City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Orchestras
“Nelsons has already proved he is the perfect choice to lead the orchestra into a new era, an engaging personality off the podium and an inspirational conductor on it, with a hugely varied and flexible repertoire.” The Guardian – May 2009
Sir Edward Elgar conducted the inaugural concert of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in November 1920. Over the nine decades since, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has grown into a 90-piece ensemble with a worldwide reputation – but one rooted firmly in the City of Birmingham. As the resident orchestra of Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, the CBSO performs over 80 concerts each year in one of the world’s finest concert halls. It’s in demand globally, acting as an ambassador for the city in venues and festivals across Europe, Asia and America. Its recordings win international prizes. And it supports and sustains an unparalleled diversity of world-class music-making in Birmingham and beyond – including its acclaimed family of choruses, chamber groups and youth ensembles, its own rehearsal and concert hall, and an education programme that reaches upwards of 53,000 people in the community each year.
Made in Birmingham
Elgar was only the first of many great names to be associated with the CBSO. Under the direction of such conductors as Adrian Boult, Andrzej Panufnik and Louis Frémaux, the Orchestra’s reputation grew steadily. But it was the 18-year leadership of Sir Simon Rattle that truly lifted the CBSO into the ranks of the world’s great Orchestras. It continued to flourish under the Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo, who was appointed Principal Conductor in 1998 and Music Director in 1999, a post he relinquished in 2008. In summer 2005, a new post of Assistant Conductor was created for Michael Seal, who combines this with a performing career in the CBSO’s violin section. Keeping with its recent tradition of appointing outstanding young conductors, the 30-year old Latvian Andris Nelsons took up the position of Music Director in September 2008, and has received world-wide recognition ever since.
The heart of the CBSO’s work is in Symphony Hall, Birmingham – the acoustically perfect concert hall whose opening in 1991 became the symbol of Birmingham’s regeneration. Here, the CBSO plays the broadest possible range of music to the widest possible audience. This includes the symphonic and contemporary classical repertoire for which the Orchestra is famous, but also lighter music – the popular Friday Night series features everything from film themes to musical hits - together with Matinée, Schools and Family concerts which all help ensure that the CBSO really does offer something for everyone.
A Worldwide Reputation
But the CBSO doesn’t just play in Birmingham. The Orchestra is in constant demand to perform all over the world. In February 2009 the CBSO travelled to Athens for its first overseas appearance with the new Music Director. This was followed by a tour to Spain (Cuenca and Madrid), and in the summer of 2009 the CBSO visited festivals in Lucerne, Gstaad, Berlin, Bonn and Wuppertal. A further 11-concert tour of Germany follows in March 2010, with a return to the Lucerne Festival in August 2010.
The Orchestra also continues to extend its sizeable discography, working with several leading labels. Under Sir Simon Rattle and Sakari Oramo, the Orchestra made a number of award-winning recordings, the latter’s CDs including Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerti with soloist Stephen Hough, which won the 2002 Gramophone Record of the Year and more recently Gramophone’s prestigious Gold Disc 2008 for most popular recording of the past 30 years. In June 2009 the CBSO’s first CD with Music Director Andris Nelsons – an all-Tchaikovsky disc - was released, heralding the start of an ongoing relationship with the leading German Independent label Orfeo. This was followed in autumn 2009 by an acclaimed CD of Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben and Rosenkavalier Suite, with a recording of Stravinsky's Firebird and Symphony of Psalms being released in spring 2010.
In the Community
CBSO Centre, the Orchestra’s administrative and rehearsal base on Berkley Street, Birmingham, doubles as a small-scale performance venue. Designated a centre for learning and participation in 2008, it hosts many of the CBSO’s Ignite activities – our programme for engaging audiences and the community. It’s home to Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and a thriving contemporary jazz series as well as Centre Stage – a series of informal chamber music concerts devised and performed by the CBSO’s musicians. CBSO Centre celebrated its 10th Anniversary in 2008.
Meanwhile, under the Ignite banner, the CBSO’s Education Programme co-ordinates an extensive schedule of work with schools and the local community across the West Midlands. Its projects can be as large as the CBSO Youth Orchestra – a full symphony orchestra for the region’s best young musicians aged 14-21, which performs twice annually in Symphony Hall under the batons of the CBSO’s regular conductors, and which has already been unofficially dubbed “the national youth orchestra of the Midlands”. Or as compact as the Roadshow scheme – under which ensembles of CBSO players perform to young people in their schools. All play a vital role in bringing the CBSO’s music to the widest possible community; and the CBSO’s Education programme as a whole is one of the largest and most ambitious of its kind in Europe.
Singing Loud
The CBSO’s family of five “unpaid professional” Choruses plays a leading role in amateur music in the Midlands. There’s one for adults, two for children, an unauditioned youth choir and a boys’ choir for changing voices – and all are regularly in demand to perform with the CBSO and other leading orchestras and musical groups. The adult Chorus sang at the opening of the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival, recorded Beethoven’s Choral Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, sang in Finland’s first professional performance of The Dream of Gerontius under Sakari Oramo, and performed two highly successful concerts in the Hong Kong Festival. The youth choruses have sung with a wide range of musicians, from the Berlin Philharmonic to Jools Holland, and - through video technology - even acted as a backing band to Elvis!
Through its family of instrumental and choral ensembles led by a world-class symphony orchestra, the CBSO aims to offer the very best in musical performance and education, flying the flag for the people of Birmingham, the West Midlands and the UK, and performing a broad and ambitious repertoire to the widest possible audience.
To find out more, access the monthly podcasts, watch the exclusive video documentary about Andris Nelsons Arrival of a Maestro and to book tickets on-line, visit the website: www.cbso.co.uk
SEASON 2009/2010
