Hello!
Welcome to the April 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. From singing in the clouds to dancing in the streets, Spring has arrived with a bang this April. We hope you had a happy Easter and enjoy reading what we’ve been up to this month.
The L&P Department
Metacosmos – International Concert Series Education Project – 25th April
Over the past six months, music students from Co-op Failsworth Academy and Manchester College have been taking part in a series of workshops organised by the L&P team at The Bridgewater Hall. Led by composer and workshop leader Jonathan James and multi-instrumentalist Caitlin Laing, the students used different compositional techniques to create their own piece of new music, The World Opening: Dust in the Cosmos, inspired by Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Metacosmos, which was performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra as part of the Hall’sInternational Concert Series 22-23. Throughout the workshops, the students came up with three chapters that drew on the inspiration of the birth, death, and re-birth of a universe. The piece begins with a Big Bang (quite literally!), which then transitioned into a beautiful Earth song, only to then to be swept away as a deadly Doom rhythm rises. The students got to perform their epic piece as pre-concert entertainment, and truly blew us away with their otherworldly gospel sounds and ominous rhythms. A huge well done to everyone involved – the performance was out of this world!
BWHS x Castlefield Viaduct Performance – 26th April
As part of The National Trust’s annual Blossom Watch celebration, our Bridgewater Hall Singers became a choir in the sky this month as they performed above the city on the Trust’s new site, the Castlefield Viaduct. The Viaduct is a recently refurbished ‘garden in the sky’, which tells the rich history of Manchester whilst boasting amazing views of the city below. Nestled amongst rhubarbs and lavender, our Singers performed a lovely array of songs that celebrated the surrounding area and the season – my favourite being Dirty Old Town, make sure to check out their performance on our socials! A huge thank you to our Singers who sounded amazing (as always!), and to Dympna and her fab team at the National Trust for being so welcoming and taking our Singers on a tour of the lovely site – it was the perfect way to celebrate Spring!
The Viaduct is free to visit, and brimmed with activities. From Irish dancing to still life drawing, there’s always something going on. To find out more, click here.
National Trust Bloomtown Walk and Piazza Performance with Back Chat Brass – 22nd April
Working with our lovely neighbours at the Castlefield Viaduct, the Blossom Watch celebrations continued with a pop-up performance by the amazing Back Chat Brass at the Hall. We were so happy to be included in the National Trust’s ‘Bloomtown Trail’, a guided tour linking up all the best places to find blossom across the city. Back Chat had a great time entertaining guests out on the piazza and teaching us a few dance moves along the way.
To find out more about Live Music Now and Back Chat Brass, click here.