Manchester’s Halle Orchestra will perform four concerts at the city’s Bridgewater Hall in September, including their Classical Extravaganza on 23 September:

Opus One Concerts – Tchaikovsky’s Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pathétique’ Symphony
Thursday 14 September, 7.30pm; Sunday 17 September, 7.30pm; and Wednesday 20 September, 2.15pm
Rimsky-Korsakov Overture: May Night
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1
Tchaikovsky Symphony No.6, ‘Pathétique’
Conductor Pablo González
Featuring Barry Douglas, piano
In 1986 Barry Douglas launched his career by winning the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. Who better to perform Tchaikovsky’s beloved First Concerto than the great Ulsterman himself? Tchaikovsky’s epic symphonic swansong forms the second half of the programme. A piece of great poignancy and mystery, it begins in dark shadows, emerges into brilliant light and then descends back into gloom – a quite remarkable and moving musical journey. Pablo González, making his third visit to the Hallé, opens this enticing all-Russian programme with Rimsky-Korsakov’s resplendent, richly melodic May Night Overture.


Classical Extravaganza
Saturday 23 September, 7.30pm
Copland Fanfare for the Common Man
Bernstein Overture: West Side Story
Fauré Pavane
Bizet March of the Toreadors
Elgar Chanson de Matin
Walton Crown Imperial
Haydn Trumpet Concerto
Rossini Overture: The Thieving Magpie
Grainger Londonderry Air
Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the Bumblebee
Piazzolla Libertango (for trumpet and orchestra)
Elgar Nimrod from the ‘Enigma’ Variations
Borodin Polotsvian Dances
Conductor Stephen Bell
Featuring Gareth Small, trumpet
Trumpets herald the start of the Hallé Pops concerts with Copland’s Fanfare, Haydn’s famous concerto and a host of the world’s best-loved classics, including several which are part of the BBC’s Ten Pieces.

The Halle Orchestra image credit to Russel Hart