Former Hallé Assistant Conductor Jonathon Heyward returns to recall a memorable occasion – the 2019 opening of the Oglesby Centre at Hallé St Peters – beginning, as then, with the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage reading ‘The event horizon’, his poem set in steel at the entrance to the auditorium. Thereafter, orchestral colours are to the fore: Copland’s haunting portrait of urban solitude, Quiet City, features the Hallé’s own Thomas Davey and Gareth Small, playing the cor anglais and trumpet solos. Following the world premiere of Hannah Kendall’s new work, based on Lemn Sissay’s ‘Godsell’, virtuoso saxophonist Jess Gillam, whose infectious playing thrilled all at her Hallé debut last season, performs Galzunov’s late-Romantic Saxophone Concerto. Ravel’s masterly fairy-tale suite, Mother Goose, including evocations of Tom Thumb and Sleeping Beauty, ends the evening in the most magical of enchanted gardens.

Please note, this is a streamed concert performance. Broadcast begins from Thursday 14 January 2021, 12pm, and is available until Wednesday 14 April 2021. Please visit the concert’s events page for details on how to pay and watch on Vimeo.