Commissioned by the Brontë Society to mark Emily Brontë’s 200th Birthday, Yorkshire-born Unthanks pianist and composer Adrian McNally has turned a selection of her poems into song, performed with bandmates Rachel and Becky Unthank.
Adrian composed the songs using Emily Brontë’s own five-octave cabinet piano which is still housed in the Parsonage Museum in Haworth where she lived and worked.
A rare live performance of this new work, this promises to be an atmospheric and unique collaboration between a literary icon and one of the most innovative and critically acclaimed bands working today.
The Unthank’s approach to storytelling makes easy bedfellows of polar opposites from starch traditionalism to sonic adventure, glacial minimalism to heartbreaking empathy.
“Intimate, epic, overflowing with feeling and musical intelligence” – The Independent
Supporting The Unthanks is Nick Hart
Nick Hart is a folk singer deeply rooted in the English tradition. Described as ‘The real deal’ by Mike Harding, his desire to preserve the nuances of traditional singing informs his minimal approach to accompaniment, and his songs are delivered with a great emphasis on storytelling. His repertoire of songs, drawn largely from his native East Anglia, reflect his understanding of both the depth and breadth of material within the English tradition and he is fast acquiring a reputation as an engaging and entertaining performer.
This event is part of Manchester Folk Festival – an urban folk festival. It takes place from 15-20 October 2019, in and around HOME and the city centre. Over the autumn weekend, they present an exhilarating range of events, with the spotlight on contemporary and traditional English folk music.
