Aurora Orchestra
Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, 1 May
Web: saffronhall.com
The wide-open spaces of Copland’s Appalachian Spring and gritty edginess of Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story bookend an American road trip with conductor Nicholas Collon at the wheel. It takes in music by Caroline Shaw and, with pianist Tom Poster, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. A film specially shot on location by John Franck accompanies Ives’s Three Places in New England.
Manchester Collective
St George’s, Bristol, 3 May
Guitarist Sean Shibe enjoys startling juxtapositions, so he should feel at home in his debut with Manchester Collective. New York composer Kelly Moran and Emily Hall have both produced new works for a tour that contrasts John Cage
