October settles over Greater Manchester with its usual mix of bright, brisk mornings and the first properly dark evenings, and the arts calendar responds in kind, growing richer as the nights draw in. In the city centre, the Bridgewater Hall and the RNCM move through a dense run of orchestral and chamber programmes, while out in Stockport the restored Art Deco interior of the Plaza hosts everything from tribute acts to a landmark amateur staging of a rock musical. Further out towards Bolton, the Albert Halls keeps its own steady rhythm of music and talk events. Between all of this, pianos themselves, the ones in front rooms in Chorlton, church halls in Rochdale and school halls in Tameside, keep being moved, tuned, outgrown and occasionally retired, and this guide closes with some honest advice on that last point.
What's on this month
The Bridgewater Hall carries the heaviest orchestral programme of the month. On Thursday 8 October at 7.30pm, the Hallé Orchestra performs Prokofiev's Symphony No.5, a work written in the shadow of war and still capable of raising the hairs on the back of your neck in a hall of this size. The BBC Philharmonic follows with Tchaikovsky's Pathétique across two performances, Saturday 10 October at 7.30pm and Sunday 11 October at 4.00pm, a symphony whose final movement remains one of the most unflinching depictions of grief in the repertoire. On Monday 12 October at 7.30pm, the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover visits as part of the International Concert Series, with Stanislav Kochanovsky conducting and Lise de la Salle at the piano, a pairing worth catching for the solo playing alone. The Hallé returns on Saturday 17 October at 7.30pm with a Classical Extravaganza, a lighter but no less accomplished programme.
For something more intimate, Hallé St Peter's hosts a chamber concert of Saint-Saëns' Septet on Friday 9 October at 1.00pm, a lunchtime slot that suits anyone working nearby in the Northern Quarter or further into the city centre.
The Royal Northern College of Music keeps up its own packed autumn schedule. Thursday 8 October brings a Thursday Lunchtimes concert pairing the RNCM Chamber Ensemble with RNS Principals, a chance to hear students and professionals share a stage. Manchester Collective and percussionist Sidiki Dembélé present Constellations on 9 October, and the Chiaroscuro Quartet appear as part of the Monday Lunchtimes series on 12 October, alongside a free Spotlight talk on Brahms' String Sextet No.2 in G.
The Stoller Hall, built into the fabric of Chetham's School of Music, offers one of the densest listings of the month. Its free Chetham's Lunchtime Concerts run on Tuesday 6 October at 1.30pm in the Carole Nash Hall, with a relaxed version following at 1.30pm on Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 October in the Atrium. Chetham's Voices, a concert of choral and vocal music from the school's own students, takes place on Saturday 10 October at 7.30pm. The Hera Piano Trio perform as part of the Rush Hour Concerts series on Thursday 15 October at 6pm, a well-judged slot for anyone wanting live piano trio writing without giving up a whole evening.
Stockport Plaza's grandest classical-adjacent moment this month is Stockport Operatic Society's staging of Chess the Musical, running Wednesday 21 to Saturday 24 October, with evening performances at 7.15pm and a Saturday matinee at 2.15pm, marking 40 years since the show's West End premiere. Those drawn to the Stockport Plaza itself for its architecture as much as its programme should also note the free Fundraising Organ Coffee Morning on Saturday 31 October from 11am, a chance to sit inside the building's Art Deco auditorium without committing to a ticketed evening.
In Bolton, the Albert Halls' October listings lean towards music and spoken word rather than classical programming, with the Johnny Cash Roadshow on 18 October and The Ultimate Classic Rock Show on 25 October likely to be of most interest to music-going audiences near the Albert Halls and the town centre beyond it.
What should I check before buying a second-hand piano?
Check the serial number, the action and whether it has been kept in a stable, dry room, because damp, decades-old instruments often cost more to restore than to replace. Greater Manchester's housing stock, from Victorian terraces in Chorlton to newer builds in Sale, varies enormously in humidity and temperature control, and pianos react badly to both extremes. A piano that has sat in an unheated garage in Oldham for several winters is a very different proposition to one kept in a heated lounge in Altrincham, even if both look similar from the outside.
It is also worth asking directly whether the piano has had any recent piano removals and how it travelled, since poor handling during a previous move can knock a piano out of tune in ways that are not always obvious until weeks later. If you are arranging an estimate for collection, be clear about stairs, narrow doorways and parking restrictions, particularly in denser terraced streets around Salford and Trafford, since these details affect how the move is planned.
Not every second-hand piano is worth saving, and this is where piano disposal becomes the more sensible route. We have handled piano disposal and recycling since 2010, through our sister company Bellwoods Removals, an Environment Agency upper-tier registered waste carrier under licence CBDU133377. Under 1% of each piano we deal with ends up in landfill. Every instrument is dismantled by hand at our yard, never in the customer's home, and broken down into timber, cast iron frame, wire and felt, each recycled as far as practicably possible.
A free collection offer for an old piano is rarely as straightforward as it sounds. Anyone offering to take a piano away at no cost is usually planning to resell parts or scrap the cast iron frame for its metal value, with little regard for safe dismantling or for what happens to the rest of the instrument. Piano removals start from £138 inc VAT and piano disposal from £174 inc VAT, reflecting the genuine labour and licensed waste handling involved, not a token fee. If you are simply short on space rather than ready to part with an instrument, piano storage is often the better interim step while you decide.
Moving, storing or recycling a piano in Greater Manchester
We have been moving pianos since 1977 and have handled piano disposal and recycling since 2010, covering Manchester and the whole of Greater Manchester as a service-area business with no shop premises to visit. Whether you need moving a grand piano across the city, piano removals in Rochdale or Didsbury, or straightforward piano storage while you move house, our crews know the terraces, the tower block lifts and the narrow Victorian staircases that make Greater Manchester's housing stock so varied. For an estimate or to talk through an internal move within the same property, call us on 0161 806 1224.