Following a busy summer of shows including a Hacienda Classical tour and three world premiere performances, Manchester Camerata today [14 September] announce its 2023/2024 performance plans with unique and exciting collaborations alongside new Artistic Partners and affordable ticket offers.
Samantha McShane, Creative Director of Manchester Camerata, said:
“One of the things I love about our orchestra is the energy, friendship, and electricity our musicians create on stage. We want our audience to move from watching and listening to our shows to feeling them – and our players are key to this. We want you to feel closer both physically and figuratively and have considered the audience experience through every step of the way for this season’s programme.
We have three new innovative Artistic Partners, and, as a team, we’ll be bringing you a diverse array of projects and new works. Violinist Daniel Pioro, composer Rushil Ranjan and Kantos Chamber Choir all believe in the transformative power of music and will join us on our mission over the next three years!
I can’t wait to embark on this season’s journey with our Music Director and Artistic Partners – it’s going to be one to remember!”
NEW ARTISTIC PARTNERS
Following his performance with the Camerata at The Bridgewater Hall earlier this year, British-Polish violinist Daniel Pioro is one of the group’s new Artistic Partners. He will join them on stage at Gorton Monastery – the Orchestra’s home – in February 2024 for a programme of Bach, Vivaldi and Rameau. Daniel is a unique and fearless artist who aligns with the Camerata’s values in today’s classical music landscape. He is a true innovator and experimentalist, unafraid to disrupt the status quo and always finding new ways of creating and listening to sound.
Composer Rushil Ranjan joins the Camerata’s roster of Artistic Partners, having collaborated together on Ranjan’s symphonic interpretation of Allama Muhammed Iqbal’s legendary Urdu poem Shikwa (Complaint) last season at the Bradford Literature Festival. This new relationship reinforces the Camerata’s commitment to commissioning new music which forges connections between communities, and dates for a tour of Shikwa will be announced in due course.
The 23/24 season sees Manchester Camerata collaborate with the northern based Kantos Chamber Choir and its founder and director Ellie Slorach who share the Camerata’s passion for accessibility within classical music. Their first performance as Artistic Partner will be at Gorton Monastery in December for an immersive concert experience of Handel’s Messiah. Performed in the round, Camerata, Kantos and the soloists within it will give the audience a new perspective both audibly and visually by moving throughout the space.
NEW MUSIC
Commissioned by the Leeds International Concert Series, Manchester Camerata is collaborating with young Jamaican violinist Ellinor D’Melon on the world premiere of a new Caribbean interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as part of Sound Out Leeds 2023/24. Composers Philip Herbert, Cassie Kinoshi, Renell Shaw and Ayanna Witter-Johnson have been commissioned to each write a ‘season’ for Four Seasons of the Caribbean.
Performing new music has always been at the forefront of the Camerata’s ethos. Over the past few months they have performed world premieres of works by Rushil Ranjan, Laura Bowler and AFRODEUTSCHE, as well as the UK premiere of a work by Holly Harrison. The 2023/2024 season continues this focus on new music with the world premiere of a new work by Royal Philharmonic Society composer Blasio Kavuma who has written a powerful work for the Camerata and AMC Gospel Choir [22 Nov]. Later in the season the orchestra will perform the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by Manchester-based electronic, DIY and classical composer Carmel Smickersgill [7 March].
MUSIC FOR ALL
With its reputation for making classical music accessible to everybody, Manchester Camerata’s 23/24 season sees them perform classical, contemporary, electronic and family-friendly events in venues ranging from Stoller Hall and Manchester’s Albert Hall through to its home at the Gorton Monastery and the New Century Hall, one of Manchester’s newest music venues.
For classical music fans, the Camerata continues its Mozart, Made in Manchester performance and recording series with its Music Director Gábor Takács-Nagy and pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet [6 October and 17 May] and is joined by Artistic Partner Daniel Pioro for a candlelit concert of baroque repertoire at Gorton Monastery [February 2024].
Manchester Camerata continues its UNQUIET series, devised alongside Robert Ames, which sees them collaborate with electronic artists aimed at “the brave and the curious”. The next UNQUIET show is at Manchester’s New Century Hall and sees the Camerata collaborate with Robert Ames, Speakers Corner Quartet, Coby Sey, Confucius MC, James Massiah, Lea Sen, Leilah, Tawiah, Eska and more [22 November].
For its Christmas programming, the Camerata returns with its popular annual candlelit performance of Handel’s Messiah at Gorton Monastery, this year presented alongside Artistic Partner Kantos Chamber Choir for an immersive concert experience [3 December]. The following week, Festive Happening takes place at the Albert Hall, Manchester, with regular collaborators AMC Gospel Choir and Choir Director Audrey Mattis [10 December].
Making his debut with the ensemble, pianist and BBC Young Musician finalist Ethan Loch performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 at the Albert Hall, Manchester, conducted by Karen Ni Bhroin [7 March]. The programme also includes the world premiere of a new work by Carmel Smickersgill in addition to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8.
Back at Stoller Hall, the Camerata perform a programme entitled Hearing Voices [5 April]. The concert features the orchestra with Kantos Chamber Choir and mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill in a programme that pairs music from past and present, exploring themes of obsession, forbidden love and death through works such as Purcell’s Dido’s Lament and Britten’s Phaedra.
Bringing the season to a close at Stoller Hall, the Camerata take to the stage with author Sir Michael Morpurgo and award-winning television presenter Josie D’Arby for a narrated performance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals in a special juxtaposition of music and spoken word [8 June].
AFFORDABLE TICKETING
As an organisation committed to making music accessible for all, Manchester Camerata is once again offering £3 tickets for residents of Gorton for all its concerts across Greater Manchester, and is launching a brand-new £10 ticket offer for all concerts for those under 30. Additionally, all of the ensemble’s concerts are taking place in fully accessible venues.
COMMUNITY AND EDUCATION WORK
Manchester Camerata places equal importance on performing as it does on its community outreach programmes and education projects, working in schools, care homes and community hubs all year round. It is dedicated to its role as an industry leader in the field of music and dementia, having secured NHS funding to develop its ground-breaking Music In Mind programme and been invited to share best practice in its dementia programme to the National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan later this year. Last month, Manchester Camerata announced its inaugural Camerata 360° Ruth Sutton Fellowship, a year-long and paid training programme created in order to address the need for recent music graduates in the North of England to be given more learning opportunities.
