International Concert Series at The Bridgewater Hall
Johnny James, Managing Editor
The 28th instalment of The Bridgewater Hall’s flagship classical music series is here. True to form, there are some incredible concerts to look forward to, featuring some of the world’s leading orchestras, recitalists and choirs.
The series launches with a rare complete performance of Monteverdi’s masterpiece Vespers of 1610, performed by world-renowned choir and period-instrument orchestra, The Sixteen. As conductor Harry Christophers puts it, the Vespers are “one of the most significant collections of sacred music ever written, mixing profound expression with unfailing musical beauty”.
There’s more for fans of early and baroque music with two concerts dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach. Playing instruments and using techniques from the period the music was written, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will present the complete set of Bach’s six Brandenburg Concertos (5 November 2024), before the visionary French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard performs Book II of Bach’s towering Well-Tempered Clavier on 30 January 2025.
Two excellent German orchestras bring very different flavours to the series. First on 18 November, Jonathan Darlington conducts the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra for Grieg’s perennial Piano Concerto, with the solo role taken by recent winner of the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition, Federico Colli. On 17 January 2025, Wayne Marshall OBE, a celebrated interpreter of Gershwin, joins the German National Orchestra as both conductor and pianist for the rip-roaring Rhapsody in Blue, which we’ll hear alongside one of classical music’s most extraordinary acts of imagination: Holst’s The Planets.
The new year brings two landmark Fifth Symphonies. Shostakovich takes the spotlight on Valentine’s Day, as The Prague Symphony Orchestra pairs the composer’s dark and dramatic masterpiece with the more romantic shades of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. On 17 March 2025, Robin Ticciati and the London Philharmonic Orchestra take on Mahler’s Fifth, an epic journey from darkness to light, preceded by Robert Schumann’s enchanting Piano Concerto, performed by former BBC New Generation Artist, Francesco Piemontesi.
Into April, France’s Katia and Marielle Labèque, who the New York Times credit with “transforming the piano duo”, make a long-overdue return to Manchester, perform a stunning programme of Debussy, Ravel and Philip Glass. Then comes Refractions (25 April 2025), a bold new collaboration between the electrifying Manchester Collective and electronic composer–producer Clark. They’ll bring together repertoire drawn from across the last 1000 years with newly created compositions, showing how music resonates, reflects and refracts across the ages. All before the series ends with a bang courtesy of the Buenos Aires Symphony Orchestra of Colón Opera, offering everything from classic Astor Piazzolla to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (19 May 2025).
It’s fair to say it’s one of The Bridgewater Hall’s strongest International Concert Series to date, showcasing classical music in all its rich variety, courtesy of some of the world’s leading performers. You can read more about each concert via the button below.
