City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - 08/2012 /2

Made in Birmingham

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. We were proud to celebrate our 90th birthday in November 2010 with two special concerts, and now look forward to our centenary in 2020.

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, and we are pleased to announce his recent appointment as Associate Conductor. In keeping with the CBSO’s recent tradition of appointing outstanding young conductors, the 32-year old Latvian Andris Nelsons took up the position of Music Director in September 2008. In autumn 2010 Edward Gardner was appointed Principal Guest Conductor, for a period of three years.

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 – from Johann Strauss to John Lennon – on Friday nights, 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 2010, it played in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Latvia, as well as returning to the BBC Proms, and completed a seven-concert tour of Germany, France, Holland and Spain in January this year.

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 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. A further four Orfeo discs have now been released: Richard Strauss’s Rosenkavalier Suite and Ein Heldenleben; Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Symphony of Psalms; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 and Romeo and Juliet; and Strauss’s Alpine Symphony and Salome’s Dance. In January 2010, the CBSO, together with the Hallé, was delighted to win the Classical Music Award at the South Bank Show Awards, for the orchestras’ joint Nielsen cycle.

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’s home to CBSO Ignite - our programme for engaging audiences and the community. It’s also the base for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, a thriving contemporary jazz series and Centre Stage - a series of informal chamber music concerts devised and performed by the CBSO’s musicians.

Meanwhile, CBSO Ignite co-ordinates an extensive schedule of work with schools and the local community across the West Midlands, reaching upwards of 53,500 young people each year. 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, and which has been 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. 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!

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, download our monthly podcasts, or book tickets on-line, visit our website: www.cbso.co.uk . You can also follow us on facebook or twitter.

SEASON 2011/2012