September in Greater Manchester always feels like the region catching its breath after summer, then filling its lungs again. In the city centre, concert halls set out their autumn programmes in earnest, while out in Salford, Stockport and Bolton, theatres and organ lofts do the same in their own distinctive keys. From the Quays to the Cheshire edge of Altrincham and Sale, September is when musical life properly resumes, and for households doing the same, it is also the month when the piano often comes back into view after a summer of neglect.
What's on this month
The Bridgewater Hall has a strong run of piano and organ interest this September. Jonathan Scott's Organ Anniversary recital on Tuesday 8 September at 1.10pm is a lunchtime date worth diarising, a chance to hear the hall's organ marked with a programme built around its history. Earlier in the month, the Manchester Midday Music series brings Lumas Winds on Monday 7 September at 1.00pm, a reliable and unpretentious way to hear chamber playing on a weekday without committing an evening to it. The Friday lunchtime Live at Lunchtime slot also continues, with Francisco Bernier on 4 September and Neeve Zahra on 11 September, both at 12.45pm, useful staging posts for anyone working in the city centre who fancies half an hour of live music on a break.
Over at the Stoller Hall, The Necks perform on Tuesday 8 September (doors 7pm), a trio built around Chris Abrahams' piano playing alongside drums and bass, and a genuinely distinctive booking for anyone drawn to instrumental music that takes its time. The hall's Chetham's Lunchtime Concerts resume on Tuesday 22 September at 1.30pm, part of a free weekday recital series that has long given young musicians from the Chetham's School of Music a public stage, with further dates on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September.
Stockport Plaza offers something rarer: a cinema organ recital. David Ivory in Concert at the Mighty Compton Cinema Organ takes place on Monday 28 September at 1.00pm, a chance to hear the Plaza's own Compton organ played live, a survival from the building's 1932 origins as an Art Deco super cinema. It sits well alongside the venue's Behind the Scenes Tour on Wednesday 23 September, for anyone curious about the building itself as well as its music. Anyone travelling in from Stockport, Sale or the wider Trafford side of the conurbation will find the Plaza an easy and rewarding detour this month.
At Albert Halls in Bolton, the September programme leans towards tribute and variety shows rather than classical recital, but Arrival, the Hits of Abba on 12 September and Magic of Motown on 18 September both promise full band arrangements and are worth a mention for anyone in Bolton, Rochdale or the wider Tameside area looking for a big, tuneful night out. The Lowry in Salford, meanwhile, is dominated by theatre and comedy this month, headlined by Disney's High School Musical running from 2 to 19 September at the Lyric Theatre, alongside Caitlin Moran: How To Be Hopeful on 16 September, useful for anyone building an autumn cultural calendar around the Quays.
Where's the best place to put a piano in a house?
The best place for a piano is an internal wall, away from radiators, direct sunlight and draughty external doors, ideally in a room with steady, moderate humidity. Pianos are built from wood, felt and metal in roughly equal measure, and all three react badly to sudden changes in temperature or moisture. An external wall in a Victorian terrace in Chorlton or a stone-built cottage on the Rochdale moors can swing several degrees colder than an internal one overnight, which over months causes tuning to drift and, eventually, timber to crack or warp.
Radiators and open fires are the most common offenders we see when we're called out for piano removals across Greater Manchester. A piano positioned even a metre from a heat source can dry out unevenly, causing the soundboard to shrink and keys to stick. South-facing bay windows, common in the bigger Edwardian houses around Didsbury and Altrincham, cause the same problem through direct sun rather than radiator heat. An internal wall in a hallway, dining room or lounge, away from both, is almost always the safer choice, and it also tends to give the most even, resonant sound because the wall itself doesn't flex with outside temperature changes.
Floor strength matters too, particularly for anyone moving a grand piano into an upstairs room or a converted loft. An upright typically weighs 180 to 250 kilograms, while a grand can exceed 350 kilograms concentrated on three small castors. Older Manchester properties with suspended timber floors, common in the terraces of Oldham and parts of Bolton, sometimes need the load spread across joists with a board beneath the piano rather than resting on a single point. If you're planning a house move that involves relocating an instrument, our internal piano removals service is designed exactly for this kind of repositioning within a property, moving a piano from room to room or floor to floor without the risks of doing it with a few willing friends and a furniture dolly.
Moving, storing or recycling a piano this September
We have been moving pianos across Greater Manchester since 1977, and since 2010 we have also handled piano disposal responsibly through our sister company Bellwoods Removals, an Environment Agency upper-tier registered waste carrier. Pianos due for disposal are dismantled by hand at our yard, never in the customer's home, and under 1% of each instrument ends up in landfill once recycling is complete. If you need a piano moved locally, whether that's piano removals in Stockport ahead of a recital season at the Plaza, or a household relocation in Salford near The Lowry, our teams handle the job with the same care whatever the distance.
Piano removals start from £138 inc VAT and piano disposal from £174 inc VAT. If space is tight during a move, our piano storage service offers a practical interim solution, and you can get a piano removal estimate before deciding what's right for your circumstances. Call us on 0161 806 1224 to talk through moving, storing or recycling a piano anywhere in Greater Manchester.