Article published in the Manchester Evening News 20 February 2015

MANCHESTER Camerata’s afternoon concert at the Royal Exchange Theatre on Sunday, March 1, is unusual even for the city’s most ground-breaking orchestral musicians. 

It’s called Challenging The Senses and will offer the audience a chance to experience live music-making in completely new ways – using the senses of touch, smell, taste and sight as well as hearing. 

Everyone gets a blindfold, so they can try listening in darkness, and there’ll be cocktails, scent bombs … and other things, as yet undisclosed, in what’s described as ‘an immersive experience’. 

Camerata principal players give performances of Black Angels, by George Crumb, Go Crystal Tears, by John Dowland, Shostakovich’s string quartet no. 8, and Haydn’s string quartet no. 63, known as ‘The Sunrise’. 

“It’s part of the new vision we’ve got, of redefining what an orchestra can do,” says Camerata chief executive Bob Riley. “A while ago we decided it could be easier to go to places where people who are interested in art and culture already are than to ask them to come to traditional concert halls. 

“And the Royal Exchange is a place where you’re in the round, there’s stage lighting, everyone is a lot closer to the players – which is something people tell us they like about hearing the Camerata. This concert is about what happens when people make contact with each other through music, and how we can enhance that.” 

There’s also a link, he points out, with an academically moderated programme the musicians are carrying out with dementia sufferers and therapists at present, looking at what actually happens when music impacts on people. 

And in venues as varied as Gorilla Bar, Manchester Cathedral and the Whitworth Art Gallery, the Camerata are attracting significant numbers of people who are new to their music.  

“In this city we have the opportunity to work with some great people and amazing organizations. It’s very ‘Manc’ – we like to innovate and push the barriers. 

“There’s a big new audience out there who like experiences, not just straight concerts. The Manchester International Festival has brought that out. But the whole point is still the music, and the amazing musicians who play it.” 

He may be showing the way to other orchestras, too. Some of the smaller, more flexible ones nationally are trying new ideas in presentation as well. But maybe none quite so radically as our Manchester Camerata. 

l Manchester Camerata ‘Up Close’, Royal Exchange Theatre, March 1, 3pm.