Manchester Collective Announce 26/27  Season: Volume I

• The shape-shifting group reshaping the future of classical music through radical work made in the north of England

• Two pioneering projects tour across the UK, featuring percussionistSidiki Dembélé and new music from Nwando Ebizie and Sasha Scott

Manchester Collective today announce the first half of their 26/27 season, showcasing cutting-edge commissions, classical and contemporary masterpieces, and trailblazing artistic collaborators. The award-winning ensemble continue on their mission to redefine audiences’ relationship with classical music, through work that reflects, challenges and changes the world we live in.

Spanning the broadest musical horizons and challenging classical music conventions, two major new projects will tour across the UK in Autumn 2026:

• The Collective join forces with percussionist Sidiki Dembélé and his extraordinary ensemble for Constellations(2–10 October) – an exhilarating musical melting-pot, where tradition and spirituality meet future ancestors and sonic rituals. The programme will feature folksong and storytelling from the Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal alongside familiar classical works, re-interpreted by Rakhi Singh. Adding her own colours to the vibrant palette is composer and multidisciplinary Northern artist Nwando Ebizie, who creates a brand-new work filtered through her very own Afrofuturist vision, hurtling audiences into a future world. An earlier iteration of the project will be presented at Britten Pears Arts’ Summer at Snape festival in Suffolk (30 August). Touring to Liverpool, London, Manchester, Leeds and York.

• In Black Gold(25 November – 6 December), the Collective morph into a bass-heavy ensemble for a ground-trembling programme that sees James Tenney’s ‘Glissade’ rip open a chasm from which Ivor Novello Award-winning composer Luke Mombrea’s atmospheric ‘Black Gold’ emerges. The audiovisual piece uses fragmented photographs of the catastrophe and textural projections by artist Nate Mohler to trace the history of the disastrous oil well fires in Santa Fe Springs, from the sleepy 1920s township through the rumbling sounds of industry. Sitting between these tectonic pieces is a new commission by composer Sasha Scott, who’s known for her shattering, glitchy music; and providing catharsis amidst the earth-shaking soundscapes is a selection of contemplative Bach chorales. Oscar-winning composer Hildur Guðnadottir (TÁR, The Joker) completes the line-up with her piece ‘From the Other Place’. Touring to Nottingham, Leeds, Manchester and London.

Known for their bold and adventurous programming, Manchester Collective aim to create space for radical thinking, feeling and human connection, for both artists and audiences. Equally at home in a concert hall or an underground nightclub, the Collective will mark their 10th anniversary in 2027. They have cemented their reputation as one of Britain’s most innovative contemporary ensembles, creating projects that push at the boundaries of how classical music is presented and experienced. In 26/27, they continue as Resident Artists at Southbank Centre where bold new ideas and collaborations are shaped.

Jasmin Kent Rodgman, co-artistic director, Manchester Collective, says: “With this new season, we are inviting artists and audiences to come together with joy and a sense of adventure. We explore how music transcends borders, transporting stories and histories across generations and cultures. By leaning the ancient against the new, we gain invaluable insight into how we got here. We see how we might walk with care and bravery into the future.

In Volume I, the Collective take on bold new identities – partnering with West African instruments in Constellations and experimenting with lower strings and electronics in Black Gold. We love the challenges that come with breathing life into new work and look forward to the discoveries we’ll make as we dive into new commissions by Nwando Ebizie and Sasha Scott. We’re excited to be working with such definitive artists!”

‍Rakhi Singh, co-founder and co-artistic director, Manchester Collective, says: “For me, a concert experience is rooted in human connection. We seek to create a space that transports the listener through an experience that is both communal and deeply individual. It’s about the richness of the bond between the players on stage, which then transmits a powerful feeling to the audience, augmenting the music’s message.

‍ It’s with this feeling as inspiration that we choose our collaborators at the Collective. I’m personally looking forward to deepening our relationship with master djembe player Sidiki Dembélé and his ensemble in Constellations. We deep dive into music from two different cultures, West African and western European, to portray universal human stories and bridge the gap between cultures with fluidity, sensitivity and joy. A premiere by Nwando Ebizie continues this living tradition as she creates a contemporary reaction to both lineages.”

Manchester Collective’s international presence continues to expand, with a revival of The Unfurrowed Field in Europe – a collaboration withMercury Prize-nominated pianist Fergus McCreadie and his spellbinding trio of jazz musicians, who join string players from the Collective to present a joyful collection of music that journeys from the boundaries of jazz to new classical and folk. The tour travels to Lugano (6 June) and Fribourg (8 June) in Switzerland, and the Break in Classic International Music Festival in Poland (2 August).

The Collective also continue to deepen their impact in Manchester through artist development programmes that support the next generation of classical and contemporary music-makers. The Manchester Collective x RNCM Studio gives five outstanding postgraduate string players first-hand experience of the group’s inimitable approach to music-making, providing real-world experience of the alternative pathways available to musicians outside of traditional orchestral roles. EXPERIMENTA supports music creators from diverse musical backgrounds to experiment within contemporary classical with mentoring, workshops and collaborative opportunities within the Collective’s artistic community. The scheme aims to amplify underrepresented voices by providing room for artistic risk-taking and creative play.

‍The last tour of the Collective’s 25/26 season is Patterns in Repeat, which spotlights female titans in contemporary music. The programme presents a world premiere by saxophonist/composer Cassie Kinoshi, a rare performance of Meredith Monk’s instrumental Backlight anda new arrangement of Folkdance byJasmin Kent Rodgman, as well as works by Cassandra Miller and Clarice Assad. It tours to Howard Assembly Room, Leeds (26 June), Southbank Centre, London (28 June) and Aviva Studios, Manchester (30 June).

‍For full programme details, visit manchestercollective.co.uk

For further information, please contact:

Maddie Castell at Rebecca Driver Media Relations maddie@rdmr.co.uk