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Book nowThu 30 Oct 2025, 7.30PM
The Bridgewater Hall
The Hallé Presents: Adams Conducts Harmonium
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John Adams makes his much-anticipated return to the Hallé to conduct a selection of his best-loved works.
In a full-circle event, Slonimsky’s Earbox – dedicated to the Russian-American musicologist and his legendary Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns – returns to The Bridgewater Hall, where the Hallé gave the world premiere in 1996. Mary Bevan, renowned for her ‘dramatic wit and vocal control’ (Opera), takes a starring role in Le Livre de Baudelaire, Adams’ reimagining of Debussy’s Cinq Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire.
We will also enjoy her version of Pat’s contemplative, hopeful aria from Adams’ 1987 opera, Nixon in China. The voices of the Hallé Choir will feature in Harmonium, a surging poetic soundscape regarded as one of the composer’s key minimalist compositions.
Get to know the music
Featuring
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John Adams
Conductor
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Mary Bevan
Soprano
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Hallé Choir
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John Adams
Conductor
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Mary Bevan
Soprano
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Hallé Choir
John Adams
“I'm very proud of my history with the Hallé orchestra. I first conducted them in the days before The Bridgewater Hall opened. And several years later, for that celebratory opening of the Hall, Kent Nagano conducted the world premiere of Slonimsky's Earbox, which I composed for the event. I'm pleased to bring 'Slonimsky' back as well as being able to introduce other pieces of mine, both old and new, to the Hallé audiences. I'm especially looking forward to having the Hallé Choir perform my choral symphony, Harmonium, to having my longtime collaborator Leila Josefowicz play Scheherazade.2 (written for her) and to ending these concerts with the UK premiere of my most recent orchestra piece, The Rock You Stand On.”