BCMG continues blooming in Birmingham

Having recently celebrated the cherry blossom flowering with an outdoor concert, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group is continuing its BCMG in Bloom season with a pair of concerts celebrating the natural world. On 29 April 2023 there is Blossoming in Birmingham, a concert at the CBSO Centre to welcome Kazuki Yamada to the Birmingham, in his new role as Chief Conductor and artistic advisor for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Then on 12 May 2023 comes the long-awaited T R E E concert with a premiere by Christian Mason and a modern classic by Helmut Lachenmann.

Blossoming in Birmingham features two works by Dai Fujikura, Perpetual Spring and Secret Forest, plus Toshio Hosokawa’s Blossoming, Lisa Illean’s Januaries and String Quartet No. 2 by György Ligeti. And there is a special post-concert event where the BCMG NEXT ensemble will perform pieces by Dai Fujikura, Toshio Hosokawa, Lisa Illean, and more.

T R E E, which was originally scheduled to be presented in 2021 but was delayed by COVID, will feature the premiere of Christian Mason’s new Sound Investment commission The Singing Tree with text by Paul Griffiths that takes the form of a tree. The piece focuses on the ‘natural’ series of overtones and features Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and the Finchley Children’s Music Group, whose conductor Grace Rossiter has worked with Christian Mason on developing the score for young voices. Also in the programme is Helmut Lachenmann’s Concertini (2005), a seminal work that BCMG have hoped to perform for many years. BCMG will be conducted by Michael Wendeberg.

But there is more than just a concert, T R E E has grown from a simple idea for a new musical work, to a multi-faceted project with workshops for young musicians, extensive digital resources and real-life tree planting around Birmingham. Working in partnership with Birmingham Trees for Life, BCMG staff have planted saplings around the city.

Full details from the BCMG website.