The Hallé is a
symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant
symphony orchestra (and the fourth oldest in the world), supports a choir and a
youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it
has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI.
Founded in
Manchester by the pianist and conductor Charles Hallé in 1858, Britain’s
longest established permanent professional symphony orchestra gave its first
concert in the city’s Free Trade Hall on 30 January of that year. Following the
death of Sir Charles Hallé, the orchestra continued to develop under the
guidance of such distinguished figures as Hans Richter, Sir Hamilton Harty and
Sir John Barbirolli.
Sir Mark
Elder, who was knighted for services to music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours
List 2008, became Music Director in 2000, since when the Hallé has received
increasing acclaim both here and abroad. The Royal Philharmonic Society
honoured Sir Mark with the Conductor of the Year Award in 2006 and, the
previous year, the Hallé was presented with the Ensemble Award. The Hallé, BBC
Philharmonic and the Royal Northern College of Music were awarded the South
Bank Show classical music award for ‘Shostakovich, His Heroes and Comrades’, a
collaboration which marked the centenary of Shostakovich’s birth in a cycle of
his symphonies and chamber music in 2006. This season the Hallé collaborates
with the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata and The Bridgewater Hall in a
complete cycle of Mahler’s symphonies.
In 1996,
the Hallé moved to its new home, The Bridgewater Hall, where it presents over
70 concerts a year. Making over 40 appearances annually throughout the rest of
Britain, the Hallé attracts large and enthusiastic audiences both in Manchester
and beyond. Its reputation for artistic excellence and versatility has led to
many international tours as well as frequent broadcasts and televised
performances. At the beginning of the 2005–06 season, for the first time in its history,
the Hallé appointed a Principal Guest Conductor, Cristian Mandeal. This season,
he is followed in the post by Markus Stenz.
In 2003 the
Hallé launched its own CD label of studio recordings – featuring, in particular, the music of Elgar,
Richard Strauss, Colin Matthews, Debussy, Wagner, Nielsen and Shostakovich. The
label re-launched with Sir Mark Elder’s interpretation of Elgar’s The Dream of
Gerontius (a finalist in the Classic FM Gramophone Awards 2009) and the world
premiere recordings of Colin Matthews’s Alphabicycle Order and Horn Concerto.
The latest release, conducted by John Wilson, is a collection of orchestral
works by John Ireland.
The Hallé's
family of ensembles includes the Hallé Choir, which was founded alongside the
orchestra in 1858, the Hallé Youth Choir led by Gregory Batsleer and the Hallé
Children's Choir directed by Shirley Court, as well as the Hallé Youth
Orchestra which is directed by the Hallé's Assistant Conductor, Ewa
Strusinska. The Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra is the latest addition to
the Hallé Family, which is directed by James Lowe.
Last season
over a quarter of a million people heard the Hallé. More than 20,000 of these
were young people inspired by the Hallé’s pioneering education programme which
generates over 40 projects a year and exists to create a wider enjoyment and
understanding of music throughout the whole community. The Hallé is a society
and registered charity that exists to ensure the continued success and
development of the orchestra and its family.
To find out
more about the Hallé, buy CDs online, and for information on how to join the
Hallé Choir, Youth Choir, Youth Orchestra or the Children’s Choir or for
details of the work of Hallé Education, as well as how to support the Hallé
Concerts Society, please browse around our website.
Notable premieres:
Edward Elgar,
Symphony No. 1 (1908)
Anthony Collins, Threnody
for a Soldier Killed in Action (1945)
William Alwyn,
Symphony No. 1 (1949-1950)
William Alwyn,
Symphony No. 2 (1953)
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sinfonia antartica (1953)
Gerald Finzi,
Cello Concerto (1955)
Anthony Milner, Variations
for Orchestra (1959)
Thomas Adès, These
Premises Are Alarmed (1996)
Gustav MahlerDas
Klagende Lied (complete version) (1997)
Graham Fitkin, North
(1998)
Colin Matthews, Pluto,
an addition to Holst's The Planets (2000)
.
Principal
conductors:
1858–1895 Sir Charles Hallé
1895–1899 Sir Frederic Cowen
1899–1911 Hans Richter
1912–1914 Michael Balling
1915–1920 Sir Thomas Beecham (musical adviser)
1920–1934 Sir Hamilton Harty
1939–1942 Sir Malcolm Sargent
(conductor-in-chief)
