The Hallé Presents Philip Glass: Angélique Kidjo Sings Ifé Songs
13th February 2025
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Robert Ames conductor
Angélique Kidjo vocalist
Philip Glass
Days and Nights in Rocinha
Ifé Songs (UK Premiere)
Symphony No.11
Angélique Kidjo – singer-songwriter, Grammy Award winner, activist – has a star-studded career spanning five decades. Tonight, she steps onto The Bridgewater Hall stage alongside Robert Ames, a skilled interpretor of Glass’s work and ‘a super connector in modern music ’(The Guardian), to perform the UK premiere of Ifé Songs – written especially for her. The composer said of the work: ‘Angélique, together we have built a bridge that no one has walked on before.’
Days and Nights in Rocinha is a thrilling tribute to the Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood. In true Glass style, it begins softly, slowly building and developing with increasingly complex percussive rhythms until it reaches a glorious climax.
Glass’s Eleventh Symphony – sometimes reflective, sometimes fizzing with rhythmic textures, always fascinating – closes the programme.
