THE man behind Elbow and the Halle's dream combination believes they could have sold out 10 concerts.

The performances on Wednesday and Thursday will be conducted by composer Joe Duddell, the man who orchestrated and curated the collaboration at the Hallé's home, the Bridgewater Hall.

The concerts will be a celebration of a fantastic year for one of Manchester's best-loved bands, taking in songs from their back catalogue.

Elbow's fourth album, The Seldom Seen Kid, earned them massive critical acclaim and saw them winning the 2008 Mercury Prize, cementing their place as true Mancunian heroes.

The specially- programmed evenings will feature tracks from this award-winning album, alongside a selection of older favourites performed by the band and the Hallé, some surprise covers and even a few stars turns from some Manchester heroes.

Joe, a rising talent on the classical music scene who also holds the post of Reader in Music at Salford University, says not many bands would have suited such a project.

"They [Elbow] have this expansiveness in their music that allows all these grand gestures," he said.

"You couldn't imagine doing this kind of thing with a band as frantic as, say, the Arctic Monkeys. It's too quick paced."

Joe was staying tight-lipped about exactly what the audience could expect but said they were looking at songs across Elbow's back catalogue.

"I can't give too much away because there are a few surprise elements," he said.

"There will be some orchestral interludes and various other things - some other guests doing kind of interruptions maybe or interjections.

"It was quite a conservative estimate to just just have two concerts and I think we could have sold out maybe 10."