Camilla Seale mezzo-soprano; Joseph Ashmore baritone; Olias Saxophone Quartet; Sophie Clarke mezzo-soprano; RNCM New Ensemble by Various, Fra (2023/2023), Dirigent Mark Heron, Wigmore Hall, London, United Kingdom

The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) celebrates its 50th birthday in 2023, as well as celebrating its 15th year of bringing the music of today’s finest living composers to Wigmore Hall. Since 2009, RNCM students have performed music by the likes of James MacMillan, Errollyn Wallen, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Judith Weir, George Benjamin, Tansy Davies, Harrison Birtwistle, at the Hall in the presence of the composers. New music has been at the heart of Manchester’s music making since before the inception of the RNCM. The New Music Manchester group of the 1950s including Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies and Alexander Goehr were one such influential group. Today, the RNCM is a thriving centre for new music of all kinds, with the breadth of sounds ever-broadening amidst technological innovations and new thinking. This Made in Manchester focus explores this diverse range of styles, demonstrated through music by staff composers at the RNCM.