Season of premieres at Aviva Studios
- Alan Hulme
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
World-leading artists and arts organisations will premiere their latest works at Manchester's Aviva Studios in 2026. Factory International - the organisation behind the Manchester International Festival (MIF) and Aviva - has announced a season of new, large-scale theatre, dance, music and visual art productions.
They include the world premiere of The Surge: An Ode to Sinead O'Connor (June 25-27). Created by Tony-award-winning choreographer and director Sonya Tayeh and set to the music of Sinead O'Connor.
This "mediation on voice, protest and the courage to live a life that defies the norm" will be performed by a company of 10 women.
Director and choreographer Sonya Tayeh said: “Sinead O’Connor’s music is rooted in a sense of a desire for freedom, an unrelenting righteousness and a quest for a spiritual awakening. The depth of emotion in her music is unmatched and vibrates through the dance space with such electric inspiration for me, and has for decades."
Theatre-Rites and award-winning South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma present the world premiere of Return to the Forest (May 7-10), an immersive new dance and puppetry show for families, co-produced by Factory and co-commissioned by Sadlers Wells East.
Director Sue Buckmaster said: “Manchester holds a special place for us as artists. This production is deeply connected to themes of renewal and resilience and there is no better city and audience with whom to share its spirit."
English National Opera and Factory International present the UK premiere of Du Yun’s Pulitzer prize-winning contemporary opera Angel’s Bone (May 12-16), an allegory exploring themes of exploitation, power, and the human cost of survival. With a libretto by Royce Vavrek and directed by Kip Williams, it's a collaboration with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
Kip Williams said: "Du Yun and Royce Vavrek have created a visionary and urgent piece and it’s an honour to stage this boundary-pushing opera for British
audiences for the first time.'
The new season also brings history, power and an empire colliding in a major new exhibition by world-leading artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Ai Weiwei: Button Up! (July 2-September 6), confronts 200 years of turbulent world history in a vast exhibition that centres on two major new commissions created for Aviva Studios, one of which will be his largest 2D artwork to date, made from over a million toy bricks.
Factory's artistic director and chief executive, John McGrath, said: "This season we have a collection of firsts. We're proud to have Ai Weiwei's first major exhibition in the North of England, ENO's first production staged in Manchester and the first major production celebrating the music and life of Sinead O'Connor.
"Factory International is collaborating with pioneering, fearless artists this spring, inviting them to use the flexibility and versatility of our extraordinary home as their playground to create work they couldn't make anywhere else."
Throughout the spring, Aviva Studios will also host a range of music performances from artists, bands and collectives, pushing at the limits of experimental electronics and indie music.
More info and tickets here