CBSO in the City: removing all barriers, bringing people together & reminding us music should be about having fun, CBSO presents 20 free performances across the city

CBSO in the City 2025 - New Street Station (Photo: Jonathan Ferro)

This weekend (27-31 August) the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) goes beyond its home at Symphony Hall for five days to deliver 20 free performances in public spaces in and around the city. CBSO in the City sees members of the orchestra presenting music in unexpected places.

There are family friendly performances of The Wind in the Willows at Birmingham Library, solo harp at Birmingham Children's Hospital, harp and flute duo at Birmingham Library, a string quartet plays in The Exchange’s Banking Hall café alongside the University of Birmingham’s breathtaking Helios installation by British artist Luke Jerram, and there will be string trio and string quartet performances at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery alongside Joe Lycett's exhibition, Everything Must Go. CBSO Music Director, Kazuki Yamada, will also be performing piano on a CBSO- branded tram

CBSO Brass perform at Touchwood’s Summer Sessions at the Beach in Theatre Square in Solihull playing a selection of popular works arranged for brass ensemble, including Disco Inferno, Sweet Home Alabama, Total Eclipse of the Heart. CBSO Woodwind Ensemble will be in Birmingham Botanical Gardens and saxophonist Jess Gillam (CBSO Collaborative Artist) will lead Saxophones in the City, a mass ‘come and play’ clarinet and saxophone event at Brindleyplace with over 60 participants ranging from age 12 to 89.

Infinite Opera, Grand Union and the CBSO present Open for Business, an ambitious community operatic performance unfolding across nine venues in Digbeth. Open for Business is a walking opera that features four fictional characters built from real conversations with local workers and residents. The opera follows these characters through snapshots from a year in their lives, whilst their connection to Digbeth shifts and develops through past, present and future simulations.

The CBSO and CBSO Chorus will take over the concourse at New Street Station under conductor Jack Lovell-Huckle performing everything from Gershwin and Copland to Rossini and Beethoven to The Phantom Menace and Pirates of the Caribbean, and the weekend ends with further performances of this programme in the Bullring.

CBSO in the City 2025 - Birmingham Library (Photo: Jonathan Ferro)

Emma Stenning, CBSO Chief Executive, commented: “CBSO in the City is about us doing something special to celebrate our home city and sharing the gift of free music to people of all ages and from all walks of life. Thousands of people will experience live orchestral music for the first time, and the range of music programming and exciting locations will both play a part in making the performances exciting, fun and accessible. We also appreciate that the cost-of-living crisis has been a worry for so many people, and our £1 golden tickets will give many people that see us this coming weekend the bonus of a great night out to look forward to in the autumn. Music is for everyone and there should never be barriers to this. CBSO in the City fully opens up the world of orchestral music – removing all barriers, bringing people together and reminding us that music should ultimately be about having fun.”

All public performances are free (except for admission fees for some host venues) and residents that
experience a CBSO performance will have to chance to pick up a golden ticket – which means that for
just £1, they will be able to book a CBSO concert of their choice in the 2026-27 Season at Symphony Hall which starts in September.

Full details from the CBSO website.

Saxophones in the City: saxophonist Jess Gillam invites saxophonists & clarinettists to come & play for massed event as part of CBSO in the City festival

CBSO at New Street Station as part of CBSO in the City, 2024 (Photo: Hannah Fathers)

As part of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO)’s 2026 CBSO in the City festival (27 to 31 August), CBSO Collaborative Artist Jess Gillam is inviting the next generation of Birmingham’s musical talent to ‘come and play’ as part of a new initiative.

Birmingham-based saxophonists and clarinettists will have the chance to rehearse and perform with Jess Gillam. She will lead amateur musicians in a rehearsal session on Saturday 29 August, before performing with the massed saxophone and clarinet ensemble in the city-centre’s vibrant waterside gathering spot, Brindleyplace.

Keen musicians of all ages are invited to sign up on the CBSO website before midday on 20 July. Rehearsal sessions will take place on the morning of Saturday 29 August at the CBSO Centre, while the performance will take place that afternoon in Brindleyplace. 

The CBSO’s annual Birmingham-wide CBSO in the City festival returns for 2026 with five days of free music running from Thursday 27 to Monday 31 August across the summer bank holiday weekend. The 2026 programme will present performances from full orchestral spectacles to duos, quartets and free family concerts. 

Anna Clyne in residence, collaborations with Jess Gillam, Alice Sarah Ott & Rushil Ranjan, Britten's War Requiem at Coventry Cathedral: the CBSO 2026/27 season

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Kazuki Yamada (Photo: Andrew Fox)

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), music director Kazuki Yamada has announce their 2026/2027 season. One highlight must be Remembrance Day, when Kazuki Yamada conducts Britten's War Requiem at Coventry Cathedral where the work premiered in 1952. The soloists are tenor Andrew Staples, soprano Irina Lungu and baritone Christian Gerhaher with the CBSO Chorus, CBSO Youth Chorus and Trinity Boys Choir in a performance that also marks 50 years since Britten's death.

Yamada and the CBSO their Mahler cycle and the season opens with Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with soprano Eleanor Lyons and contralto Jess Dandy in a concert which also celebrates the 1000th performance of the CBSO Chorus. The season will close in June 2027 with Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Marking another anniversary, Yamada conducts the CBSO in all of Beethoven's symphonies during 2027, alongside the Violin Concerto and a wide ranging selection of chamber music and to set things of the CBSO's leader Eugene Tzikindelean directs the Violin Concerto from the violin in November 2026.

Three artists are collaborating with the CBSO during the season. Pianist Alice Sarah Ott's appearances include the Grieg and the Ravel concertos; saxophonist Jess Gillam joins Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) and Ben Goldscheider (horn) for Gwilym Simcock's Triple Concerto and her other appearances include Anna Clyne's Glasslands as well as at Christmas events; composer/arranger/pianist Rushil Ranjan directs The Orchestral Qawwali Project, blending Sufi poetry, Indian classical dance and orchestra.

The CBSO's first composer in residence, Anna Clyne premieres her new Viola Concerto for soloist Laurence Power as well as Jess Gillam's performance of Glasslands which will be recorded. And Clyne's PALETTE will be performed by the CBSO Orchestral Residency Scheme, a scheme which offers exceptional young musicians aged 21 to 25 the opportunity to rehearse and perform alongside the CBSO. As well as Clyne's PALETTE, Yamada will be conducting the young musicians in Strauss' Alpine Symphony.

Ilan Volkov makes his debut as the CBSO's Principal Guest Conductor with programmes including Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 (with Ilya Gringolts) and Bruckner's 7th Symphony, Messiaen's Turangalila and a Shakespeare inspired programme of Thomas Ades, Richard Strauss and Mendelssohn.

On a lighter note, Yamada's concerts include pairing Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker with Duke Ellington's reworking, as well as A Night at the Opera! Family friendly concerts include celebrations of Quincy Jones, as well as ABBA and the film Home Alone, not to mention Star Wars: A New Hope, Casino Royale, and The Lord of the Rings.

Created especially for under‑6s, Notelets are joyful, interactive performances where children can sing, dance and discover orchestral instruments for the very first time, supported by free creative activities and opportunities to meet the musicians. Across the season, BSL‑interpreted family concerts further widen access, ensuring orchestral music is welcoming and inclusive for audiences of all ages.

Full details from the CBSO website.

Anna Clyne announced as composer-in-residence with the CBSO for 2026/27 with new viola concerto with Lawrence Power, new recording with Jess Gillam and more

Anna Clyne (Photo: Victoria Stevens)

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has announced that USA-based British composer Anna Clyne has been appointed composer-in-residence for the 2026/27 season. Her work with the CBSO will include major symphonic performances, a world premiere commission and a significant new recording project.

Concert highlights include Restless Oceans in a programme conducted by the CBSO's music director Kazuki Yamada in September 2026, as well as her saxophone concerto, Glasslands, performed by CBSO collaborative artist Jess Gillam under the baton of Alpesh Chauhan, with a Decca recording of the work forming part of the project.     

In March 2027, the CBSO will give the world premiere of Clyne’s new Viola Concerto – Resonant Forms – co-commissioned by the orchestra for Lawrence Power. Her piece Night Ferry will also be performed as part of the CBSO’s Halloween themed Family Concert in October 2026.    

Clyne’s residency will extend beyond the concert platform, with collaborations including a project with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, educational visits to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Shireland CBSO Academy, and involvement in the CBSO’s Orchestral Residency Scheme with young musicians in July 2027, featuring her work PALETTE – a concerto for Augmented Orchestra. 

Clyne's cello concerto DANCE was performed by National Youth Orchestra as part of Shimmer, its January 2026 programme, and she was awarded her first Ivor Novello Award for Orbits, a piece commissioned and performed by The Sixteen and Harry Christophers setting the poem I Live My Life In Growing Orbits by Rilke in a translation by American poet Robert Bly [see my review]. Her piece, The Years, was performed at the BBC Proms in August 2025 by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Fabio Luisi as part of the orchestra's centenary celebrations [see my review].

Clyne's announcement at composer-in-residence comes after recent announcements of Ilan Volkov as principal guest conductor from 2026 to 2029; pianist Alice Sara Ott and saxophonist Jess Gillam as collaborative artists for 2026–28; composer and producer Rushil Ranjan as collaborative artist for 2025-27; along with the confirmation that Kazuki Yamada will remain music director until at least the end of the 2028-29 Season

Full details from the CBSO's website. 

 

Ilan Volkov announced as Principal Guest Conductor of CBSO alongside new Collaborative Artists & other artistic appointments

Ilan Volkov & the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 2024 (Photo: Hannah Blake-Fathers)

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of Ilan Volkov as Principal Guest Conductor from 2026 to 2029. The appointment comes along with announcements of pianist Alice Sara Ott and saxophonist Jess Gillam as Collaborative Artists and builds on the announcement of a two-year contract extension for for Kazuki Yamada, meaning he will remain Music Director until at least the end of the 2028/29 season. All this is complemented by the continuing relationship with with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla as Associate Artist, and the announcement of composer and producer Rushil Ranjan as Collaborative Artist for 2025-27.

Ilan Volkov has long been admired for his fearless programming and deep curiosity, spanning the core symphonic repertoire to contemporary, experimental and cross-genre projects. He has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, as Principal Conductor from 2003, Principal Guest Conductor from 2009 to 2024, and currently as Creative Partner. And he is artistic director of Techtonics Festival which he founded in 2012.

Details of the first programmes and projects that the Collaborative Artists will lead will be announced in line with the 2026-27 Season.

Full details from the CBSO website. 

 

Meeting people where they are & sharing something powerful, beautiful & unexpected: CBSO in the City 2025, Birmingham's week of music in unexpected places

CBSO at New Street Station in August 2024 (Photo: Hannah Fathers)

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) returns this Summer with the second-edition of CBSO in the City, a week-long musical takeover running from 23 to 28 July 2025. 2024's inaugural CBSO in the City saw over 25 free performances in iconic and everyday locations across Birmingham. This year repeats that winning formula with free, unticketed performances across the city. Performance to look forward to include:

• Pop-up performances for commuters in New Street Station
• A space-themed family concert and string quintet with sitar in the wellbeing space at Library of Birmingham
• Chamber groups showcased in gallery settings at Ikon Gallery and RBSA Gallery
• Flute and harp duets at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
• String quartets & wind quintets in the serene garden surroundings of Birmingham Botanical Gardens
• brass quintets in the historic setting of Black Country Living Museum: 
• A clarinet trio bringing music on the move to West Midlands Metro

Each performance is designed to meet audiences where they are – whether in transit, at leisure, or exploring with family - while showcasing the full diversity of the orchestra. From Star Wars and Brahms in New Street Station, to strings & winds among the blooms at Birmingham’s Botanical Gardens, a string quartet at the Ikon Gallery, and even a clarinet trio riding the West Midlands Metro.

As part of the celebrations, the orchestra is calling on Birmingham residents to nominate their street for the chance to host an unforgettable pop-up performance later this year.

The CBSO's music director Kazuki Yamada commented, “For me, music is about connection. Taking the orchestra outside the concert hall helps us meet people where they are - and share something powerful, beautiful and unexpected.”

Full details from the CBSO website.

Out of the concert hall into the city: CBSO launches week of free performances in public spaces

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) and music director Kazuki Yamada will fill Birmingham with music this August, when the orchestra presents a week of free performances in public spaces (26 August to 1 September). Over 25 events will present everything from Beethoven and Star Wars in the Bullring and brass quintets in Birmingham’s Botanical Gardens, to dinosaur themed family shows in libraries, string quartets in pubs, a day of open rehearsals at the CBSO Centre, and live music from Kazuki Yamada on the West Midlands Metro. There will be fun-filled interactive concerts for all the family, as well as performances for those living with dementia alongside their carers, family and friends.

The week will also see the launch of the ‘£1 tickets for Brummies’ offer on Sunday 1 September. For one afternoon, anyone with a Birmingham postcode will be able to buy a ticket for the CBSO’s 2024-25 Season for just £1. This offer will be available in person from the B:Music Box Office at Symphony Hall between 3pm and 6pm. 

The full CBSO will pop-up in front of commuters and shoppers, performing orchestral favourites including the Star Wars theme tune, Jurassic Park, and an excerpt from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Bullring (as part of Birmingham Weekender) and at Birmingham’s New Street Station, when audience members will have the chance to volunteer to conduct the orchestra.

Smaller events include the CBSO string quartet at the Jam House and Spotted Dog, the CBSO's brass quintet and clarinet trio at the Botanical Gardens, the CBSO harp and flute duet at ThinkTank, more chamber music at The Gas Hall, Yorks @ Ikon Gallery, and Grosvenor Road Studios (as part of their Musical Garden event), a Dinosaur Disco at Wednesbury Library and the Library of Birmingham, and a sensory concert experience specially designed for people with special educational needs with Alice in Wonderland at Wednesbury Museum & Art Gallery.

Full details from the CBSO website.

Classical Pride at the Barbican

In what seems to be something of a first for a major classical music organisation, Oliver Zeffmann will be conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in a concert at the Barbican celebrating Pride. Classical Pride, on 7 July 2023, will feature music by LGBT composers and celebrate diversity with performers including pianists Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy, soprano Ella Taylor, tenor Nicky Spence, and bass-baritone Davóne Tines, plus an LGBTQ+ Community Choir.

The the concert features by LGBT composers including Bernstein's overture to Candide, Poulenc's Concerto for two pianos, Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, Caroline Shaw's Is a Rose and the world premiere of Julian Anderson's Echoes.

The concert is being presented in partnership with ViiV Healthcare and GAY TIMES and proceeds will go to the charities, Terence Higgins Trust, Amplifund and Rainbow Railroad.

Full details from the Barbican website.

Young Composers & Young Conductor

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) celebrated its centenary in 2020 and as part of the celebrations has commissioned 20 new works from 20 young composers to be premiered at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 29 January 2023. Whilst over at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO), Tom Fetherstonhaugh has been announced as Assistant Conductor for the 2022/23 season.

As part of its centenary celebrations, the CBSO created its Sounds New Initiative, 40 new commissions to be premiered over four seasons. 20 of these are major works from composers across the globe, the last of which will be premiered in the 22-23 season including world Premieres by Brett Dean, Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir, Freya Waley-Cohen and Dani Howard and the UK premiere of Thomas Larcher’s Third Symphony. But the other 20 commissions shine a spotlight on 20 diverse, creative voices from across the country, who will each write 4-minute works for full orchestra. These short works will be given their world premieres in a celebration of new music by the CBSO, conducted by Clark Rundell at Symphony Hall on 29 January 2023. 

The composers in question are, Anna Appleby, Kristina Arakelyan, Tyriq Baker, Stephane Crayton, Nathan James Dearden, Benjamin Graves, Millicent B James, Joel Järventausta, Chloe Knibbs, Ryan Latimer, Florence Anna Maunders, Ben Nobuto, Laurence Osborn, Rakhi Singh, Angela Slater, Aileen Sweeney, Liam Taylor-West, Héloïse Werner, Bethan Morgan-Williams and Yfat Zoul Zisso. 

Congratulations to all concerned. Further details from CBSO website.

Tom Fetherstonhaugh (Photo BSO)

Tom Fetherstonhaugh is the new Assistant Conductor at Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, a bursary-supported training position is designed to offer a platform to build professional experience through performance opportunities and mentoring from the BSO’s world-leading conductors and musicians, which include chief conductor Kirill Karabits, principal guest conductor Mark Wigglesworth, and associate guest conductor David Hill.

Tom Fetherstonhaugh trained with Roland Melia and later with Sian Edwards at the Royal Academy of Music, where he graduated with Distinction in 2021. He is the founder of Fantasia Orchestra, which has recently been joined in concert by soloists including Alim Beisembayev, Jess Gillam, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and Tasmin Little. Tom's engagements this season have included conducting the Antigua and Barbuda Youth Symphony Orchestra 'Playing to Inspire' project with the Kanneh-Mason family, and assisting Francesco Cilluffo on Verdi's Macbeth at The Grange Festival with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Further details from the BSO website.

CBSO appoints cohort of six assistant conductors

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has announced the appointment of six assistant conductors, the first time the orchestra has appointed a cohort of such rather than a single one. 

Bertie Baigent, Olivia Clarke, Otis Enokido-Lineham, Jack Lovell-Huckle, Charlotte Politi and Konstantinos Terzakis start work with the CBSO in March and will be assigned at least four weeks of engagement over the next fifteen months to assist in a range of activities from family concerts to international tours, world premiere performances, and everything in between. There will also be the opportunity for meetings and workshops with musicians and management, plus an open invitation to attend all rehearsals and concerts taking place from March 2022 to June 2023.

Bertie Baigent is music director of Waterperry Opera Festival and one of the finalists in the Rotterdam International Conducting Competition 2022, Olivia Clarke is the current English National Opera Mackerras Fellow, Otis Enokido-Lineham is studying at the Royal Academy of Music with Sian Edwards, Jack Lovell-Huckle works as a conductor, arranger/orchestrator, piano technician as well as orchestral librarian with the CBSO, Charlotte Politi is the Constant Lambert Conducting Fellow with The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet and Konstantinos Terzakis was recently selected as conductor of the Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie of Klangspuren Schwaz.

Previous assistant conductors of the CBSO include Michael Seal, Alpesh Chauhan, Jonathan Bloxham and Jaume Santonja Espinós.

Full details from the CBSO website.

From Stanford's Requiem to Anna Thorvaldsdottir's Catamorphosis: CBSO's season continues with new music, rarities as well as saying goodbye to Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's (CBSO) programme for the remainder of its 2021/22 season is something of a time of transition as Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conducts her final concerts with the orchestra as chief conductor whilst chief conductor & artistic advisor designate, Kazuki Yamada conducts four concerts.

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla's season includes two with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, two of Weinberg's symphonies performed alongside music by his friend Shostakovich, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and with Mahler's Resurrection Symphony as her final concert.

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla will also be conducting the UK premiere of Catamorphosis by Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir. Other new works in the season include the UK premiere of Danish composer Bent Sørensen’s Sei anime for harpsichord and orchestra, and Roxanna Panufnik’s reorchestrations of Five Polish Folk Songs originally arranged by her father, former CBSO Chief Conductor Sir Andrzej Panufnik, will be performed by the CBSO Children’s Chorus and CBSO Youth Chorus.

Joshua Weilerstein will be conducting the UK premiere of The Ordering of Moses by Black, Canadian-American composer Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) with soloists Chrystal E Williams and Rodrick Dixon. Another rarity is Stanford's Requiem which was commissioned by the Birmingham Triennial Festival; Martyn Brabbins conducts the CBSO with University of Birmingham Voices and soloists Carolyn Sampson, Marta Fontanals-Simmons, James Way and Ross Ramgobin. And Ryan Bancroft will be conducting a new reconstructon of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Solemn Prelude. 

Full details from the CBSO website.

Debuts on the podium, a final season, centenary premieres and The Cunning Little Vixen: CBSO launches Autumn 2021

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Photo Hannah Blake-Fathers)

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is opening its 2021/22 season with a celebration of being able to make music together. Principal guest conductor Kazuki Yamada will be leading forces including the orchestra, the CBSO Chorus and CBSO Youth Chorus, the three groups together for the first time since early 2020, in Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Poulenc’s Gloria and Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 (with organist Anna Lapwood).

2021/22 is Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla's final one as music director and her concerts this Autumn nclude Faure's Requiem (in memory of the lives lost throughout Covid-19) and a concert performance of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen with Elena Tsallagova in the title role plus Roland Wood as the Forester, which the orchestra will be touring to Dortmund, Hamburg and Paris.

Finnegan Downie Dear (winner of the 2020 Mahler Competition) will be conducting the orchestra for the first time in October, and other first-timers include the German conductor of mixed Ghanaian and German ancestry, Kevin John Edusei, and the Hungarian conductor Gergely Madaras (inaugural Sir Charles Mackerras Fellow at the English National Opera during 2012-2014).

2020 was the orchestra's centenary and three Centenary Commissions final receive their premieres, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Go For It (30 September, world premiere), Debbie Wiseman’s Carnival of the Endangered Animals, a family friendly modern take on Saint-Saens' iconic suite (24 October, world premiere) and Jonathan Dove’s In Exile which sets a text by Alasdair Middleton with baritone Sir Simon Keenlyside and cellist Raphael Wallfisch, a (9 December, UK premiere). Other new music in the season includes two pieces by living Canadian composers new to the CBSO’s repertoire, Cassandra Miller’s La Donna (6 October) and Samy Moussa’s Nocturne (27 October). 

Full details from the CBSO website.

Visitors in fine form: the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla at the Dresden Music Festival

Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla and the CBSO

Ligeti, Schumann, Brahms; Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Kit Armstrong, City of Birmingham Orchestra; Dresden Music Festival at the Kulturpalast Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 17 May 2019 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
The Birmingham orchestra on terrific form under its music director on this visit to Dresden

It is some years since I heard the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) and I had not heard it under its new music director Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, and so the opportunity to do so at the Dresden Music Festival was most welcome, though the irony of travelling from London to Dresden to hear an orchestra from Birmingham was not lost on me.

The planned programme for the CBSO and Mirga Grazinyte-Tyle at the Dresden Music Festival at the Kulturpalast on Friday 17 May 2019 had been Ligeti's Concert Romanesc, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 5 with Yuja Wang, and Brahms' Symphony No. 2. But changes in personnel led to changes in repertoire, and instead of Prokofiev we heard Schumann's Piano Concerto with Kit Armstrong as soloist. A safe if unimaginative choice of work.

Ligeti's Concert Romanesc dates from the 1950s when he was still living in Hungary, and whilst it pushes few boundaries it remained unperformed until 1971. It is very much a rhapsodic work based around Romanian folk-songs. In four movements, slow, fast, slow, fast, at first Ligeti presented the folk melodies with little modification, unisons and counter-melodies were a big feature, but gradually the imagination took off and the folk-fiddling of the finale brought things to a close with vivid excitement. Grazinyte-Tyla and the orchestra really made this work a showpiece, from the superbly phrased unison at the opening to the dazzling finale.

Though each section of the strings lost a desk of players for the Schumann concerto, the orchestra was still a little too large to be ideal in this work. Kit Armstrong took a very interventionist view of the piece, making many of the piano statements in the opening movement too artfully poetic for my taste, rather holding up the flow of the argument and giving the feeling that he was overly milking the music in a way that Clara Schumann (who premiered and championed the concerto) would surely have disapproved. [The recording of the concerto by her pupil Fanny Davies, the closes we can come to Clara herself performing it, should be essential listening for every young pianist - see on YouTube].

Celebrating the past and looking to the future: the CBSO looks to its centenary in 2020

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Photo CBSO)

The City of Birmingham Symphony (CBSO) was founded in 1920, and so the orchestra's 2019/20 represents the advanced guard of its centenary celebrations. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla returns as the CBSO's music director for her fourth season, leading over 40 concerts during a season in which the orchestra uses the centenary celebrations as an excuse both to look back, celebrating the past, and to look forward with new commissions.

Musical celebrations in the West Midlands have played a significant role in the UK's musical life, notably the Birmingham Triennial Festival. The CBSO is celebrating this with performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah (premiered in Birmingham in 1846), Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius (premiered in Birmingham in 1900) and Handel’s Messiah (the bedrock on which Birmingham’s famous Triennial Festivals were built). Another West Midlands first was Britten's War Requiem (given its world premiere by the CBSO in Coventry Cathedral in 1962), and the final large scale choral work is Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand (intended to receive its UK premiere by the CBSO in 1921).

The orchestra has a strong relationship with composers conducting their own work, including Holst, Vaughan Williams, Walton, Sibelius and Knussen. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla will be conducting three works originally performed under their composers by the CBSO, Elgar’s Cello Concerto (also marking its centenary in 2019) with soloist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, and the Symphony No.2 by Ruth Gipps, a former CBSO oboist.

The orchestra has commissioned 20 composers for new works to be premiered during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, and in this first batch there is a new cello concerto by former CBSO Composer in Association Julian Anderson and the first symphony by Thomas Adès, and works by Gary Carpenter, Unsuk Chin, Grace-Evangeline Mason, Thea Musgrave, Jörg Widmann and Stef Conner. In addition 20 young composers (under 30) are being chosen by the CBSO and their works performed as encores during the season for the CBSO Encores Project.

Another anniversary is that of the CBSO Youth Orchestra, which celebrates its 15th birthday with the ensemble’s first ever performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, with conductor Andrew Gourlay. Joining the orchestra in this concert will be BBC Young Musician 2018 Lauren Zhang to perform Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.2.

Full details from the CBSO website.

Steven Osborne launches his residency with CBSO, and his 30th Hyperion disc

Steven Osborne - credit Ben Ealovega

This week the Scottish pianist Steven Osborne starts as 2016-17 artist in residence with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), during which period he will be performing Beethoven, Messiaen, Rachmaninov, Britten and Tippett. He starts with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 conducted by Edward Gardner at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 22 September 2016. The following day, Osborne performs Messiaen’s Quartet for the end of time with members of the CBSO. Further ahead he will be performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with conductor Alexander Vedernikov on 15 and 16 February 2017, Britten’s Piano Concerto with the CBSO Youth Orchestra conducted by Jamie Philipps on 26 February 2017 and Tippett’s Piano Concerto with CBSO’s new Music Director Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla on 14 June 2017.

Next week sees Osborne's recording of three of Beethoven's late piano sonatas, Op. 90, 101 & 106 Hammerklavier, released on Hyperion Records. Osborne has recorded with Hyperion since 1998 and this will be his 30th recording with the company.