John Adams in Manchester

The Hallé is thrilled to welcome composer, conductor and creative thinker, John Adams back to Manchester for an exciting festival, celebrating some of his most popular music, as well as a very special UK premiere of a brand-new work.

John Adams is distinct amongst contemporary classical composers, having developed his music’s driving pulses and brilliance of sound into an expansive expressive language that is unmistakably his own.

The celebration begins at The Bridgewater Hall on Thursday 30 October with a performance of Harmonium, a surging poetic soundscape regarded as one of the composer’s key minimalist compositions which will be brought to life by the Hallé, Hallé Choir and outstanding soprano Mary Bevan. 

On Friday 31 October, the festival moves to the Royal Northern College of Music, for an intimate lunchtime chamber concert followed by a RNCM Symphony Orchestra concert. 

Back at The Bridgewater Hall on Saturday 1 November, the performance begins with Scheherazade.2, a dramatic symphony for solo violin and orchestra performed by the sensational violin soloist Leila Josefowicz for whom the piece was written.

John Adams said of the festival: “I'm very proud of my history with the Hallé orchestra. I first conducted them in the days before The Bridgewater Hall opened. I'm especially looking forward to having the Hallé Choir perform my choral symphony, ‘Harmonium’, to having my longtime collaborator Leila Josefowicz play ‘Scheherezade.2’ (written for her) and to ending these concerts with the UK premiere of my most recent orchestra piece, The Rock You Stand On.”

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