March Playback 2025
Welcome to the March edition of our Bridgewater For All Playback, where we look back at the highlights of the Learning and Participation programme at The Bridgewater Hall for this month. This month has been one of contrasts! From singing at the tip top of stadium stands (Oi-Oi-Oi!) to delving deep into the music world of Mahler, there’s been so much to explore this March at the Hall.
We hope you enjoy reading what we’ve been up to in March.
The L&P Department
International Concert Series Educational Project with The Manchester College – 17 March
Each year we run a bespoke composition project with local schools and colleges inspired by a concert from The Bridgewater Hall’s International Concert Series. This month, music students from The Manchester College were invited to the Hall for an Inspiration Day to see if they would like to take part in the three-month project. In a workshop led by composer Jonathan James, students were introduced to different compositional techniques that they would use to create their own piece of new music inspired by the London Philharmonic’s performance of Mahler’s 5th Symphony. In May, the students will perform their original piece at the Hall, attend a Q&A with the performing orchestra and watch the concert afterwards.
To find out more about our previous International Concert Series project click here.
Be Hear Now in the Community – 18 March
For our second Be Hear Now in the Community session in Timperley, we were joined by classical guitarist, Sam Rodwell. Sam is a firm Live Music Now favourite here at the Hall, and his guitar playing never fails to impress. Sam took the group from Trafford Choices on a musical journey around Latin America, with the up-tempo piece, ‘Aquarela do Brasil’ being a big hit. Trafford Choices have their own guitar teacher, so there was lots of admiration for Sam in the room that day! As always, Alice and Beth ran an amazing interactive workshop getting the group used to lots of different percussion, as well as their own instruments – the double bass and flute!
Led by Beth Bishop and Alice Phelps, each year we work with an adult day service in Greater Manchester to deliver our much loved Be Hear Now workshops to adults with learning disabilities. Participants can enjoy exploring live music, creativity and movement together, inspired by performances from Live Music Now’s professional music ensembles.
Perfect Pitch with Walk the Plank and English National Opera – 29 March
We were so excited to be invited to take part in Perfect Pitch with Walk the Plank and English National Opera this month! Perfect Pitch is a mass-singing project, with the aim to ‘celebrate the unexpected similarities between football and opera’. Walk the Plank are the brains behind fabulous events such as Manchester Day and Commonwealth Games, whilst English National Opera (ENO) are known for their world class operatic talents and expertise, so how could we not get involved in a project like this! Our Bridgewater Hall Singers attended rehearsals with ENO performers, Bury FC football team, and fans to learn some favourite chants and experience the magic that happens when opera and football collide. Along with 200 other singers, the choir did an amazing job singing and chanting away during the half time performance at Bury FC on 29 March at Gigg Lane. The cherry on top was a 3 – 0 win for Bury, which I’m sure was spurred on by the fabulous singing from the stands!
To find out more about Perfect Pitch click here.