Thomas Adès as Principal Guest Conductor, Sir James MacMillan as Featured Composer: The Hallé Orchestra & Kahchun Wong's 2026/27 season

The Hallé Orchestra's 2026/27 season has a striking focus on contemporary music as well as celebrating both Kahchun Wong's third season as Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor and Conductor Emeritus Sir Mark Elder's 80th birthday.

Composer and conductor Thomas Adès has had a relationship with the Orchestra for some thirty years. From 1993-1999, he was the orchestra’s Composer-in-Association then in 1996, his piece These Premises Are Alarmed was commissioned and premiered by the Hallé for the opening of The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester’s concert hall and home of the orchestra. In July 2025 the Hallé’s own label released an acclaimed recording of Adès conducting his Aquifer and Dawn, alongside works by Oliver Leith and William Marsey. Building on this he has been announced as Principal Guest Conductor. He will three concerts, which he has curated including his own works including Asyla, ...but all shall be well, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (with Kirill Gerstein) alongside premieres by Gabriella Smith and Francisco Coll and music by Stravinsky, Elgar, Berg, Chabrier and Gerald Barry.

Sir James MacMillan becomes the Hallé’s Featured Composer with the world premiere of his Symphony No.6 opening the Orchestra's season conducted by Kahchun Wong alongside Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 with Sir Stephen Hough. Other MacMillan works include ;Timotheus, Bacchus & Cecilia, his Christmas Oratorio will be conducted by Sir Mark Elder, and his Seven Last Words from the Cross with the BBC Singers will feature at a new Easter Festival alongside Bach’s St John Passion with the Hallé Choir conducted by Laurence Cummings. Larghetto for Orchestra is performed by the Hallé Youth Orchestra playing Side-by-side with the Orchestra.

Featured Artist violinist Leila Josefowicz will perform Thomas Adès’ Violin Concerto ‘Concentric Paths' and Ligeti’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. Jonny Greenwood, another Featured Artist, presents his immersive work, 606 Years of Reverb at Manchester Cathedral and a film screening of There Will Be Blood with the Hallé Orchestra in which he will perform the Ondes Martenot.

Other new music in the season includes works by Ravel orchestrated by Composer Emeritus Colin Matthews, Steve Reich orchestrated by Anna Clyne, John Casken, Priaulx Rainier and Joan Tower. 

One novelty will be a rare performance of Offenbach's operetta Barkouf conducted by Paul Daniel and being presented in association with Opera Rara who are recording the work.

The winner of the 2026 Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition, Aku Sorensen, begins his role as the Hallé’s Assistant Conductor and Music Director of the Hallé Youth Orchestra. The 2026 winner of the Terence Judd-Hallé Award, Lukas Sternath, performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 with the Hallé and as part of the chamber series at Hallé St Peter’s. 

Full details from the Orchestra's website.