The Hallé & Angélique Kidjo - Philip Glass's Ifé Songs

Angélique Kidjo – singer-songwriter, Grammy Award winner, activist – has a star-studded career spanning five decades.

Tonight, she steps onto The Bridgewater Hall stage alongside Robert Ames, a skilled interpreter of Glass’s work and ‘a super connector in modern music’ (The Guardian), to perform the UK premiere of Ifé Songs – written especially for her.

The composer said of the work: ‘Angélique, together we have built a bridge that no one has walked on before.’

Days and Nights in Rocinha is a thrilling tribute to the Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood. In true Glass style, it begins softly, slowly building and developing with increasingly complex percussive rhythms until it reaches a glorious climax.

Glass’s Eleventh Symphony – sometimes reflective, sometimes fizzing with rhythmic textures, always fascinating – closes the programme.