RNS Moves

RNS Moves brings together disabled and non-disabled musicians to create bold, boundary-breaking music. This performance weaves Renaissance choral music, contemporary minimalism, and modern experimental works – from Thomas Tallis to Philip Glass to Caroline Shaw – into a compelling journey across time, brought to life by an ensemble redefining what orchestral music can be.

RNS Moves is a one-of-a-kind musical ensemble made up of professional disabled musicians and non-disabled members of Royal Northern Sinfonia. Together, they are pioneering a new style of inclusive music-making with improvisation and experimentation at its heart. And this set of music is a perfect snapshot of how they do it: by bending and blending styles, eras, and sound worlds until something entirely new takes shape.

RNS Moves start with the mesmeric minimalism of Philip Glass, paired with Caroline Shaw’s lush, nature-inspired textures. Then it’s a shift in mood and century. A burst of Renaissance calm with Tallis’s If Ye Love Me before a jump to 1970s New York for Julius Eastman’s Joy Boy. Brash, joyful, and a little wild – this one pulses with energy and edge. And Memento, by James MacMillan, takes it somewhere else again: intimate, reflective, a piece that almost whispers.

The finale blends the old and the radical in one seamless flow. Purcell’s Fantasia upon One Note – strange and beautiful – slides quietly into Riley’s In C, a piece that’s different every time it’s played. Built on repetition and chance, it grows and morphs like a living thing.