Step into a winter wonderland as we bring the magic of Christmas to life with a dazzling evening of festive music. From the enchanting world of The Nutcracker to the irresistible swing of Duke Ellington classics, this is a show that will put a smile on the face of even the most stubborn Christmas grinch!

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BBC Philharmonic - The BBC Philharmonic Christmas Special

The Bridgewater Hall

Step back in time for an unforgettable evening of big band brilliance with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. This iconic ensemble brings the spirit of the 1940s to life, celebrating the unforgettable sound of Glenn Miller and the golden age of swing.

Glenn Miller Orchestra

City Noir is John Adams’s musical tribute to half-lit rooms, venetian blinds, desperate men, dangerous women, secrets, lies, and the City of Angels. A symphony inspired by the iconography of 40s and 50s film noir, it weaves a dark and swaggering jazz sensibility through its three movements.

BBC Philharmonic - City Noir

This Scandinavian programme opens with Esa-Pekka Salonen’s enigmatic Helix, described by the composer as a spiralling ‘nine-minute accelerando’. While the pulse of the piece increases gradually throughout, the note values get proportionately longer, creating a fascinating experience, where the work seems to simultaneously speed up and slow down.

Grieg’s Piano Concerto

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

The Artelize Podcast and Kasper Holten - Pedefining Opera for the modern world

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36M5Hi6O80

The Artelize Podcast - A legacy of innovation in Opera: Celebrating Marc A. Scorca

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59E40S_EQSY

The Artelize Podcast: A love letter that was never sent

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THv6htilWtI

The Artelize Podcast and Adolfo Corrado: Mediterranean flavors, opera and social media

2025’s astounding winner of the Terence Judd-Hallé Award, Julius Asal, joins forces with returning Hallé conductor Lionel Bringuier to perform Grieg’s exceptional Piano Concerto.

The Hallé – Grieg’s Piano Concerto

Two generations of Hallé musicians team up to perform alongside each other in this artistic duo of works. Unsuk Chin composed Frontispiece as a timelapse through musical history, taking and reinterpreting the styles and flourishes of several significant composers, from Tchaikovsky and Strauss to Webern and Stravinsky. It is kaleidoscopic in its construction; contrasting fragments from vastly different musical periods work together to create something entirely unique. This theme continues with Ravel’s orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Originally composed just for solo piano, the work leads the listener through several eclectic movements, each representing a painting by the artist Viktor Hartmann. Like Unsuk Chin’s piece, it is a kind of musical patchwork and, with Ravel’s orchestration, it utilises all the instrumental families to their full effect.

The Hallé & Hallé Youth Orchestra: Side by Side

Unsuk Chin composed Frontispiece as a timelapse through musical history, taking and reinterpreting the styles and flourishes of several significant composers, from Tchaikovsky and Strauss to Webern and Stravinsky. It is kaleidoscopic in its construction; contrasting fragments from vastly different musical periods work together to create something entirely unique.

Side-By-Side: The Hallé and Hallé Youth Orchestra

Camille Pépin is making waves. A brilliant new voice in contemporary music, her addictive, luxuriant work sits somewhere between the seemingly opposite worlds of French impressionism and American minimalism.

BBC Philharmonic - Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances

‘Wong’s expansive gestures are audience-pleasing; sometimes it looked as if he was channelling the music from the performers to the audience in a very visual way.’

The Hallé – Beethoven’s Eroica

A cellist of international renown, Jan Vogler is no stranger to either of Shostakovich’s cello concertos. His 2020 recording of the Second garnered critical praise for its thoughtful introspection and ‘flawless intonation’ (The Classic Review). Shostakovich’s formidable First, generally agreed to be one of the most difficult concerto works for the instrument, performed by Jan, is certainly not to be missed.

Beethoven’s Eroica

Gather your Valentines, your Galentines and your Palentines for a night of musical magic. Join us for a stroll down Broadway – a world where stories sing and feelings dance – for a spellbinding evening of unforgettable tunes, timeless favourites and absolute show-stoppers. Featuring songs from some of Broadway’s finest, including West Side Story, Anything Goes, Guys and Dolls and Wicked – come along and let the magic of musical theatre sweep you off your feet.

The Hallé – From Broadway, With Love

Unsuk Chin’s Le Chant des Enfants des Étoiles is an intensely atmospheric work which will take you on an exploration through the stars and the infinite reaches of space. Recently revised by the composer, this concert presents the exciting world premiere of this updated version.

The Planets

In a magnificent chorus of Hallé singers, the Choir and Children’s Choir join Kahchun Wong for a celestial trio. Unsuk Chin’s Le Chant des Enfants des Étoiles is an intensely atmospheric work which will take you on an exploration through the stars and the infinite reaches of space. Recently revised by the composer, this concert presents the exciting world premiere of this updated version. While the most recognised of Holst’s The Planets in modern times are perhaps Mars, the Bringer of War and Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (featured in ‘I Vow to Thee, My Country’), hearing the complete suite in order provides an incredible musical journey through the solar system. Commissioned by the Hallé, Colin Matthews rose to the irresistible challenge of writing a complementary movement to Holst’s The Planets. A flurry of solar winds in the strings, and the lightning-fast scherzo Pluto, the Renewer was formed.

The Hallé – The Planets

Violist Lawrence Power returns to perform Cassandra Miller’s acclaimed Viola Concerto, a piece heralded on its 2022 premiere as an instant classic. Miller weaves her personal attachments into music, creating a work that is delicate, emotionally charged, and deeply human.

BBC Philharmonic - Romeo & Juliet

Euan Shields takes to the podium to lead the Hallé orchestra through this dark and supernatural programme. Taras Bulba, based on the Nikolai Gogol novel of the same name, was written in the midst of World War One. It leads the listener through three key moments in the life of the Russian Cossack, including the death of each of his two sons (one at his own hand), and finally, his own capture and demise. Shostakovich’s First Symphony was a huge success right from its premiere, launching him into instant international stardom at the age of just 19. Written as a graduation exercise from Maximilian Steinberg’s composition class, the symphony possesses a profound maturity, as well as the simultaneous sense of wit and tragedy that would go on to become characteristic of Shostakovich’s later works.

The Hallé – Rush Hour: Shostakovich’s Symphony No.1

Following the lively ‘Courtly Dances’ from Britten’s opera Gloriana, Norwegian trumpeter, Tine Thing Helseth takes to the platform to perform this new, exciting work, written especially for her. Musically illustrating the biblical role of the trumpet and celebrating its vast expressive possibilities, Nico Muhly’s Doom Painting leads us on a dramatic journey through this historic instrument’s various iterations: ceremonial object for rituals and celebrations alike; harbinger of Doomsday; and jubilant instrument of the psalms.

Walton’s First Symphony

American violinist Sophia Stoyanovich has earned acclaim for her “lustrous tone” and “superb musical instincts” Fanfare. Since her debut with the Seattle Symphony, she has performed internationally, including solo debuts at the Wiener Konzerthaus and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall.

Sophia Stoyanovich violin & Derek Wang piano

The first cello concerto by Grammy-winning composer Gabriela Ortiz is inspired by the extraordinary landscape of the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico. Ortiz wrote it for ICS favourite Alisa Weilerstein – and she’ll be performing it herself in its Manchester premiere.

Philharmonia Orchestra

Nicholas Carter, one of the leading opera conductors of his generation, makes his Bridgewater Hall debut.

Orchestral events in Manchester

BBC Philharmonic - The BB...

The Bridgewater Hall

Glenn Miller Orchestra

The Bridgewater Hall

BBC Philharmonic - City N...

The Bridgewater Hall

Grieg’s Piano Concerto

The Hallé

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast - A ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast: A l...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Hallé – Grieg’s Piano...

The Bridgewater Hall

The Hallé & Hallé Youth O...

The Bridgewater Hall

Side-By-Side: The Hallé a...

The Hallé

BBC Philharmonic - Rachma...

The Bridgewater Hall

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic ...

BBC Philharmonic

The Hallé – Beethoven’s E...

The Bridgewater Hall

Beethoven’s Eroica

The Hallé

The Hallé – From Broadway...

The Bridgewater Hall

The Planets

The Hallé

The Hallé – The Planets

The Bridgewater Hall

BBC Philharmonic - Romeo ...

The Bridgewater Hall

The Hallé – Rush Hour: Sh...

The Bridgewater Hall

Walton’s First Symphony

The Hallé

Sophia Stoyanovich violin...

The Bridgewater Hall

Philharmonia Orchestra

The Bridgewater Hall

BBC Philharmonic - Four L...

The Bridgewater Hall