Concerts & Events
Concerts at the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama
Music at Manchester plays a vital role in the cultural life of the city. In over one hundred concerts each year, we present a series by our resident string quartet, the celebrated Danels, a dozen orchestral and choral concerts, the biannual MANTIS Festival of Electroacoustic Music, a regular series of Thursday lunchtime concerts, most of which are given by professional musicians, contemporary concerts led by Psappha and a variety of special events. For the latest information on concerts, theatre and events visit the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama website.
Quatuor Danel
From early Haydn and Beethoven, through late Schubert, to neglected masterpieces from the Soviet Union, white-knuckle rides through Ligeti, Xenakis and Lachenmann and provocative premieres of new works from France, Belgium, Germany and Britain our intrepid string quartet-in-residence, the Quatuor Danel regularly scale the summits of chamber music, discovering new peaks in consistently unforgettable concerts. These form the core of musical events at the Martin Harris Centre.
For Quatuor Danel concerts at the Martin Harris Centre, click here
Psappha
Specialising in the performance of music by living composers and that of the 20th and 21st centuries, Psappha was formed in 1991 by its Artistic Director Tim Williams. The ensemble has an extensive and exceptionally varied repertoire of hundreds of works and a reputation for technical assurance and interpretive flair. It won the Manchester Evening News Award for Opera in 2000 and has been shortlisted for a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society award on two occasions. Psappha has commissioned and premiered many works by a wide range of composers including the award-winning music-theatre work, Mr Emmet Takes a Walk, by its Patron Peter Maxwell Davies, released on the ensembles own label. For more about Psappha, click here
Other Ensembles
- Vaganza - cutting-edge new music ensemble
- Baroque Orchestra
- Electro-acoustic Ensembles (Kairos)
- Manchester University Music Society - a vast range of large and chamber ensembles
- University Chorus - a non-auditioning choir with a membership of over 250 students, staff and alumni
MANTIS Festival
MANTIS (Manchester Theatre in Sound) presents several concerts of electroacoustic music each year, in order to promote, disseminate and perform new works from composers based at The University of Manchester. Facilities at the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama are ideal for the diffusion of work on a 40-loudspeaker sound system in a 350 seat concert hall. For more, click here
Research Seminars
- Danel Seminars
- Forum & Seminars (see the Research web)
- NOVARS Matinées (live broadcast and podcasted)