Our 2025/2026 Concert Season will be a celebration of anniversaries and all that is great in classical music. We will celebrate the lives of Samuel Barber, Grace Williams, Aaron Copland, Malcolm Arnold and Giuseppe Verdi, and mark anniversaries relating to the composition and premières of Ethel Smyth’s opera The Wreckers, Coleridge-Taylor’s cantata Hiawatha’s Departure and Lutoslawski’s Mala Suite.
Gorton Philharmonic will once again be expertly led by popular Musical Director Juan Ortuño, now in his 14th season. His sunny disposition and infectious enthusiasm will guarantee you leave our concerts smiling!
We will shine a spotlight on composers as diverse as Tchaikovsky, Stanford and Ludomir Różycki, as well as popular composers Rachmaninov and Elgar, with three of our concerts focusing on music from, or about, America, Poland and Britain.
We will stage another joint concert with Bury Choral Society, whose pianist Jonathan Ellis will perform Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue. Gorton Philharmonic’s Principal clarinettist John Gibson will also perform Bassi’s Concert Fantasia on motives from ’Rigoletto’ (composed by Verdi) in a memorial concert to remember Richard Fairbank and his 50-year association with the orchestra.
We will also have our usual festive-filled Christmas Concert in the grand surroundings of Gorton Monastery featuring seasonal and light music, plus six audience-participation carols.
Our 2025/2026 Season promises to be as exciting as ever, full of popular classics and little-heard gems, so why not join us for a celebration of the best of what classical music can offer?
Read on for more details…
Click on the date for more details
Saturday 25th October 2025 The Avenue Methodist Church, Sale, 7.30 p.m.
A concert with an American theme
| Copland | An Outdoor Overture |
| Barber | Adagio for strings/Agnus Dei |
| Gershwin | Rhapsody in Blue Jonathan Ellis piano |
| Coleridge-Taylor | Hiawatha’s Departure |
Sunday 14th December 2025 The Monastery, Gorton, 2 p.m.
CHRISTMAS CONCERT
Six audience-participation carols and a selection of festive, seasonal and light music to get you in the Christmas mood.
Saturday 21st February 2026 The Avenue Methodist Church, Sale, 7.30 p.m.
Richard Fairbank Memorial Concert
| Ethel Smyth | Overture: The Wreckers |
| Bassi | Concert Fantasia on motives from ‘Rigoletto’ (Verdi) John Gibson clarinet |
| Sibelius | Finlandia |
| Rachmaninov | Symphony No. 2 in E minor |
Saturday 25th April 2026 Holy Innocents Church, Fallowfield, 7.30 p.m.
A concert with an Polish theme
| Lutoslawski | Mala Suite |
| Różycki | Violin Concerto Rachel Stonham violin |
| Tchaikovsky | Symphony No. 3 ‘Polish’ |
Saturday 11th July 2026 Holy Innocents Church, Fallowfield, 7.30 p.m.
A celebration of music from around Britain
| Arnold | Scottish Dances |
| Grace Williams | Penillion |
| Stanford | Irish Rhapsody No. 1 |
| Elgar | Symphony No. 1 in A flat |
