Hallé Orchestra Announces Digital Winter Season

The Hallé has announced its Winter Season: nine concerts streamed from the Hallé's Manchester homes, The Bridgewater Hall and Hallé St Peter's in Ancoats.

The orchestra's Music Director, Sir Mark Elder, who has been such a leading advocate for music during this time, will conduct five concerts alongside the family of Hallé conductors. They include Assistant Conductor and winner of the 2020 Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition Delyana Lazarova, former Assistant Conductor Jonathon Heyward, Associate Pops Conductor Stephen Bell and Artist in Residence Henning Kraggerud. Special guest artists will include Jess Gillam, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Roderick Williams, Boris Giltburg and director Annabel Arden.

This exciting new filmed format enables the orchestra to adventure into new ways of presenting the orchestra and enhancing the music. There is a diverse array of repertoire, including large scale orchestral works by Shostakovich and Wagner, concertos and string masterpieces by Beethoven and Strauss, a new staging of Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale and importantly, world premieres by Hannah Kendall and Huw Watkins, as well as introductions, interviews and insights from, for example, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. The full set of concerts can be found at www.halle.co.uk/winter-season-2020.

Hallé Music Director Sir Mark Elder said: "We cannot overstate our joy at being able to make music once again. Everyone at the Hallé is thrilled at the prospect of being able to broadcast our work, as a first step towards bringing musicians and audiences back together. We know how much our supporters have been looking forward to this moment, and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to all those who have been so kind and generous over these past months. We have all worked hard to put together a series of wonderful concerts - impressive in any context - and we hope you get much enjoyment from them."

Hallé Chief Executive David Butcher said: "This is a particularly happy moment for me personally, having joined the wonderful Hallé family in September. In spite of these extraordinary and unprecedented times, with concert halls currently closed and live audiences sadly excluded, we are thrilled to be able to present a Winter Season of nine unique concerts. These specially curated performances will be filmed and recorded to the very highest quality for everyone to watch at home, and experience a vast array of music and performance styles, demonstrating the pioneering spirit of the Hallé. We are deeply grateful to ACE, GMCA, Manchester City Council, our sponsors, patrons and donors. We are especially grateful to our partners at The Bridgewater Hall who have worked so hard to ensure their success."

This digital season is only one element of the Hallé's exciting winter season plans. Announcements will soon be made about a series of chamber concerts in Hallé St Peter's with the hope to play to a small live audience. Schools will also be able to enjoy Goddess Gaia - a magnificent twenty-minute educational resource featuring full animation, original music by Steve Pickett performed by Hallé players, based on a story by Tony Mitten. Detailed announcements about this and the Hallé Chamber Concert Series will be made soon.

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