RNCM50 Programme

This year the RNCM is celebrating a significant birthday, reaching the milestone of 50 years old.

Our mission is strong and clear, to define the future of music, and our public programme is diverse, explorative, and bold, showcasing the many ways our ideas, experiences and emotions can be expressed through music.  Ultimately the programme is hugely collaborative, bringing our 900 students together with some of the finest and most imaginative musicians working on the international stage today, as well as with younger musicians and our wider local community.

We have many stories to tell, and there are numerous opportunities to experience music-making at the RNCM across a range of genres and settings, intimate and expansive.

Our alumni

We have three artists in residence this year, including RNCM alumni Manchester Collective, Elias Quartet and Stephen Hough, as well as over 20 performances and public masterclasses featuring alumni and over 30 with our own staff as performers or conductors. Many other international guests who share our spirit of adventurousness are appearing throughout the year.

Our new work

From the early days in the 1970s the RNCM has been a pioneer in its support of the creation of new work, and today has one of the most extensive and diverse programmes of new and contemporary music within the UK. This anniversary year will see more than 25 premieres by professional composers, more than 50 new works by our student composers, music creators and song writers and over 40 performances featuring works by voices who are often not given the spotlight. Three composers – Sally Beamish, George Lewis and Anna Clyne – will be in residence with us.

Our friends

We are celebrating our close institutional friends and partners through eleven side-by-side performances throughout the year including Manchester Camerata, Opera North, the BBC Philharmonic, Edward Grieg Kor, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Manchester Collective.

Our community

Our local community of students, families and other residents are so important to us and as well as many opportunities to participate in events such as Family Day, Young Explorers’ concerts and Childrens’ Opera we will be launching a new participatory open doors festival in July 2023 and launching two new ticket schemes – Soundcheck will offer free tickets to 14-18 year old and we will also offer a 50% price ticket deal for students studying in Manchester.

Our creative exploration

We pride ourselves on reimagining the old and exploring the new and we will be launching a new festival – Original Voices – which aims to present old music in new ways. Throughout the year there are many opportunities to experience how our students are leading a future direction of fresh, vital and imaginative music-making.

Our highlights

RNCM Session Orchestra: 50th Anniversary Edition
With special guests
Sat 25 Feb // 7pm

Leonard Bernstein’s Mass at The Bridgewater Hall
Manchester premiere
Sun 12 Mar // 4pm

Made in Manchester
Celebrating the amazing breadth of new music created at the RNCM
Wed 3 – Fri 5 May // 6pm

RNCM50 Birthday Celebration
Featuring staff and students from across the years
Thu 22 Jun // Doors 6pm

Opera Gala
In collaboration with Opera North
Wed 28 Jun // 7.30pm

Explore@RNCM
Celebrating our youth and community activity
Sun 2 Jul // various times

We look forward to welcoming you to one of our many performances across this very special year.

Manus Carey (Deputy Principal, Performance and Programmes)
Richard Collins (Head of Programming)

Revisit this page to see our programme unfold…