Manchester Collective x Thick & Tight - Papillons

Dissolving the boundaries between classical music and other art forms, Manchester Collective join forces with radical dance-theatre company Thick & Tight to present a searing live performance like no other.

Drawing on queer culture, Thick & Tight’s work refuses to be pinned down. Daniel Hay-Gordon and El Perry flit between ballet and cabaret, the absurd and the disarmingly moving.

At the heart of this show is Sept Papillons by Finnish composer and experimenter Kaija Saariaho – a set of seven miniatures for solo cello, darkly exquisite and fiendishly difficult. Great strength is needed to handle something so delicate. Taking up the mantle is Laura van der Heijden, one of the leading cellists of her generation.

Completing an evening themed around metamorphosis is the fantastical music of composer and multimedia artist CHAINES. Based in Manchester, they synthesise cutting-edge technology with their classical training to create surreal, glitchy textures.