Kahchun Wong conducts The Hallé Photo Alex Burns, The Hallé
}The Spectator, November 2021"The chemistry between the Hallé and its music director bristles with spontaneity and colour. When effortless mutual understanding is the starting point rather than the end of the artistic process, everything lights up a notch. [...] This is what peak performance sounds like."
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Under its Music Director, Sir Mark Elder, the Hallé has entered a new golden era, marked by imaginatively themed programming and the successful launch of its own record label. It has received awards from BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone magazines, and in 2022 it won a South Bank Sky Arts Award for its performance of Huw Watkins’s Second Symphony, which the orchestra commissioned and premiered as part of its 2021 online season, having already won the same prize in 2018 for its performance of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder with the BBC Philharmonic. Conductor Kahchun Wong has been announced as the orchestra's new Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, starting in 2024-25 with a five-year contract.
The orchestra's 2023-24 season at The Bridgewater Hall will be Sir Mark Elder's final as Music Director and will see him conduct Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé and Mother Goose, Rossini's Stabat Mater, and Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, with a final concert in June 2024 featuring a specially commissioned premiere of James MacMillan’s Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia with the Hallé choirs, and Mahler's Symphony No.5. Thomas Adès will also start a two-year residency, conducting but also performing in the popular Chamber Music Series at Hallé St Peter’s. Guest soloists and conductors will include Benjamin Grosvenor, Jess Gillam, Stephen Hough, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, and the 2023 Terence Judd – Hallé Award winner Tom Borrow, while incoming Principal Conductor Kahchun Wong will conduct Fauré's Requiem.
In March 2023 the second edition of the Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition saw 24-year-old Euan Shields win a two-year post as Assistant Conductor of the Hallé and Music Director of the Hallé Youth Orchestra.
For information on the orchestra's recordings on the Hallé CD label
A three-day celebration of Philip Glass takes place in Manchester on 13-15 February. The festival opens with a concert featuring five-time Grammy Award winner and global superstar, Angélique Kidjo. Frans Lanting’s LIFE: A Journey Through Time brings an audio-visual experience to The Bridgewater Hall with his photos displayed on the big screen accompanied by Glass’s stunning score.
14 Jan 2025
Singaporean conductor, Kahchun Wong, has launched an exciting new chapter with the Hallé Orchestra, debuting his inaugural season as Principal Conductor with a specially created suite of pieces from Britten’s The Prince of the Pagodas and Mahler’s First Symphony. Kahchan's diverse programming this season also spotlights symphonies by Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, and Shostakovich, as well as works by Unsuk Chin, Tan Dun, Akira Ifukube, and James MacMillan.
17 Sep 2024
The Hallé has announced the appointment of violinist Emily Davis as Leader of the Hallé Orchestra from the 2024/25 season. Together with current Leader, Roberto Ruisi, they will Lead the Orchestra as it heads into its next season with new Principal Conductor, Kahchun Wong.
17 Jul 2024
The 2024 BBC Proms programme promises a captivating lineup of performances by renowned conductors and orchestras, showcasing the diversity and excellence of classical music. This year’s exciting performances include three distinguished VBPR clients: the Hallé Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder; Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko; and Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo.
9 May 2024
The Hallé announces its 2024–25 season with a dynamic new Principal Conductor, Kahchun Wong, and a season packed with stunning music and initiatives building upon the success of last year, when ticket sales grew by 23%, with a 36% increase in people coming to hear the Hallé for the first time.
2 May 2024
BBC Radio 3 has selected pianist Giorgi Gigashvili as the latest winner of the coveted Terence Judd-Hallé Award. This year’s prize includes exciting concerto and chamber performance opportunities during the Hallé’s 2024-25 Manchester Season, which will be announced on Thursday 2 May.
26 Mar 2024
Kahchun Wong will formally take up his appointment from the start of the Hallé’s 2024-25 season.
20 Jun 2023
The 2023-24 season will be packed with stunning music, stellar artists, world premieres and exciting new collaborations.
2 May 2023
The spectacular weekend of classical music and much more will take place on 24-25 June 2023
20 Apr 2023
The 24-year-old American will become the Hallé's new Assistant Conductor from 2023-24
15 Mar 2023
The finalists will compete for the role of Assistant Conductor at the Hallé in March 2023.
7 Dec 2022
27 Sep 2022
From September 2022 to June 2023, the orchestra will feature a rich and diverse mix of music and artists with programmes to delight, inspire, illuminate and surprise.
16 May 2022
The competition will take place over three days in March 2023, culminating with the final on Tuesday 14 March at the Bridgewater Hall.
29 Apr 2022
The Hallé is delighted to announce that this year’s winner of The Terence Judd-Hallé Award is Italian-born pianist Alexander Gadjiev.
4 Apr 2022
22 Nov 2021
The Hallé has just launched its Bridgewater Hall Autumn and Christmas 2021 seasons with an inspirational collection of masterpieces and stellar guest artists and composers.
18 Aug 2021
The orchestra will return to perform to live audiences as part of its Summer Season (3 June - 22 July 2021)
27 Apr 2021
The orchestra's online Winter Season resumes on 18 March 2021
9 Mar 2021
Guest stars include Lemn Sissay and Guy Garvey
15 Dec 2020
Orchestra announces Digital Winter Season with nine online concerts (3 December 2020-25 March 2021)
17 Nov 2020
David Butcher is to become the Hallé’s new Chief Executive, following the retirement of John Summers this July.
27 Feb 2020
Lazarova will be appointed the Hallé’s 8th Assistant Conductor
24 Feb 2020
On 20 November 2019, the new £6.6 million three-storey extension at Hallé St Peter’s, The Oglesby Centre, will open. The Centre adds new facilities to the existing Grade II listed church.
19 Nov 2019
The Hallé are pleased to announce that Ryan Wigglesworth will be the orchestra’s Artist in Association for three seasons starting immediately. This appointment follows on from his tenure as Principal Guest Conductor (2015-2019).
28 Oct 2019
The Hallé announce their 2019/20 season which includes a Beethoven symphony cycle shared with the BBC Philharmonic to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven, a residency with mezzo-soprano Alice Coote and two performances of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (28 & 30 May 2020).
7 May 2019
The Hallé is pleased to announce the launch of an international conductors competition with Siemens AG, a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality and reliability for more than 170 years.
21 Mar 2019
