Here We Are: Manchester Camerata’s 5-day celebration

MANCHESTER CAMERATA ANNOUNCES:

HERE WE ARE

A FIVE DAY CELEBRATION OF MUSIC IN ALL 10 BOROUGHS OF GREATER MANCHESTER

Between Wednesday 1 October and Sunday 5 October, Manchester Camerata is on the move, bringing its internationally acclaimed musicians to perform free concerts and pop-up performances in unexpected public spaces across all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester to literally say: Here We Are!

• Free pop-up music performances across all boroughs in Greater Manchester in unusual and unexpected places from skate parks to shopping malls
• Launching ten new free Dementia Music Cafés across Greater Manchester, supporting people to ‘live well’ through music
• Camerata are inviting all audiences at this event to share their thoughts and ideas as part of a region-wide consultation
• Two headline shows will also take place at The Monastery in Gorton and Aviva Studios
• Open rehearsals will take place daily at Camerata’s home, The Monastery in Gorton, (celebrating 30 years since its restoration)

From The Monastery in Gorton to Graystone skate park in Salford, and from Bolton Library to Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre, Manchester Camerata is dividing its orchestra into 12 groups to travel across the region and perform a wide range of co-curated setlists, in partnership with organisations in each borough.

Here We Are’s five-day celebration is part of Camerata’s continual mission to embed itself in the local community, help transform lives through the power of music, and redefine what a 21st-century orchestra should look like.

Five days of free pop-up performances, open rehearsals, and headline shows will celebrate the launch of Manchester Camerata’s ten new Music Cafés for people living with dementia and their carers, as part of Greater Manchester’s Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia.

By bringing its music and musicians directly into local communities, attracting families, shoppers, skaters, and other unexpected audiences, Manchester Camerata aims to demonstrate the transformative power of music and its core belief that music should be accessible to all.

In addition to the free events, there will be two ticketed headline performances by Camerata over the weekend at The Monastery in Gorton and Aviva Studios.

Manchester Camerata will showcase the breadth of the orchestra’s work to brand-new audiences across the region, performing in unassuming public, community, and largely non-traditional performance spaces.

During these events, the organisation will also engage in direct consultation with its audiences—creating a platform for people to share what they want from their local orchestra through a mass public survey. 

Here We Are will launch with open rehearsals at Camerata’s home, The Monastery in Gorton, on the afternoons of Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 October, ahead of the main concert on the evening of Friday 3 October. Tickets for the concert are available to purchase [here]. The concert will be led by the orchestra’s esteemed Music Director, Gábor Takács-Nagy.

Over the weekend of Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 October, there will be twelve free pop-up performances across all ten Greater Manchester boroughs. Highlights include a musical storytelling session at Bolton Library, a collaboration with The Chubby Northerner at The Old Courts in Wigan and a unique show at Salford Skate Park.

These two days of spontaneous, one-off concerts will culminate in a ticketed public performance at Aviva Studios in central Manchester, featuring a collaboration with Space Afrika performing brand new work & the UK premier of their short film Opera Omnia. Tickets for this concert can be purchased [here].

Launched in October 2024, Manchester Camerata’s Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia delivers county-wide Dementia Music Cafés in partnership with theAlzheimer’s Society, The University of Manchester, and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham’s Live Well agenda. These cafés provide vital care for people living with dementia, based on Camerata’s award-winning Music in Mind techniques.

At each Music Café, participants are invited to engage in music-making using a wide range of percussive instruments—no prior musical experience is required. The sessions foster meaningful conversations without words, and Manchester Camerata is proud to be launching more Cafés in new spaces across Greater Manchester, continuing its mission to improve health and wellbeing through the power of music.

Bob Riley, Chief Executive of Manchester Camerata, comments: 

Here We Are is an invitation to Greater Manchester, to join us in celebrating the people and places of our amazing city region. We’ll also be asking you – our audiences, communities, artists and partners, to help us future gaze, to tell us what part music plays in your lives, what you want in the future, and to have fun. Come and join us.

Danny Bradley of Graystone Action Sports Skatepark in Salford said: 

At Graystone we believe that Action Sports are for everybody, so we’re utterly thrilled to be partnering with Manchester Camerata, who reflect this open-minded ethos in their own work. Who knows, hopefully together we can inspire the next generation of both skateboarders and orchestral players – maybe even get some people who are great at doing both!

Manchester Camerata’s free Here We Are pop-up performances from October 1-5, please visit: https://manchestercamerata.co.uk/performances/here-we-are/ 

For tickets to the two headline concerts on Friday October 3 at The Monastery in Gorton and at Aviva Studios on Sunday October 5, please visit:

Friday 3 : https://manchestercamerata.co.uk/performances/beethoven-mozart-part-with-gabor-takacs-nagy-at-the-monastery/