“It’s like the whole world is here in one room, and you don’t need flight tickets to see it.”

The Manchester International Roots Orchestra (MIRO) is a unique ensemble of musicians with roots from across the world including refugee musicians.

Their repertoire skilfully combines diverse musical influences from haunting Eastern European melodies, to the delicate textures of Middle Eastern percussion and vocals; through to soulful Sufi chants of South Asia, joyful African gospel – embracing rap, hip-hop, classical music and jazz along the way.

The evening is a wonderful celebration of Manchester diaspora musical traditions and its contributions to city culture and community collaborations.

MIRO is led by internationally recognized musician and composer Michael Cretu. Born in Bucharest, Romania, Michael comes from a family of musicians with a long and wonderful performing tradition, dating back to the 17th century. His uncle, Johnny Raducanu (Raducan Cretu) is considered the father of Romanian Jazz, whilst his father Dumitru Cretu was also an accomplished pianist.

In 2019 Michael was commissioned by Royal Northern College of Music to write for MIRO and chamber orchestra a 40 min contemporary suite, to conclude the RNCM new music festival. He was also a finalist and nominated for a prize in the European competition Prix Europa 2013, for writing the music for a radio show.

MIRO will be joined by special guest Abas Eljanabi, a wonderful Iraqi actor who will be performing Palestinian poems and spoken words with music.