S1
P11
Q10
R9
P23
Q23
R23
S23
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Looking for a
venue?
The RNCM has a wide selection of excellent
purpose-built spaces to hire for every type of
event, performance or conference. Following a
£7.1 million refurbishment project to be completed
in November 2014, our largest spaces have now
been revitalised with excellent back of house
facilities and the latest technical set−up including a
new lighting rig and sound equipment.
Our venues:
The RNCM CONCERT HALL has been
completely refurbished with additional seating
capacity, air conditioning, new interior and an
updated technical fit out. The new space has
a variety of flexible options for your event with
layouts including 445 capacity seating on Level
One, 610 capacity seating with our new Balcony
and Oglesby Balcony open, or even up to 730
capacity seating with a reduced stage size for
amplified bands and small ensembles (NB – please
speak to our Events Manager for further details
about the 730 layout). This unique octagonal
performance space also contains a Hradetsky Four
Manual Concert Organ, a variety of dressing room
spaces suitable for very large ensembles and a
private soloists’ room, a separate lighting box area,
new discrete multicore runs and fly motors for ease
of rigging equipment, all with easy access for a flat
floor load−in and parking for buses and trucks.
The RNCM Theatre boasts one of the largest
black box stages in Manchester with ample wing
space, orchestra pit, lighting box area and space
for a sound desk in addition to the seated capacity.
Along with these features, it also benefits from the
newly refurbished backstage area including access
to all the new dressing room spaces, technical
equipment and loading area. There are 607 seats
in the Theatre with an option to place additional
audience seating over the orchestra pit, taking the
total maximum capacity to 657 seats.
The RNCM Studio Theatre is a flexible black
box space which has an audience capacity of up
to 140 seats. The space is equipped with projector,
screen and a flexible lighting rig, suitable for a
variety of events from theatre to talks to music
performances. It has two private dressing rooms
attached to the space and can be configured in
a variety of set-ups from Theatre Style, Cabaret or
even In The Round.
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The Carole Nash Recital Room is a stunning
shoebox venue which has up to 110 seats in
a Theatre Style configuration. The room has
a wonderful acoustic making it a great venue
for small-scale performances as well as being
a beautiful room for conferences and catering
receptions. It is equipped with one private dressing
room, projector, screen and a small lighting rig.
The Lecture Theatre has a 150 capacity and
has been completely updated following the
refurbishment project. It comes equipped with
projector, screen and is ideal for pre-concert talks,
discussions and presentations.
The RNCM also has a wide range of smaller
spaces suitable for social functions, events, dinners,
rehearsals or conferences.
For dates and rates regarding performances,
workshops and public events, please contact our
Events Manager, Tom Besford on 0161 907 5289
or [email protected]
For conference and catering enquiries, please
contact our Conference and Catering Team on
0161 907 5353 or [email protected]
Eating and
Drinking at the
RNCM
There are refreshment facilities available at the
RNCM with the Café, Brodsky Restaurant and Bar
and the Concert Bar offering a range of fresh,
home cooked and locally sourced food from just a
coffee and a pastry to a three course meal.
During term time, Monday to Friday, the Café is
open from 8am until the interval on performance
nights; Brodsky is open from 11am with last food
orders at 7.30pm and the Concert Bar is open from
5pm until 11pm.
On Junior School days during term time the Café is
open from 8am until 3.30pm or until the interval of
the evening performance. At other times the Café
is open one hour prior to the performance time
until the interval for events in the Concert Hall or
Theatre.
Brodsky
In conjunction with the opening of the refurbished
Concert Hall, Brodsky is delighted to be launching
a new menu with vibrant new dishes sitting
alongside firm favourites. To reserve your table in
Brodsky please call 0161 907 5353 or 5252.
Afternoon Tea
Having enjoyed a lunchtime concert, why not
treat yourself to afternoon tea in Brodsky? Priced
at £9.95 per person, afternoon tea is available
Monday – Friday and must be pre-booked. Please
call 0161 907 5353 or 5252.
Hospitality at the RNCM
The RNCM can also provide catering for social
functions, events, dinners, training events, meetings
and conferences in our venues. Please contact
our Conference and Catering Team on 0161 907
5353 or [email protected] for further details
During the vacation the Concert Bar opens one
hour prior to the performance time.
Outside term time and at weekends opening hours
are dependent upon the performance programme.
Please call 0161 907 5353 or 5252 for full details
of menus and opening hours.
Brodsky and the Concert Bar are Cask Marque accredited.
All food items and menus are subject to availability.
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/RNCMLIVE
/RNCMVOICE
WWW.RNCM.AC.UK
BOX OFFICE 0161 907 5555
Sponsors and Supporters
Backstage Trust
Eric and Margaret
Kinder Charitable Trust
Event Partners