RNCM and MMU Combine for Unique Interactive Project

The RNCM has joined forces with students from Manchester School of Art to present a series of three-minute pop-up performances on city trams and stations as part of Manchester After Hours.

The unique project takes place on Thursday 14 May on trams running between Shudehill and St Peter’s Square, and has been made possible thanks to a collaboration with Transport for Greater Manchester. It will showcase the talents of students from both institutions as travellers have the opportunity to immerse themselves in art experiences, all set to the soundtrack of Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel. And if that wasn’t enough, there will also be an exhibition at Manchester’s Federation House, opening at 6pm and running until Saturday 16 May.

Forming part of Unit X, a 10-week project spanning Media, Art and Design undergraduate courses at Manchester School of Art, the idea was created by students in collaboration with studios, venues and businesses across the city. The finished project now joins the Manchester After Hours programme of city-wide events celebrating culture in Manchester, and also acts as a preview for Mise en Scène; a unique theatrical experience at the RNCM Concert Hall on Thursday 2 July.

Director by Stefan Janski, Head of Opera at the College, Mise en Scène brings together art, design and music students for an interactive sensory concert featuring Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Ete, Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel and Poulenc’s Sinfonietta.

He said: ‘The RNCM is delighted to be working once again with MMU. For this project, the Manchester School of Art Media and Design students on both the BA and Masters’ courses have proven to be truly inspirational; their response to the music and text of Berlioz, Poulenc and Vaughan Williams is overwhelmingly creative.

‘Consequently, the site specific performance in Manchester’s Federation House and on and off the trams this month has whet the appetite of the Master’s students to develop this project into a unique and novel experience in the newly refurbished RNCM Concert Hall in July.’

Fabrizio Cocchiarella, Senior Lecturer in the Manchester School of Art, added: ‘We are really fortunate to have this fantastic opportunity to work with the RNCM. Students have had a wonderful creative experience responding to the songs and orchestral works, applying their concepts spatially creating real immersive atmospheres.’

8 May 2015