TUESDAY 27 APRIL 2021 - The Hallé is delighted to announce its Summer Season of six live, socially distanced concerts in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. Each programme will be performed twice at 2.15pm and 7pm, to allow as many people as possible to hear the orchestra live once more. Three of these concerts (3 & 17 June, 22 July) will also be available for online broadcast in the same style as the Hallé’s hugely successful Winter Season.
The Hallé’s Music Director, Sir Mark Elder, will conduct the opening and closing programmes. Associate Pops Conductor Stephen Bell will conduct two concerts and the orchestra welcomes back the exciting Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund and the Director of the Welsh National Opera, Tomáš Hanus.
The season features some of the greatest masterpieces in the repertoire. The Hallé has long been associated with the music of Elgar, so it is fitting that his Enigma Variations opens the season under Sir Mark’s baton. Other highlights include Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, Beethoven’s Seventh and Schumann’s First Symphonies, Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Petrushka and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, played by Eldbjørg Hemsing.
Full details of programmes and how to book can be found at: www.halle.co.uk/summer-2021
The Hallé’s Music Director Sir Mark Elder said: “I am thrilled and delighted to finally be able to welcome you back into The Bridgewater Hall to experience six glorious concerts in person. I can’t express how much I am looking forward to stepping onto the podium and feeling the warmth and atmosphere of a live audience once again. I would like to thank all of the Hallé’s patient and loyal supporters for their generosity over the last 15 months and I hope as many people as possible will join us in celebrating the return of this great orchestra to The Bridgewater Hall stage.”
The Hallé’s Chief Executive David Butcher said: “Eight months ago I stepped into my role as Chief Executive of the Hallé and following our hugely successful online Winter Season, I am now delighted to announce a Summer Season of concerts for live audiences at The Bridgewater Hall. Working closely with our Bridgewater Hall partners, every care has been taken to make our audiences welcome and safe. A beautiful stage extension allows us to present a thrilling array of large symphonic repertoire with concerts lasting approximately 70 minutes without interval. We are also filming three concerts to the stellar quality of the Winter Season, so our many audiences in the rest of the UK and overseas can see and hear the orchestra. Huge thanks are due to Arts Council England, the Greater Manchester Combined Authorities, Manchester City Council and our sponsors, patrons and donors – and, not least, the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund, which has helped us to survive and adventure as we emerge from this terrible pandemic. We look forward with great excitement to welcoming back audiences new and old to hear the Hallé live after over a year of silence in what promises to be an emotional and highly-charged season.”
LINKS FOR EDITORS
Hallé Summer Season 2021 www.halle.co.uk/summer-2021
Hallé Summer Season brochure www.issuu.com/thehalle/docs/summer-2021-brochure
Hallé main website www.halle.co.uk
Hallé latest biography www.halle.co.uk/about-us
ELGAR’S ENIGMA VARIATIONS
Thursday 3 June 2021 The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 2.15pm & 7pm
Available online from Thursday 10 June
Event link | Stream link
Sir Mark Elder conductor | Hallé
Glinka Ruslan and Ludmilla: Overture
Stravinsky Petrushka (1947)
Elgar Enigma Variations
BEETHOVEN’S SEVENTH SYMPHONY
Thursday 17 June 2021 The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 2.15pm & 7pm
Available online from Thursday 24 June
Event link | Stream link
Tabita Berglund conductor | Hallé
Wagner Siegfried Idyll
Osvaldo Golijov Last Round
Beethoven Symphony No.7
THE BEST OF THE WEST END
Saturday 26 June 2021 The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 2.15pm & 7pm
Event link
Stephen Bell conductor | Scott Davies and Jacqui Scott vocalists | Hallé
That’s Entertainment (arr. Richard Bissill)
Les Misérables ‘I Dreamed a Dream’; ‘Empty Chairs’
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’
Guys and Dolls ‘Luck be a Lady’
9 to 5: The Musical ‘9 to 5’
Mary Poppins Overture
We Will Rock You ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’
Dear Evan Hansen ‘Waving Through a Window’
Chess ‘I Know Him So Well’; ‘Anthem’
Beauty and the Beast ‘Be Our Guest’
La Cage aux Folles ‘I Am What I Am’
Evita ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’
Annie Get Your Gun Overture
The Phantom of the Opera ‘The Music of the Night’; ‘All I Ask of You’
The Producers Overture
SCHUMANN’S SPRING SYMPHONY
Thursday 1 July 2021 The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 2.15pm & 7pm
Event link
Tomáš Hanus conductor | Eldbjørg Hemsing violin | Hallé
Farrenc Overture No.1 in E minor
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Schumann Symphony No.1 ‘Spring’
PORGY AND BESS - CELEBRATING A CLASSIC ALBUM
Saturday 17 July 2021 The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 2.15pm & 7pm
Event link
Stephen Bell conductor | Nicola Emmanuelle vocalist | Enrico Tomasso trumpet/vocalist | Ryan Quigley trumpet | Nichol Thompson trombone | Calum Gourlay jazz bass | Guy Rickarby drums | James Pearson piano | Hallé
Gershwin (transcribed by Ryan Quigley) Strike Up the Band
Gershwin (transcribed by Ryan Quigley) Porgy and Bess (1958)
THE TSAR, THE ROCK AND THE FIREBIRD
Thursday 22 July 2021 The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 2.15pm & 7pm
Available online from Thursday 29 July
Event link | Stream link
Sir Mark Elder conductor | Hallé
Rimsky-Korsakov The Tale of Tsar Saltan: Suite
Rachmaninov The Rock
Stravinsky The Firebird: Suite (1945)