Latest news with #BritishMusic
BBC News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The Brit Awards are moving to Manchester
The Brit Awards will be held in Manchester for the first time next year, it's been announced. It's a big change, as the ceremony, which is all about the celebration of British music and talented artists from the UK and beyond, has taken place in London for the last 48 years. The very first awards were in 1977, with the past 15 ceremonies taking place at London's O2 Brits will be held at the Manchester Co-op Live arena in 2026 and 2027 as part of a two-year-deal. Next year's event will be on Saturday 28 February and the 50th anniversary will be celebrated the following year. "After 48 years, it is great that this prestigious global event is about to arrive in the UK capital of music and culture," said Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester. "Greater Manchester has an unparalleled music heritage known around the world..."...we will pull out all the stops to show they made the right decision." Who won big at the last Brit Awards? The Brit Awards 2025 were held in March earlier this year in London. Charli XCX was the big winner on the night, taking home five awards, including Best Artist, Best Album, and Song of the Year. Former Little Mix member Jade Thirlwall won the Best Pop Act award this year, while US pop star Sabrina Carpenter was given the Global Success Award.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
BRIT Awards moving to Manchester for first time in its history
For the first time in its history, The BRIT Awards will leave the capital and make its way north. The iconic celebration of British music is set to electrify Manchester's Co-op Live in 2026 and 2027, marking a bold new chapter for the legendary event, after nearly five decades in London. The BRIT Awards 2026 will take place on Saturday, February 28, on ITV. Bosses say the move capitalises on the deep and rich roots in music; producing scores of iconic and contemporary artists and bands from Oasis, The Smiths, Harry Styles, The Stone Roses, Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, Take That, The 1975, Aitch, Blossoms and Courteeners. And also a nod to the cultural moments from Mad-chester to the Haçienda and Factory Records, and has a thriving independent music scene to support emerging and new talent. The BRIT Awards is expected to be a welcome addition to its music legacy and the event marks another milestone in the journey of Co-op Live, the UK's newest live entertainment arena, drawing acclaim from fans and artists alike since opening in May 2024. READ MORE: Chase and Status bring perfect mix of epic tunes to storm gig at Co-op Live Liam Gallagher's triumphant gig brings Definitely Maybe home to Manchester As the world gears up for the highly anticipated tour this summer from Manchester's prodigal sons Oasis, with dates at Heaton Park, this new bond between one of the UK's most industrious and thriving metropolitan cities and the biggest night in UK music and entertainment will continue to showcase the very best in not only British, but global music, creativity and talent, and evolve what The BRIT Awards can be as it nears five decades of championing new music. 2026 will be the first of three years under the stewardship of Sony Music UK, who spearheaded the move to Manchester. The Chair of the BRITs Committee, who oversees all aspects of the show including performer bookings, hosts, show creative and categories, will be announced at a later date. Jason Iley MBE, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music UK & Ireland said: 'This is a very exciting time for The BRIT Awards. Moving to Manchester, the home of some of the most iconic and defining artists of our lifetime, will invigorate the show and build on the BRITs legacy of celebrating and reinvesting in world-class music. Hosting the show in Manchester, with its vibrant cultural history, perfectly captures the spirit and energy of the BRIT Awards. I can't wait to see the show at the amazing state-of-the art Co-op Live venue.' Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester said: 'For The BRIT Awards to move out of London is a massive coup for Greater Manchester. After 48 years, it is great that this prestigious global event is about to arrive in the UK capital of music and culture. "Greater Manchester has an unparalleled music heritage known around the world, and this summer will play host to some of the biggest gigs on the planet. That was only made possible by our strong commitment to new talent and giving emerging artists the opportunities to make their name. "We thank our friends at the BPI for choosing Manchester and we will pull out all the stops to show they made the right decision. Celebrating the BRIT Awards right here in the home of 24 hour party people is the next chapter in its story and you can be sure that we will help them do it in style.' Tim Leiweke, Co-Founder and CEO of Oak View Group said: 'The BRITs are the most important music event in the UK and were always the highlight of the year, not only because of its immense cultural contribution, but because of their commitment to improving the lives of youth through music. It is our honour to partner with our friends at BPI and Sony Music, alongside the great city of Manchester, to host the BRITs at Co-op Live and join in their mission to create opportunities for youth through music. With Co-op Live, Manchester is embarking on another chapter in its rich musical journey, and others will soon learn what we know to be true, that Manchester is one of the greatest emerging markets in the UK for business, music and culture'. Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council said: 'This is a massive boost for Manchester and we are delighted that The BRITs will be coming here for the first time in its history. Manchester is at the forefront of the UK music scene, from our iconic grassroots scene through to major events and this news is a major vote of confidence in Manchester. We have got here through a great partnership between the BPI, Co-op Live, Sony Music as well as our own businesses in the city and we hope this is the beginning of a long and successful partnership.' Dr Jo Twist OBE, BPI CEO and BRITs Committee member, said: 'The BRIT Awards have helped to tell the story of British music in all its brilliant diversity, capturing some of its most memorable moments, and this groundbreaking move to Manchester will only add to its rich legacy. This exciting new chapter celebrates not only the city's exceptional musical heritage and its status as a powerhouse of British creativity, but the great depth of artistic energy and potential that exists all across the UK. I feel sure it will fire the imagination of fans, artists and the wider music community alike, and we look forward to sharing the experience with them.' YolanDa Brown OBE DL, BPI Chair, said: "I believe that music touches everyone wherever they are and it is important that this is reflected by our industry in its strategy around a regional talent pipeline, touring, access to music education and more. So you can appreciate my delight at The BRIT Awards moving out of London for the first time ever, making that special connection with music fans in Manchester and the North of England. A city and region that has given us so much iconic music over the years and remains the home of such wonderful, diverse talent. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the first ever BRIT Awards in 1977, it is hard to imagine a more fitting and imaginative way to celebrate this special landmark and to keep the music alive.' Katie Rawcliffe, Director of Entertainment & Daytime said: "ITV is for everyone, no matter where in the UK you live. As someone who grew up in the North, I'm so excited that The BRITs is coming live from Manchester this year for the very first time in its 48 year rich musical history. Those Mancunians know how to throw a party, so don't miss it!" The BRITs in 2026 and 2027 will continue to raise funds to support education and well-being for young people through The BRIT Trust, which supports the BRIT School in south London and nationwide music therapy charity Nordoff & Robbins, among other organisations adjacent to the music industry. Mastercard will continue their long-standing headline sponsorship - which is now in its 28th year, and ITV will continue to be The BRITs' official broadcaster, now going into their 33rd year, with both partnerships continuing to support and boost The BRITs' vision and values.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Brit awards swap London for Manchester to ‘invigorate' show
It has been one of the high points of London's music calendar for almost half a century, but the Brit awards has confirmed it is ditching the capital and moving to Manchester next year. The celebration of British music will be held at the Co-op Live arena in 2026 and 2027 – its 50th anniversary – as part of plans to 'invigorate' the show, organisers said. Next year is the first of three years of Sony stewardship for the Brit awards, responsible for some the UK's most famous music moments led by northern acts, including Jarvis Cocker mooning at Michael Jackson in 1996, Chumbawamba dumping a bucket of ice water over the then deputy prime minister John Prescott in 1998, and Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner's literal mic-drop after his speech trashing the music industry in 2014. Organisers said moving the Brits to the home of the legendary Haçienda club and Factory Records 'perfectly captures the spirit and energy' of the event. The chair and CEO of Sony Music UK & Ireland, Jason Iley, described it as a 'very exciting time'. 'Moving to Manchester, the home of some of the most iconic and defining artists of our lifetime, will invigorate the show and build on the Brits legacy of celebrating and reinvesting in world-class music,' he said. 'Hosting the show in Manchester, with its vibrant cultural history, perfectly captures the spirit and energy of the Brit awards.' Sign up to The Guide Get our weekly pop culture email, free in your inbox every Friday after newsletter promotion The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, pointed to the 'unparalleled music heritage' of the city, which has spawned artists such as Oasis, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays and Take That. 'Greater Manchester has an unparalleled music heritage known around the world, and this summer will play host to some of the biggest gigs on the planet,' he said. 'That was only made possible by our strong commitment to new talent and giving emerging artists the opportunities to make their name. 'Celebrating the Brit awards right here in the home of 24-hour party people is the next chapter in its story and you can be sure that we will help them do it in style.' The move is part of a wider trend in the music industry towards celebrating the north of England as being responsible for some of the world's biggest music stars past and present. The MTV European music awards were held at Co-op Live last year, and the Mobo awards has spent its last two years in the northern cities of Sheffield and Newcastle. The Northern music awards, recognising homegrown talent, are in their second year after their inaugural event in Manchester in 2024.
Telegraph
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Purcell shaped classical music – here are the pieces that prove it
After the death of Henry Purcell in 1695, his friend the organist Henry Hall wrote a notable couplet: 'Sometimes a HERO in an Age appears/But scarce a PURCELL in a Thousand Years'. Unfortunately, the prediction turned into near-prophesy, as English music produced no-one to rival Purcell's genius, arguably until Elgar, 200 years later. Purcell died far too young at 36, but he had made his mark. His memorial in Westminster Abbey says that he has 'gone to that Blessed Place where only his Harmony can be exceeded', a stirring remembrance of a composer who changed the course of British music and continues to have a unique resonance for our time. Now, after a century of the early music revival, Purcell's stock as a reinventor of a truly British musical style has never been higher – but what does this have to tell us about his unique achievement? Take his dramatic music: no-one has written a lament of the depth and intensity of Dido's 'When I am laid in earth' from Dido and Aeneas, with its piercing cries of 'Remember me!'. No-one has written dance music of the exuberance and sophistication displayed in The Fairy Queen, with its bubbling rhythms and intoxicating energy. There are some very specific things which made Purcell a revolutionary in the English music of his era, but which also binds him securely to our own time. Here are some reasons he matters – and the music you should listen to. 1. Purcell was a musical magpie His style was cosmopolitan and outward-looking. Like all the best British composers, he drew inspiration from the melting-pot of styles around him. When you listen to the dazzling Passacaglia from King Arthur 'How happy the lover', its lilting triple time flow and endless variations over a repeated set of harmonies are clearly derived from the French passacaglias of Lully and his contemporaries. On the other hand, Purcell's trio sonatas reflect precisely the innovations of the Italian style that Corelli pioneered, with two violins contesting contrapuntally. Yet behind this is the English tradition of equal-voiced counterpoint that Purcell first explored in his chromatically adventurous Fantazias for viols, written when he was in his 20s: it's a distinctive, heady stylistic brew. Sonatas in 3 parts: Christopher Hogwood/Academy of Ancient Music 2. Purcell enjoyed rumbustious fun There was no condescending snobbish division for him between the intense spiritual language of his church anthems like the sublime 'Remember not Lord our offences', and the bawdy catches he wrote for coffee and ale-houses – in which the texts of these rounds become ever more salacious the more vocal parts are added and the texts can be heard combined. Listen: Remember O Lord our offences/Simon Preston/Christ Church Cathedral Choir Purcell in Court and Tavern: Mark Brown/Pro Cantione Antiqua 3. Purcell loved a good tune He set English words better than anyone (maybe until Arthur Sullivan), and his melodies have a natural flow that was sensed by Benjamin Britten, who arranged many of them to sing with his partner Peter Pears. In the 1940s, Michael Tippett heard the countertenor Alfred Deller sing 'Music for a while shall all your cares beguile' and said that 'in that moment, the centuries rolled back'. What could be more perfectly shaped than the melody of 'If love's a sweet passion'? Or the descriptive melisma of 'I attempt from love's sickness to fly….'? Purcell songs realised by Britten: Allan Clayton/Joseph Middleton 4. Purcell knew how to sell his wares He grew up in the shadow of Westminster Abbey where his family worked, and never moved from the area (sadly, none of the places he lived survive, nor can exact addresses be found, so he has no Blue Plaque). As a young boy he survived the Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666; he trained and sang as choirboy until his voice broke, when he repaired instruments and grew in composing skills, becoming Organist at the Abbey. He was determined to advance his own cause; his contemporary Thomas Tudway said that 'he had the most commendable ambition of exceeding everyone of his own time', an aim in which we may say he totally succeeded. There were bumps along the way: he was censured for selling places in the organ loft for the Coronation of William and Mary, making the large sum of £500 which he had to repay to the authorities. He formed a friendly alliance with the publisher John Playford and his son Henry, who sold music at the Inner Temple, and Purcell's wife Frances continued to publish and circulate his music, especially his songs, after his all-too-early death. A Purcell Songbook: Emma Kirkby/Anthony Rooley/Christopher Hogwood 5. Purcell was a master of his craft From his earliest years in Westminster he would have practised music and studied it every day of his life. His expressiveness, whether in complex counterpoint or simple melody, came from a total mastery of the musical techniques he had available to him. Nowadays there seems to be a scepticism that the study of musical notation, and harmonic practice, are necessary to composers. Yes, we value improvisation and spontaneity, and they were vital to Purcell's style, but for him they were built on the foundation of impeccable learning and constant practice. When we read in a contemporary account that the air 'Tis nature's Voice' in his Ode Hail bright Cecilia was 'sung with incredible graces by Mr Purcell himself', we can be sure that the elaboration and freedom applied to his music was based on fundamental mastery of the language. 6. Purcell provides one model for future music education When Benjamin Britten was commissioned to write after the Second World War what was then rather patronisingly called a 'Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra', he chose a theme from Purcell's theatre music. It was a way of demonstrating, brilliantly, how it could be varied to show the character of all the different instruments of the orchestra, across strings, woodwind, brass, percussion and harp, building a tremendous fugue which is combined at the close with Purcell's melody – the piece is now more often known as the Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell. It could be the starting point for new explorations of contemporary music scoring in a new generation. Britten/Purcell Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra: Andrew Davis BBC SO 7. Purcell inspired future generations Britten and Tippett venerated Purcell at a time when they wanted to cast aside the legacy of the 20 th -century English pastoral tradition, which had been caricatured as the 'English cowpat' school of music depicting 'a cow looking over a gate'. Instead, they reached much further back in English musical history and Purcell's imprint can be heard in much of their work. Purcell later entered the world of techno music and film: Wendy Carlos took the hypnotic march from the Funeral Music for Queen Mary (with its hypnotic drum beats that had actually been added by their 20 th -century editor Thurston Dart) and turned it into a powerful piece for Moog synthesiser. That turned up as the scary opening music to the score for Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange. One way or another, Purcell had achieved a place alongside the greats of Western music. Nicholas Kenyon, the Telegraph's Chief Opera Critic, gave the inaugural Purcell Lecture at the Stationers Hall, London this month
