More celebrations - BCMG at 25

The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) is 25. BCMG was founded in 1987 by players from the CBSO and Simon Rattle. Since then they have premiered over 140 new works, giving over 500 performance of the pieces both in the UK and on tour. The group have developed strong relationships with composers such as John Woolrich, Oliver Knussen and Thomas Ades. Their Sound Investment scheme invites members of the public to invest £150 in units which build up towards the cost of commissioning new pieces. The list of pieces commissioned through Sound Investment is remarkable, including works by Philip Cashian, Sally Beamish, Gerald Barry and Simon Bainbridge. The way the group has survived and flourished remains remarkable as there is no particular reason why Birmingham should support such a group, when other metropolitan centres do not; the group has strong local support.

Their 2012/13  diary is full of good things, including George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill, a programme of Britten’s early works framed by composers such as Berg, Henze and Copland, performances of Pierrot Lunaire done in tandem with CBSO performances of Bruckner’s 8^th symphony (composed just 20 year’s before Schoenberg’s work), a new Sound Investment work from Richard Baker alongside a reprise of a 2009 Sound Investment work from Richard Causton (plus Messiaen, Cage and Stravinsky) and a piece by BCMG’s Apprentice Composer in Residence Joanna Lee.

Further information from the BCMG website.