Manchester Collective & Ruby Hughes
Biography Manchester Collective & Ruby Hughes
Ruby Hughes
s an artist whose instinct for communication lies at the heart of everything she does. Known for performances of striking emotional immediacy and for imaginative programming that draws unexpected connections across centuries, she brings together music, text and collaborators to create programmes of rare intimacy and impact. Her repertoire reaches from the Baroque to the present day, encompassing major orchestral works and song alongside a deep commitment to new music and the composers writing for her today.
Orchestral repertoire is an important strand of Ruby’s career, with performances and recordings spanning Mahler, Berg, Britten, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Golijov and contemporary music. Particularly acclaimed in Mahler, her repertoire includes the Second and Fourth Symphonies, Lieder einesfahrenden Gesellen, Kindertotenlieder and the Rückert-Lieder. She has appeared with orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Minnesota Orchestra, Residente Orckest, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors including Osmo Vänskä, Jun Märkl, Gianandrea Noseda, Thomas Søndergård, John Storgårds, Juanjo Mena, Thierry Fischer, Ivor Bolton and Laurence Cummings.
Collaboration and artistic exploration lie at the heart of Ruby’s work. She has developed close creative partnerships with Huw Watkins, Jonas Nordberg, Natalie Clein, Julius Drake and Joseph Middleton, alongside ensembles including United Strings of Europe and Manchester Collective. These relationships have led to a series of distinctive programmes and recordings, reflecting Ruby’s wide-ranging musical curiosity. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, she is a committed champion of women composers; Helen Grime, Deborah Pritchard, Judith Weir and Errollyn Wallen are among those who have written or been commissioned to write for her.
Ruby has performed at many of the world’s leading concert halls, including Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Palais Garnier and Philharmonie de Paris, as well as the Frick Collection and Carnegie Hall in New York. Festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence, Göttingen, Marlboro and Cheltenham. On the opera stage she has appeared at Theater an der Wien, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Opéra de Toulon and Potsdamer Winteroper, and in the UK with English National Opera, Garsington Opera and Scottish Opera.
A former BBC New Generation Artist, Ruby won both First and Audience Prizes at the London Handel Singing Competition and is a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.
Ruby’s extensive discography reflects the breadth and individuality of her artistic life. Heroines of Love & Loss, devoted primarily to female composers of the seventeenth century, received a Diapason d’Or, while Clytemnestra, with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, brings together orchestral songs by Mahler and Berg with Rhian Samuel’s dramatic scena and was nominated for a Gramophone Award. Recent releases include the critically acclaimed Echo with pianist and composer Huw Watkins; End of My Days with Manchester Collective, named Record of the Month by BBC Music Magazine; and Amidst the Shades with lutenist Jonas Nordberg which received five five-star reviews in major publications and was named Editor’s Choice in the vocal category by Gramophone. Ruby continues to tour Amidst the Shades throughout the UK and internationally.
Future projects include Inheriting the Earth with United Strings of Europe in concert and for release for BIS/Apple in March 2027. She will be performing world premieres of chamber music by Lisa Robertson and Helen Grime’s Bright Travellers with the BBC Philhamonic Orchestra. Looking further ahead, Ruby will collaborate again with Errollyn Wallen on a major new commission, forming part of a programme that will also feature the first modern English translation of Shostakovich’s Blok Songs, with plans to tour the project.
Rakhi Singh
is a violinist, music director and composer based between Manchester and London, England. In 2016 she co-founded Manchester Collective, who performed their second proms in as many years this Summer, led by Rakhi. In her programming, she continues to endeavour to bring important music to the fore, from 2022’s Julius Eastman Proms performance, to the new wave of British composers in ‘23 with work by Hannah Peel, Ben Nobuto and Oliver Leith (alongside favourites from Lang and Reich).
Alongside her work leading the Collective, Singh has firmly established herself as a violinist and leader of high repute, touring with the likes of Phillip Glass, Abel Selacoe & Hiromi, and guest leading ensembles including the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, London Contemporary Orchestra, RLPO, CBSO, Hebrides Ensemble, Sinfonia Cymru. Since 2021 she has toured as a solo artist, performing headline sets at the likes of Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Het Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), National Concert Hall (Dublin), Funkhaus (Berlin) and Kings Place (London).
Alongside her 2023 debut solo album ‘Purnima’ on Bang on a Can’s Cantaloupe Music imprint, she has also released a number of records on Bedroom Community, two albums as curator/director of Manchester Collective and her debut composition EP ‘Quarry’.
As a collaborator she has developed and performed collaborative work for the likes of London Southbank Centre (alongside Vessel & NYX Electronic Drone Choir for NMB 2022), Royal Opera House (alongside Blackhaine), on a new collaborative record by acclaimed violinist & recorder player Laura Cannell (also featuring Gazelle Twin, Nik Colk Void and Lori Goldston) as well as, as a recording artist on the records of Fever Ray, Clark and Vessel amongst others.
Born to an English mother and Indian father in rural Wales, Rakhi’s upbringing was influenced by many different cultures and traditions.
Manchester Collective
Known for their imaginative programming, daring collaborations and engaging performances, the work of Manchester Collective has expanded at break neck speed since their formation in 2016. The Collective’s vision is to reshape the future of classical music by creating radical artistic work from their base in the north of England.
The shape-shifting ensemble performs a combination of cutting-edge contemporary music, classical masterpieces and staged work nationally and internationally, in spaces ranging from concert halls to warehouses, nightclubs to festivals. They collaborate with an exciting array of award-winning artists, pushing at the boundaries of how classical music is presented and experienced. Notable previous projects include The Oracle with South African cellist Abel Selaocoe, Rosewood with guitarist Sean Shibe, The Unfurrowed Field with jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie and a multimedia performance of Michael Gordon’s ‘Weather’ with an installation by sound recordist Chris Watson.
New music is of vital importance to the Collective. Crossing different musical genres, in recent years they have commissioned major works by composers including Edmund Finnis, Hannah Peel, Ben Nobuto, Nabihah Iqbal, Oliver Leith, Moor Mother, Lyra Pramuk, Kelly Moran, Cassie Kinoshi, Laurence Osborn and Isobel Waller-Bridge. In 2021, Manchester Collective made their Royal Albert Hall debut as part of the BBC Proms Festival and are currently artists-in-residence at the Southbank Centre in London. In 2023, they won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Ensemble award. They have released three studio albums on the Icelandic label Bedroom Community, as well as featuring on recordings by Hania Rani, GoGo Penguin and Abel Selaocoe.
