There’s plenty going on at Manchester’s newest venue Stoller Hall this July.
This Saturday sees interdependence: We Need to Talk. Curated by MIF, FutureEverything, The Guardian and VICE, Manchester International Festival invites you to consider and debate today’s hot-button topics: power, heroes, technology, community, truth and change. Over six sessions, it will be bringing together a wide range of leading artists, architects, activists, politicians, writers and thinkers, and inviting you to join them as they explore each issue through conversations, discussions, performances and special artist interventions.
On Sunday the 9th July, as part of the first Jewish Arts Festival For All (JAFFA) in Manchester, The Stoller Hall will host this unmissable Gala Concert. Featuring Greg Nogradi, the winner of the 2016 Jewish Pavarotti Award and boasting one of the most significant voices ever introduced in Jewish Music.
David Ezra Okonşar, a classical concert pianist, modern-composer, orchestra conductor, musicologist and music writer who will premiere his new composition Rhapsodies Hebraiques in two parts at the concert; and the L’chaim Kapelye Klezmer Ensemble, a 7-piece ensemble based in Manchester, who specialise in infectious dance tunes and soulful songs of the klezmer and yiddish folksong tradition.
Later this month on the 21st July, Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita, the sublime and multi award-winning harp and kora collaboration between two acclaimed virtuosos, Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita join forces in a stunning exhibition of world-class musicianship.
Drawing on their diverse traditions and transforming them with remarkable synergy; Mandinka rhythms mix effortlessly with Welsh tunes, with hypnotic improvisations from both in a set which is at once exhilarating and mesmerising.
While on the 29th July, as part of the Manchester Jazz festival, Internationally acclaimed piano trio Phronesis are joined by an octet of string and woodwind players from the award-winning Engines Orchestra, conducted by Chetham’s alumnus Phil Meadows, to perform Decade Zero by composer Dave Maric. Phronesis tunes are woven throughout Maric’s original music in a unique homage to the band, using loops, rhythms and textures inspired by their high-energy performances, off-kilter grooves and Dave Maric’s own contemporary classical music.
