MIF continued its partnership with the city’s Hallé Orchestra at MIF13 with this thrilling concert performance of Wagner’s Die Walküre, conducted by Sir Mark Elder. The three-night run also included The Madness of an Extraordinary Plan, a newly commissioned prologue for The Ring Cycle. Directed by Neil Bartlett, Roger Allam brought Wagner’s words to life from Gerard McBurney’s text, and gave Die Walküre a compelling new context.

‘It was, of course, the very visibility of the orchestra that made this three-dimensional programme note thrilling… to be subjected to these mighty and judicious fragments, played by forces that looked as transcendent as they sounded, was the beginning of a two-day emotional journey that left me feeling torn apart. The conducting was inspired; the immense structure cohered; one looks forward to the issue of the live recording happily being made.’ The Sunday Times Culture

Commissioned and produced by Manchester International Festival, the Hallé and The Bridgewater Hall.