Manchester Camerata has today today announced its 2024/25 season, strengthening relationships with its Artistic Partners and forming new collaborations.
Led by its Music Director, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Manchester Camerata’s new season sees the orchestra collaborate with its Artistic Partners – AMC Gospel Choir, Kantos Chamber Choir, Daniel Pioro and Rushil Ranjan – in addition to guest soloists and conductors in venues across Greater Manchester and the UK. The range of music in these concerts explores the contrasting identities of musicians and communities.
Clara Marshall Cawley, Head of Artistic Planning at Manchester Camerata, said:
“At Camerata, we are always searching for new ways to connect and communicate with our audiences. This season, we explore the theme of identity – sharing stories of our communities, players and partners through the universal language of music. It’s great to have a number of concerts at our home venue, The Monastery, as well as developing exciting projects which will tour nationally with our Artistic Partners.
As always, none of this would be possible without the exceptional quality of performance and communication from our players.”
Building on its relationship with Artistic Partner and revered composer, Rushil Ranjan, Manchester Camerata presents the world premiere of Songs for the soul at Stoller Hall [30 Oct]. Ranjan is one of the most distinctive composers working in the UK today, straddling the worlds of classical, contemporary and Sufi music. The concert will be conducted by Melvin Tay, a versatile Singaporean conductor based in Manchester. It will tour to Howard Assembly Room in Leeds [2 Nov] and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama [7 Nov].
In the forthcoming festive season, the Camerata returns with its two popular Christmas shows. The first is a performance of Handel’s magnificent Messiah with Kantos Chamber Choir conducted by David Greilsammer at Gorton Monastery, Manchester [1 Dec]. Another annual favourite for local audiences is Festive Happening, which returns to the Albert Hall, Manchester [15 Dec]. This family concert is performed with AMC Gospel Choir, and appears in Saffron Walden [9 Dec] and at Birmingham Town Hall [13 Dec].
Daniel Pioro has commissioned poetry from Sir Michael Morpurgo inspired by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which will be narrated at concerts in January [19 Jan]. Pioro will lead the Camerata in a family matinee and a concert on the same day, the latter of which will include a performance of Caroline Shaw’s Evergreen. Both Manchester concerts will be performed in-the-round, with the family show encouraging children to engage with the music.
These performances will also feature at Kings Place [18 Jan, on sale October 2024].
The Camerata’s string section and Kantos Chamber Choir present music inspired by space in a concert conducted by Ellie Slorach at Gorton Monastery in which audience members can gaze at the cosmos [9 Feb]. Images of the universe, including from the world’s most powerful telescope, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, will be projected onto the interior walls of the Monastery. This will create an immersive concert experience like no other.
Manchester Camerata celebrates the proud heritage of its Hungarian Music Director, Gábor Takács-Nagy, with a programme of Kodály’s Dances of Galanta and Bartók’s Hungarian Sketches performed with musicians from the Royal Northern College of Music [21 Mar]. This comes alongside Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with soloist and Camerata section principal, Hannah Roberts.
Mozart, Made in Manchester
The highly acclaimed concert and recording series, in which Manchester Camerata has performed and recorded all Mozart’s piano concertos with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet across eight years and 10 albums, comes to a dramatic finale at Stoller Hall [20 Sep]. For Bavouzet’s last performance in the series, he will be joined by pianists Andrea Nemecz and Rose McLachlan in Mozart’s Concerto No. 7 for Three Pianos and Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos, with the programme including the overtures to La finta semplice and Idomeneo, among other pieces, conducted by Gábor Takács-Nagy. The concert will be recorded and issued on Chandos in 2025.
The Mozart, Made in Manchester series then evolves as the Camerata performs two concerts of Mozart’s beautiful horn concertos with leading horn player, Martin Owen [2 Apr, 23 May]. The concerts will take place at Stoller Hall led by Gábor Takács-Nagy. The first features an overture by classical-era composer Marianna Martines as well as Haydn’s 94th symphony, and the second features Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.
Further highlights
Donald Grant is one of the UK’s foremost fiddle players. He performs with Manchester Camerata for the first time in a concert of traditional and contemporary Scottish music, alongside his own arrangements of Gaelic songs. The event is called The Night Overtook Us and will be held at the Royal Northern College of Music [24 Nov].
Manchester Camerata celebrates composer Daniel Kidane’s return to Manchester in a performance with Daniel Pioro at The University of Manchester and acclaimed violinist Jonian Ilias Kadesha [29 Nov]. The Camerata then returns to Wigmore Hall in London with a programme of Bach alongside Kidane’s music performed with harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani [30 Nov]. The orchestra has commissioned several pieces by Kidane previously, most recently the pandemic-era piece, Be Still.
Outreach
Manchester Camerata continues its industry-leading community work in the 2024/25 season, serving local residents in Gorton and across the Greater Manchester boroughs. Greater Manchester was recently named as the UK’s first Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia, hosted by Manchester Camerata.
This will see the Camerata’s weekly music cafes – where orchestral musicians use music-therapy based techniques to improve the lives of people living with dementia and their carers – expanded from their current schedule in Gorton and Wigan to all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs from Autumn/Winter 2024. In partnership with The University of Manchester and the Power of Music Fund established by The National Academy for Social Prescribing, the aims of the initiative are to improve people’s lives and relieve pressure on the NHS.
Applications are now open for the Camerata 360° Ruth Sutton Fellowship. Inaugurated in 2023, this programme funds training for five young musicians and composers based in the North of England to learn about all aspects of Camerata’s work and the impact it makes. Successful applicants have the chance to perform with Manchester Camerata or have their music performed by the orchestra, organise events, work with the administration team and receive training in marketing, finance and concert programming. Each fellow receives a dedicated mentor and all training is paid. The fellowships last one year and their aim is to improve musical provision in the North of England.
Manchester Camerata also continues its work in local schools throughout the 2024/25 season, promoting personal and social development in young people’s lives. Pupils in Manchester schools such as Webster Primary benefit from Camerata activities such as creative workshops that encourage diverse approaches to music education.
To celebrate the launch of its 2024/25 season, Manchester Camerata has partnered with local craft beer brewer, Cloudwater, to create a limited edition pale ale called ‘Support Your Local Orchestra’. The beer will be rolled out nationwide on 21 June, available in approximately 200 bars, pubs and shops, and will draw attention to Manchester Camerata’s performances and community work via a QR code on each can.
