Once established with the Hallé, Richter found himself conducting in new towns and cities in the north of England. Middlesbrough was one, on 3 November 1899, an all-Wagner programme and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. On the way back to London the train stopped in York where ‘one of the stationmasters, who had been at the concert, said “it was grand”.’ On this tour Richter worked with Dohnányi and Busoni as solo pianists, the singers Louis Fröhlich, Ella Russell, Marie Brema, Kennerley Rumford (Clara Butt's husband) and Ellison van Hoose, who sang Wagner in Hull, where an ‘aural’ rehearsal had to be held in the hotel because there was no piano. Another was Blanche Marchesi, who sang Beethoven's ‘Ah! perfido’ and Liszt's Die Loreley at the conductor's official debut in Manchester on 19 October when ‘a very large audience assembled to greet Dr Richter and to give assurance of goodwill undimmed by recollection of any past misgivings and preferences’. Richter's rendition of Brahms’ First Symphony in London on 30 October was greeted with enthusiasm in the press.

Another venue was Lord Fitzwilliam's castle, Wentworth Woodhouse, in Rotherham, where he conducted on 17 November. The concert only began at 9.30 in the evening and fog prevented many of the audience from arriving. After spending the night in the castle as the guest of Lord Fitzwilliam's daughter-inlaw Lady Alice (‘a fine lady’), Richter returned to Manchester to rehearse with the Hallé and Sarasate, and then went off to the Palace of Varieties for an afternoon's entertainment. The music hall was now a favourite haunt. On 24 November he gave Newcastle its first taste of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. He was well pleased; the soloists (Agnes Nicholls, Muriel Foster, Joseph Reed and Daniel Price) and the Newcastle and Gateshead Choral Union were excellent and the public response overwhelming.