The Institute of Popular Music’s virtual exhibition of archive materials will be launched as part of Manchester International Festival
Research at the University of Liverpool into the cultural significance of the world-renowned Manchester Hallé Orchestra has resulted in a virtual exhibition of archive materials related to the orchestra’s history.
Launched as part of the Manchester International Festival, the exhibition was created by the University’s Institute of Popular Music in partnership with the Department of History and the Hallé Orchestra, and focuses on the development of the orchestra during the Second World War.
The Manchester Hallé Orchestra was founded in 1858 and ranks among the UK’s top symphonic ensembles, with performances across the UK and the world. The new exhibition looks at the activities of the Orchestra during the 1943-44 season.
Professor Sara Cohen, from the Institute of Popular Music, explains: “During this time we saw changes in repertoire as well as a dramatic increase in the number of women orchestral players and in audience numbers.
“The orchestra’s performances reached a wide range of people, introducing whole communities to the classical repertoire for the first time and through a wide variety of music. Performances also took place in non-traditional venues, such as cinemas, factories and a circus.
“We have created an interactive online map to show these venues and allow users to view related photographs, newspaper reports and concert programmes. We’ve added a GPS guided tour of Manchester ‘old to new’ that people can follow in order to see some of the war-time venues as well as the current home of the orchestra.”
The GPS tour and online map will become a permanent part of the Hallé website to be built upon in the future as a new way for people to access and engage with the orchestra’s archive.
