This spring, two new cities entered the Red Events geography — and both did so with a full room.
In Southampton, our first concert in the city unfolded through Hayao Miyazaki’s Dreams by Mystery Ensemble — a programme built not on spectacle, but on atmosphere: Joe Hisaishi’s music, tenderness held in motion, and the strange clarity that only certain scores can bring. In a sold-out space, that world found new listeners and, with them, a new home for the evening.
In Sunderland, our city debut took a different path — through The Music of The Lord of The Rings. Tribute to Howard Shore. If Miyazaki opens a door into wonder, Howard Shore opens a gate into myth. The programme moved through Middle-earth with all the contrast the score demands: intimacy and scale, stillness and shadow, the sense that even the most familiar music can become newly alive when heard in a room that is fully with it.
What connects these two premieres is not the repertoire, but the feeling of arrival. A new city, a first encounter, and the rare pleasure of seeing both met with complete sold outs. For us, that is more than a strong result — it is a sign that the Red Events route continues to grow in the right way: through places that listen closely, and evenings that stay behind after the last note.
We are deeply grateful to Southampton and Sunderland for these first welcomes — full, warm, and unforgettable.
