Co-produced by De Doelen Rotterdam and The Sage Gateshead in collaboration with Circus Space London.

Commissioned as incidental music for a spectacular Restoration adaptation of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry Purcell and his anonymous librettist devised a series of colourful masques. Philip Pickett’s iconoclastic approach combines brilliant circus artists and mesmeric staging to convey all the fantasy, energy and anarchy of Purcell’s magical score. Who are these characters, this allegorical paradise? What is this glorious ritual in which they are all embroiled?

6.30pm Pre-concert Event: Interview with Philip Pickett about Purcell and The Fairy Queen

Associate Artists of The Bridgewater Hall

Part of the International Concert Series

Season Sponsor: Manchester Airport