Manchester Collective with Abel Selaocoe | April 3, 2024 | House Program

CLASSICAL / ENSEMBLE SERIES
SIROCCO:
Manchester Collective
featuring Abel Selaocoe and Chesaba
APRIL 3, 2024, AT 7:30 PM
CLASSICAL / ENSEMBLE SERIES
SIROCCO:
Manchester Collective
featuring Abel Selaocoe and Chesaba
APRIL 3, 2024, AT 7:30 PM
THIS PERFORMANCE IS SUPPORTED BY
CAROLINE AND SIMON DAVIS

MANCHESTER
COLLECTIVE
Abel Selaocoe, Cello*
Rakhi Singh, Violin
Simmy Singh, Violin
Christine Anderson, Viola
Alan Keary, Electric Bass*
Sidiki Dembele, Percussion*
Joe Reiser, sound
Declan Kennedy, general
manager and tour manager
SIROCCO:
Manchester Collective
featuring Abel Selaocoe
and Chesaba
*Members of Chesaba
PROGRAM
Abel Selaocoe
Hans Abrahamsen
Abel Selaocoe
Luciano Berio
Traditional (Denmark)
arr. Danish String Quartet
Qhawe
Selections from Preludes for String Quartet
Tshepo
Aldo from 24 Duets for Two Violins
Sønderho Bridal Trilogy
INTERMISSION
Abel Sealocoe
Joseph Haydn
Traditional (South Africa)
Johannes Rusten
arr. Danish String Quartet
Eriona Rushiti
Traditional (Mali)
Traditional (South Africa)
Kea Mo Rata
String Quartet Op. 76/1 Hob. III: 75, II. Adagio Sostenuto
Ibuyile
O Fredrik, O Fredrik
Vashezo
Takamba
Ka Bohaleng

ABOUT TONIGHT’S PERFORMANCE
Sirocco is pure joy and energy—a great storm of
music that celebrates the warmth and diversity
of cultural traditions from across the globe.
Guest directed and narrated by South African
cellist Abel Selaocoe, this is music for the people,
by the people. The show covers everything from
outrageous arrangements for solo cello to beloved
classics, from a set of original African music to a
collection of gorgeous Danish folk songs. When
this program toured across the UK and Europe,
critics described it as a “deeply moving” and
“once in a lifetime experience.”
features new commissions by Isobel Waller-
Bridge, Isabella Summers, Fergus McCreadie,
and Katherine Balch.
In 2021, Manchester Collective made their Royal
Albert Hall debut as part of the BBC Proms
Festival and are currently artists-in-residence at
the Southbank Centre in London. In 2023, they
won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious
Ensemble award.
Manchester Collective record for the Icelandic
label Bedroom Community. Their third studio
album NEON was released in June 2023.
ABOUT MANCHESTER COLLECTIVE
Known for their imaginative programming, daring
collaborations and engaging performances, the
work of Manchester Collective has expanded at
breakneck speed since their formation in 2016
by Adam Szabo and Rakhi Singh.
The Collective’s vision is to reshape the future of
classical music by creating radical artistic work
from their base in the north of England. The
shape-shifting ensemble performs a combination
of cutting-edge contemporary music, classical
masterpieces and staged work nationally and
internationally, in spaces ranging from concert
halls to warehouses, nightclubs to festivals.
They collaborate with an exciting array of awardwinning
artists, pushing at the boundaries of how
classical music is presented and experienced.
Notable previous projects include Sirocco and
The Oracle with South African cellist Abel Selaocoe,
Rosewood with guitarist Sean Shibe, and a
multimedia performance of Michael Gordon’s
‘Weather’ with an installation by sound recordist
Chris Watson.
New music is of vital importance to the Collective.
Crossing different musical genres, in recent
years they have commissioned major works by
composers including Edmund Finnis, Emily Hall,
Hannah Peel, Lyra Pramuk, Moor Mother, Laurence
Osborn, and Alice Zawadzki. Their 23/24 season
ABOUT ABEL SELAOCOE, CELLO
South African cellist Abel Selaocoe is a rapidly
rising star who is redefining the parameters of
the cello. He moves seamlessly across a plethora
of genres and styles, from collaborations with
world musicians and beatboxers, to concertos and
solo performances. Selaocoe combines virtuosic
performance with improvisation, singing and
body percussion, and is devoted to composing
works and curating programmes that highlight the
links between Western and non-Western musical
traditions, broadening the horizons of classical
music to reach a more diverse audience.
In April 2022, following his hugely successful
debut, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
announced Selaocoe as Artistic Partner for an
initial three seasons from 2022/23. He was also an
Artist Artist in Association with the BBC Singers
and Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank
Centre for the 2022/23 season with performances
there throughout the season, including an exclusive
performance of his debut album Where is Home?
(Hae Ke Kae—Warner Classics), which was released
on Friday, September 23, 2022.
Selaocoe premiered two new concerti in the
22/23 season; he gave the world premiere of a
new double concerto for kora and cello with
Seckou Keita and the Ulster Orchestra in March
2023, co-commissioned by Orchestre national de
Bretagne, Ulster Orchestra and Southbank Centre,
and the world premiere of his solo cello concerto

with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in
March 2023, with subsequent US premiere with
Seattle Symphony in April 2023.
In 2016, Selaocoe formed Chesaba—a trio
specializing in music from the African continent,
including many of his own compositions. He enjoys
close collaborations with musicians from a medley
of genres, including Bernhard Schimpelsberger,
Tim Garland, Seckou Keita, Giovanni Sollima, Dudu
Kouaté, Famoudou Don Moye and Gwilym Simcock.
He has a close partnership with Manchester
Collective, with whom he devised the hugely
successful Sirocco which has been enjoyed both
live and digitally by audiences since 2019 and
The Oracle, which toured the UK in 2022.
Selaocoe completed his International Artist
Diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music
in July 2018. In May 2021, he was announced as an
inaugural Power Up Music Creator participant in
PRS Foundation’s new initiative to address anti-
Black racism and racial disparities in the music
sector and in July 2021, he received a Paul Hamlyn
Foundation award for his compositional work.
Abel Selaocoe is an exclusive recording artist
with Warner Classics.
APRIL
AT THE
ISABEL
GRYPHON TRIO WITH
JAMES CAMPBELL, CLARINET
MESSIAEN:QUARTET
FOR THE END OF TIME
APR 10 AT 7:30 PM
The Gryphon Trio joins forces with celebrated Canadian
clarinetist James Campbell, for a performance of one of
the most important musical works created in the 20th
century, Messiaen’s transcendent Quartet for the End of
Time, with additional works by Beethoven and Bernstein.
THIS PERFORMANCE IS SUPPORTED BY
THE SHELAGH AND DAVID WILLIAMS MUSIC PROGRAMMING FUND
THREE TIME GRAMMY-
AWARD NOMINATED
ARC ENSEMBLE
APR 21 AT 2:30 PM
Comprised of faculty from The Royal Conservatory’s
Glenn Gould School, ARC Ensemble is among
Canada’s most distinguished cultural ambassadors.
Performing a wide range of music, its focus remains
the research and recovery of previously unknown
works that were suppressed and marginalized
under the 20th century’s repressive regimes.
THIS PERFORMANCE IS DEDICATED TO THE LATE
DR. ALFRED BADER, COMMEMORATING WHAT WOULD
HAVE BEEN HIS 100TH BIRTHDAY ON SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2024.
TICKETS: queensu.ca/theisabel • 613-533-2424