A New Way to Listen

From the silent, snow-clad forests of Finland to the beating heart of Manchester comes the intimate and curious Zuihitsu of Sound - A New Way to Listen.

Free your mind as you explore and wonder at the ways fragments of sound and silence can play off one another under the warm acoustics of the Portico Library’s beautiful dome.

In a traditional Japanese zuihitsu fragments of text and white space intertwine, but introducing strands of music into the weave expands the sound-world's possibilities. Each listener will find different layers and connections.

Featuring principal players from the BBC Philharmonic - flautist Alex Jakeman and cellist Maria Zachariadou - music meets spoken word from writer/musician Rachel Weld, inspired by the silence of a winter sojourn in Finland.

Biographies

Flautist Alex Jakeman studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She held positions with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra before her current position as Principal Flute with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Alex enjoys performing with orchestras and chamber groups across the UK, from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Aurora Orchestra to Manchester Collective and the Halle’s chamber music series. She can be heard on Hollywood soundtracks such as The Shape Of Water and as soloist on Radio 3. Alex lives in Saddleworth and ‘likes’ to get lost walking in the hills!

Greek/Swedish cellist Maria Zachariadou completed her Konzertexamen in Dusseldorf before joining the Philharmonia orchestra in London and founding the acclaimed Philharmonia Chamber Players at the Royal Festival Hall. She has recorded and performed internationally in prizewinning chamber music groups such as the piano trio Melange and the baroque ensemble La Sfera Musicale, focusing on both traditional and lesser known works. She taught at the Royal College of Music in London and completed a winter residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada before joining the BBC Philharmonic as Assistant Principal.

Rachel Weld is an Australian musician and writer based in Manchester. As well as being a member of the BBC Philharmonic viola section, she recently graduated with an MA in Creative Writing (with Distinction) from Manchester Metropolitan University, has written and presented for the BBC Philharmonic, including broadcasts, children’s workshops, concerts, website and social media, and contributed to Words and Music and Essential Classics (BBC Radio 3). Publishing credits include flash fiction in Litro, Bath Flash Fiction Award and Pure Slush and she has completed her first novel.

In the stillness of the Arteles Creative Residency (Finland, 2025) Rachel explored the zuihitsu form, including sending prose fragments on postcards in a web of performance art. From this she devised and performed the script for Zuihitsu of Sound: A New Way to Listen with Maria and Alex in the Chamber.nq concert series in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

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