Manchester Collective: Hidden Mechanisms
Intimate, personal and intricate – this programme is all about music that makes you lean in, including a music box-inspired new commission by Héloïse Werner.
Chamber music has always invited a close-knit chemistry, where you can hear every bow and breath.
If chamber performances originally took place in homes, then the perfect setting for The Big House would be a derelict mansion.
Oliver Leith’s piece is uncanny yet alluring – like the beckoning pull of the dark basement door. Quiet, spectral strings will haunt you long after the end.
One of the most exciting voices on the contemporary British scene, composer and soprano Héloïse Werner is known for her playful and imaginative style.
Her new piece for the collective, Hidden Mechanisms, peers into a music box and examines the tiny mechanical parts that power it, each inspiring a different movement.
Expect a fun approach to vocals and theatrical flair.
It’s not all delicate sounds: cranking up the volume is Olli Mustonen’s Piano Quintet. Filled with musical jumpscares, it bursts with energy and a hint of mischief. So come in, make yourself at home and listen closer.
Hidden Mechanisms is commissioned by Manchester Collective with support from their Commissioning Club.
Performers
Manchester Collective
Eva Thorarinsdottir violin, *
Sarah Brandwood-Spencer violin, *
Ruth Gibson viola
Nick Trygstad cello
Junyan Chen piano
Repertoire
Cassandra Miller: Leaving for string quartet
Oliver Leith: The big house for string quartet
Interval
Héloïse Werner: Hidden Mechanisms for piano quintet (London premiere)
Olli Mustonen: Piano Quintet
Need to know
* Please note change of artist from originally advertised
For your visit
This event is held at the Purcell Room Southbank Centre
The Purcell Room is located in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which is open from 90 minutes before events start until they finish. It’s closed at all other times.
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The Purcell Room is an auditorium located within our Queen Elizabeth Hall.
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