Alex Burns

Held by Sir Mark Elder for 24 years, the hallowed Hallé baton has been passed into new hands, with Singaporean superstar Kahchun Wong stepping up to the role of Principal Conductor at the top of a stunning 2024-25 season. But to appreciate what it means to occupy this role, you first need to know the extraordinary story of the Hallé’s beginnings – a story that was largely written on the Oxford Road Corridor.

It’s difficult to imagine, now, but in the mid-19th century, there were no regularly playing professional orchestras in Britain. If you wanted to give a concert series, you would form an orchestra for that purpose. This changed when Germany’s Karl Halle (who later became known as Charles Hallé) was invited to Manchester to run the city’s Gentlemen’s Concerts, which revolved around a group of 26 amateur flautists.

Arriving in Manchester via Paris and London, where Hallé – a gifted pianist and conductor – nurtured friendships with Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Mendelssohn and Berlioz, he promptly fired all of the Gentlemen’s Concerts’ players, and built an entire orchestra from scratch, setting new standards that would soon attract the jealous gaze of London’s artistic community. “Mancunians are in advance of all other parts of the kingdom in their musical taste and knowledge”, wrote The London Paper.

In 1857, following an acclaimed series of concerts given as part of The Art Treasures of Great Britain exhibition in Old Trafford, the orchestra was expected to disband. Not so. Hallé announced that not only would the orchestra stay together for a new ‘Grand Orchestral Concerts’ series, but that all in society, from the richest to the poorest (for whom there would be cheap tickets), would have the opportunity to watch them.

Mr Hallé’s Band, as the orchestra became affectionately known, was for everyone.

The series, launched at Hallé’s own expense, took place at the Free Trade Hall, where history would later be written time and again, from being bombed in the Manchester Blitz to hosting Bob Dylan’s ‘Judas’ concert and an infamous Sex Pistols gig. But for now, the Hallé Orchestra held its story in their hands. In this new home, they gave important national premieres of works by Hallé’s beloved Berlioz, as well as new pieces by Wagner, Brahms and Dvorák.

Before long, the orchestra was touring all over the country, and then the world, with Hallé conducting almost every concert and performing as piano soloist at many. With his newfound powers, and with a strong sense of social purpose, he did incredible things for Manchester’s musicians, including helping to found The Royal Manchester College of Music, which we now know as the RNCM, one of the world’s top conservatoires.

Charles Hallé and his unprecedented orchestra put Manchester on the musical map and triggered a ripple effect of professional orchestras forming up and down the country. His sudden death in 1895 shocked the city and the wider musical world, with his funeral procession bringing Manchester to a standstill. Fittingly, the service was held on his well-trodden Oxford Road, at The Holy Name Church, where The Hallé Orchestra and Choir performed Mozart’s Requiem.

Such distinguished conductors as Hans Richter, Sir Hamilton Harty and Sir John Barbirolli helped the orchestra continue to thrive and develop, including the move to a new home on the Corridor: the magnificent Bridgewater Hall. In that building, for almost 25 years, the Hallé’s success has been synonymous with the great Sir Mark Elder, who, after two emotional farewell concerts last spring, handed his baton to Kahchun Wong.

Internationally acclaimed for his electrifying stage presence, the 38-year-old Kahchun Wong grew up humbly in the Jurong West neighbourhood of Singapore. Later moving to Berlin to study opera and orchestra conducting at the Hans Eisler Music University, he became the first Asian to win the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition. This led him to form alchemic relationships with prestigious orchestras the world over – most recently as the Chief Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Principal Guest Conductor of Dresdner Philharmonie – and now Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Hallé.

‘I feel very strongly about the potential of this city. It’s already achieved a lot, historically, but I’m really humbled and privileged to be here, as a new resident of Manchester and to be part of its ensuing story’

Describing himself as “humbled and privileged” to secure this new role, Wong’s journey with the Hallé is already being celebrated as the ambitious and inclusive 2024-25 season gets underway, largely at The Bridgewater Hall. Whether you’re into Austro-German masters like Beethoven, Bruckner and Brahms, British visionaries like Vaughan Williams or modern American Minimalists like Philip Glass, tempted to take to the virtual dance floor with Chicago DJ Honey Dijon, or eager to experience Queer Black excellence courtesy of bass diva Le Gateau Chocolat, there really is something for everyone.

A number of these concerts continue a time-honoured tradition that has seen the Hallé itself commissioning and premiering major works that now help form the mainstream concert repertoire. This season, they celebrate new music from living composers such as Thomas Adès, Philip Glass, Huw Watkins, Tan Dun and Unsuk Chin, while revisiting some of the greatest classical masterworks. Of these, two huge choral works shine brightly: Mahler’s Second ‘Resurrection’ Symphony (16 January 2025) and Beethoven’s Ninth (29 May 2025) – both being performed with the Hallé Choir under the baton of the Hallé’s latest custodian.

As this new chapter of the Hallé story unfolds, one can’t help but think back to where it all began. Imagine the immense pride it would have given Sir Charles Hallé to know that the orchestra he created 166 years ago still endures, still bears his name, and is still regarded as one of the world’s finest.

Discover more at halle.co.uk