artistic director
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC
RNCM1
Autumn 2013 Season at the RNCM
programme included Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera Greek; Julian Arguëlles, Rokia Traoré and Hugh Masekela; Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times with live orchestra; Boy George; Michael Nyman; New Music North West classical contemporary music festival; a new children’s opera created by children through our learning and participation programme; masterclasses with Midori, Lang Lang and Alison Balsom; and recitals with Imogen Cooper, Mark Padmore, Wolfgang Holzmeir and András Schiff.
RNCM2
Spring 2014 Season at the RNCM
programme included several festivals, including the co-curation and co-production of FUTURE EVERYTHING, a sonic arts festival with live installations, mirrors, structures, choral performances, lasers, optics, animation, screens and illusions.
RNCM3
a programme rich with partnerships, such as Royal Exchange in Manchester, Imperial War Museum North, the BBC Philharmonic and Manchester Jazz Festival. An eclectic programme discovering [cliché alert!] “the stars of the future” with the gorgeous voice of Kang Wang; and artists across genres, from Jackie Kay to Toumani Diabaté, and Alfred Brendel to The Bad Plus.
RNCM4
The opening of the new RNCM concert hall - a £7M project - with an evening with Sir Thomas Allen. A season including Philip Glass’ acclaimed opera, The Trial, as well as a residence with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and a festival commemorating composer Jonathan Harvey. Artists included Julian Joseph, Dame Emma Kirkby with Jakob Lindberg, and Vasily Petrenko with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
RNCM5
From Ólafur Arnalds to Pavel Haas Quartet, Pascal Rogé to GoGo Penguin, Courtney Pine and Polar Bear, and Britten’s magical A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No 2 (‘Resurrection’).
RNCM6
A monumental concert and an historic moment: Krzysztof Penderecki conducts the UK première of his magnificent Seven Gates of Jerusalem at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester - the apex of a celebration of Polish music, supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, as part of the Polska Music programme.
A merging of soundworlds, and a plethora of music from the c-20th and c-21st. Programme included artists from saxophone legend David Sanborn to Gisela João; Robert Glasper Trio to Jean-Efflem Bavouzet, Stephen Hough, and Noriko Ogawa; contemporary dance, multimedia interactive and theatrical installations, and silent film noir with live organ accompaniment.
RNCM7
It’s all about colour…
A season which comprised a star-studded tribute to Michael Kennedy CBE, with the Hallé, Manchester Camerata, BBC Philharmonic with Sir Mark Elder and Sir Andrew Davis. Twenty-three world-renowned artists all in one performance, which also included the world premiere my orchestration of Britten’s arrangement ofThe Last Rose of Summer (trad.) sung gorgeously by Kathryn Rudge.
A programme which centred around colour, with Scriabin, Debussy, Ravel, a partnership with Manchester Science Festival for an exploration of synaesthesia, and so much more. Dame Evelyn Glennie and contemporary dance added something visceral. The freedom and energy of the new work Wide Awakening meant that there were no boundaries and the soundworld could be exploited even further.’
RNCM8
Angela Hewitt, Susan Bullock, Ralph Kirshbaum, a collaboration with the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris…
‘The promotion of the art of our time is a constant priority for the RNCM. In the last six months we have welcomed Krzysztof Penderecki, Robert Saxton, and Brian Ferneyhough. Today we welcome alumnus Sir Harrison Birtwistle – testament of our strong commitment to contemporary music. From 60sec works to an opera and a 4.5hr– long installation, we have created our most exciting and contrasting New Music North West to date.’
RNCM9
From Kronos Quartet to Max Richter Ensemble, Markus Stockhausen with Florian Webber to Julian Argüelles, Artur Pizarro to Colin Currie, a cross-departmental production with TOO DARN HOT to collaborations with Manchester Children’s Book Festival, Manchester Jazz Festival, as well as Opera North as part of their Wagner Ring Cycle project.
‘It should be one’s sole endeavour to see everything afresh and create it anew.’
Gustav Mahler
How does one portray everything that happens at the RNCM in just four days? Starting with our harp ensemble, we base everything on the concept of the phoenix. A commissioned installation, Shift, takes over our iconic staircase and transforms it with moving colour, pattern and light, abrupt connections and dynamic interactions of motion. Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream brings magic, excitement comes with the RNCM Big Band with Tina May and Nikki Iles, and our Studio Theatre becomes a nightclub for the RNCM Introduces series. The Library is decontaminated by violin, double bass and flutes and the Reception houses a sonic structure which moves through the walkway to the Studio Theatre for a quasi-extemporisation of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, designed to diffuse and morph the atmosphere of an airport terminal into ‘a space to think’. A piano’s sound is transformed by electromagnets and we are taken on yet another journey, this time of the Zodiac, with Stockhausen’s Terkreis. More journeys unfold as several of our alumni return to perform throughout the weekend. The Carole Nash Mezzanine becomes our private art gallery with Painting Music; and the concourses come to life with Junior RNCM performances, our Family Day inspired by BBC Ten Pieces and the vortex of sound created by 25 euphoniums across the balconies! Intimacy returns with kora, voice and double bass and a totally stripped down performance by Courtney Pine and Zoe Rahman with what can only be described as unassuming virtuosity. All this culminates in the performance of Mahler 2 ‘Resurrection’ with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, soprano Jane Irwin and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, conducted by Jac van Steen.