The Lark Ascending & The Sounds of Nature with Gábor Takács-Nagy & Caroline Pether

Fri 30 October 2026, 7:30pm,
Stoller Hall, Manchester

Don’t miss our ticket offers for this concert! £10 for Under 30s | £5 for Students | £3 for Gorton Residents

Leave the bustle of everyday life behind and experience The Lark Ascending with Manchester Camerata, recommended by Classic FM. Under the baton of our esteemed Music Director, Gábor Takács-Nagy, and featuring our brilliant Leader, Caroline Pether, as soloist, this live classical concert will transport you into forests, fields, and open skies, celebrating the natural world and the feeling of pure joy.

Imagine a clear day in the English countryside: fields stretching under a blue sky, hedgerows alive with birdsong, and a gentle warmth in the air. From its very first note, Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending will carry you into this dreamlike place. Inspired by George Meredith's poem about a skylark soaring ever higher above an English meadow, the music follows the bird as it rises into the sky, pouring out an endless song before disappearing from view. Caroline Pether takes centre stage in this atmospheric portrait of nature, performing one of Britain's most beloved works.

For a moment, the landscape shifts as a bustling city comes into view. Mozart’s Prague Symphony is bright and full of life, written for a city that welcomed him as a hero, alive with warmth, brilliance, and invention. This life-affirming music brings feelings of energy, optimism, and celebration before the countryside opens out once more.

The journey then leads us to Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, the "Pastoral", one of the most vivid celebrations of nature ever written. A passionate walker, Beethoven spent hours escaping Vienna for the surrounding countryside, sketchbook in hand, gathering musical ideas among forests, fields, and streams, transforming them into one of his most beloved works.

The Pastoral unfolds almost like a day spent outdoors. Gentle melodies evoke open landscapes and flowing water, while woodwind instruments imitate birdsong. A lively village gathering is interrupted by one of classical music's most dramatic storms, as thunder rolls through the orchestra before giving way to sunshine and calm. Yet Beethoven insisted that the symphony was "more the expression of feeling than painting." Rather than simply depicting nature, he captures the emotions it stirs within us: wonder, joy, peace, and gratitude.

As autumn deepens and the year begins to draw in, take one final breath outdoors, embrace the beauty of the British countryside, and let yourself be carried somewhere far beyond the everyday with this Classic FM-recommended concert experience.

Programme