Bringing the curtain down on their twentieth anniversary year, Grammy-nominated VOCES8 presents a heartwarming winter concert filled with choral treasures old and new. This beautifully curated programme takes audiences on a seasonal journey, weaving together ancient melodies, contemporary reflections and festive favourites that sparkle with nostalgia and joy.

Winter Tales

Smith Square Hall

We celebrate the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking Apollo Saxophone Quartet with two of the many wonderful pieces they have commissioned from UK composers through the years. Clark Rundell returns to join in the celebrations and adds one of his favourite Steve Reich pieces, a jazz-infused work of virtuosity by Ukrainian Nikolai Kapustin, and replays a piece by talented North West composer Carmel Smickersgill.

Ensemble 10:10

Yoko Ono Lennon Centre

On a spring day in an imaginary Russia, an excited crowd gathers for a puppet show. Petrushka loves the Ballerina. She prefers another. Tragedy looms, but don’t worry: puppets don’t have souls…do they? Stravinsky’s 'Petrushka' paints Russian tradition in colours as bright as a piece of folk art – and as sinister as the 20th century. It’s a wonderfully bold finale for a concert that opens with Stravinsky at his most startling, and which unites two dauntless musical explorers – pianist Joanna MacGregor and our Principal Guest Conductor Ilan Volkov – in the haunting, utterly original Piano Concerto by Howard Skempton. A striking new work by one of British music’s true radicals completes an evening of music that fascinates and thrills.

Howard Skempton

Events

Past events

Dec 12, 2025

Winter Tales · Sinfonia Smith Square

Apr 26, 2025

Ensemble 10:10 · Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

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