When: 7.30pm on Wednesday 28 January 2026
Where: The Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3WS

We’re delighted to be working with The Unthanks as they celebrate their 20th anniversary special with Royal Northern Sinfonia!

The Unthanks unite with Royal Northern Sinfonia to celebrate 20 years as a band in spectacular style. Simultaneously marking the 10th anniversary of BBC Folk Album of the Year, Mount The Air by The Unthanks, the show will cherry-pick crowd favourites from across their 15 albums to date.

Elevating the orchestral sensibilities already present in the music of The Unthanks, their collaboration with Royal Northern Sinfonia builds on the band’s symphonic explorations to date, led by the arrangements and compositions of Unthank pianist and composer, Adrian McNally. While most artists look to the classical world for assistance in orchestrating their work, The Unthanks have retained close care of the songs they love and let no such opportunity for artistic development pass them by. If folk music can traditionally be referred to as ‘low culture’, The Unthanks aspire to prove that the beauty, truth and relevance present in the oral history of the people, is anything but common.

Having already proved so in performances with BBC Concert Orchestra at The Proms, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band and Charles Hazlewood’s Army Of Generals, a celebratory show with NewcastleGateshead’s world class chamber orchestra is a fitting way to mark 20 years of innovation and longevity that has earned them admirers including Michael Sheen, Maxine Peake, Martin Freeman, Elvis Costello, Martin Hayes, Mackenzie Crook, Dawn French and Phillip Selway.

The show will be conducted by Ellie Slorach.

Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday 3 October via Bridgewater-hall.co.uk

Attend on: Facebook