NQ Jazz partners with The Stoller Hall & The Yard for 2021 concert season.

Written by | Concerts, News

Live jazz makes a triumphant return to Manchester with new venues and concert series for socially-distanced audiences featuring some of the biggest names in live jazz alongside rising stars. The cities growing reputation for live jazz is set to be catapulted in 2021, with a line-up of established and emerging musicians and two new venue partners. Manchester-based live music promoters NQ Jazz have established a brand-new partnership with two unique venues in Manchester; 500-seat music-venue, The Stoller Hall and new arts space, The Yard.

Soweto Kinch

Their latest venture will bring some of the UK’s finest jazz musicians to Manchester for a series of socially distanced lunchtime concerts and masterclasses, evening concerts and live broadcasts. Through a hybrid programme of live performances, high-quality online broadcasts and performance archive, the programme will reach a global audience.

Emily Burkhardt, Artistic Director at NQ Jazz stated “We’re delighted to be working alongside a diverse and wonderful spread of partners for our upcoming season, to bring more of the music we love to Manchester via our two brilliant new partner venues. We’re exceptionally proud to present this programme, featuring many of the UK’s most celebrated and exciting musicians. With The Stoller Hall being an internationally recognised state of the art concert hall and The Yard being a beautiful & intimate new arts space, bursting with creative vibrancy, we hope that there will be something for everyone in our programme!”

Amongst the artists involved are multiple MOBO award-winning saxophonist and composer Soweto Kinch, seminal vocalist Norma Winstone alongside long-term collaborators Stan Sulzmann and Nikki Iles, plus the renowned saxophonist and bandleader who rose to prominence with the influential big band Loose Tubes.

Fergus McCreadie

In addition to established artists, the partnership will champion rising stars and develop young talent, working with Manchester’s prestigious music school, Chetham’s, on a range of public Masterclasses, as well as providing opportunities for Manchester’s student community to learn from leading jazz artists by working with the RNCM and the University of Manchester. Fran Healey, General Manager of The Stoller Hall, commented: “This is a first for The Stoller Hall and for Manchester, where we can champion new music talent through our work with Chetham’s and showcase established musicians on our global stage.”

BBC Young Jazz Musician competitor and recent Edition Records signing Fergus McCreadie returns in January, performing with his trio in support of their outstanding new album, Cairn. Virtuosic jazz guitarist Rob Luft, a Parliamentary Jazz ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ award recipient in 2018, brings his quintet to the night in March, whilst the superb vocalist and Elftet member Ella Hohnen-Ford brings her own TreeClimbers project to Manchester in April.

NQ Jazz is also pleased to continue its series of live improvised soundtracks to silent film, this time focussed around a ‘seminal sci-fi’ theme, curated by guitarist and music for film expert José Dias. The five-film nights will include live scores to classics such as Nosferatu, The Lost World and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, from musicians across the improvised music spectrum.

The Covid-safe, socially distanced events will take place if Manchester is in Tier 2 or Tier 1 Covid-19 measures at the time of the event, with audiences given the option of rescheduled dates and online broadcasts if Tier 3 restrictions prevent concerts going ahead as planned.

Fore more information and the full concert listing visit the NQ Jazz website.

Last modified: December 9, 2020