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Viennese New Year
Sat 3 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
Tap your toes into 2009 with the CBSO’s traditional Viennese concerts. With jubilant works by Mozart, and much-loved waltzes, polkas and arias by members of the Strauss family, let the CBSO whisk you off your feet to a world of dashing dancers and swirling ballgowns.
Carlos Kalmar - conductor Sarah Tynan - soprano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito - Overture Strauss: Acceleration Waltz Mozart: Exsultate Jubilate Strauss: Dragonfly Polka Strauss: Furioso Polka Suppé: Poet and Peasant Mozart: Idomeneo - Ballet Music Strauss: Village Swallows from Austria Strauss: Im Krapfenwaldl Strauss: Plappermäulchen! Strauss: Operetta Arias Strauss: Anvil Polka Strauss: Blue Danube Waltz
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Viennese New Year
Sat 3 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
Tap your toes into 2009 with the CBSO’s traditional Viennese concerts. With jubilant works by Mozart, and much-loved waltzes, polkas and arias by members of the Strauss family, let the CBSO whisk you off your feet to a world of dashing dancers and swirling ballgowns.
Carlos Kalmar - conductor Sarah Tynan - soprano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito - Overture Strauss: Acceleration Waltz Mozart: Exsultate Jubilate Strauss: Dragonfly Polka Strauss: Furioso Polka Suppé: Poet and Peasant Mozart: Idomeneo - Ballet Music Strauss: Village Swallows from Austria Strauss: Im Krapfenwaldl Strauss: Plappermäulchen! Strauss: Operetta Arias Strauss: Anvil Polka Strauss: Blue Danube Waltz
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National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
Tue 6 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
There is nothing quite like the excitement of an orchestra of young musicians - and when they’re as talented as the National Youth Orchestra, we can expect extraordinary results. Many of these young performers are having their first encounters with great orchestral music, experiencing it onstage at Symphony Hall with a freshness and passion never to be recaptured - it’s like being in love for the first time! Tickets £5-£37.50
*Programme to be announced*
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Celebrating Nielsen: The Inextinguishable
Wed 7 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
After last season’s acclaimed cycle of Sibelius symphonies, this season we feature the equally impressive cycle by his exact contemporary Carl Nielsen. His varied output holds the same central place in Danish music as Sibelius does in Finland, and his six symphonies are full of struggle, reflection and strong emotion - just like real life. Principal guest conductor Sakari Oramo begins this series with a charming picture-postcard overture and the composer’s best-known work. Written at the height of the First World War, this symphony is a volcanic musical struggle between the forces of destruction and the energy of life itself, culminating in one of the most uplifting - and thrilling - endings in all music. 6.15pm Pre-concert talk - Nielsen: The Inextinguishable An introduction to the CBSO and the Hallé’s joint Nielsen Cycle and tonight’s concert.
Sakari Oramo - conductor Nikolai Lugansky - piano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Nielsen: A Fantasy Trip to the Faroes 12’ Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 32’ Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 (The Inextinguishable) 36’
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Celebrating Nielsen: The Four Temperaments
Sat 10 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
For Nielsen, music was all about exploring what it means to be human. And this second concert in the CBSO and the Hallé’s joint Nielsen Symphony Cycle does exactly that. Nielsen’s extraordinary Second Symphony, “The Four Temperaments”, is a musical attempt to paint an entire personality in wonderfully colourful music; his deceptively tuneful Sixth is a musical self-portrait as haunting and unforgettable as anything by Mahler. To these masterpieces Oramo adds Nielsen’s picturesque tribute to the sun, and Prokofiev’s equally warm-hearted violin concerto played by an outstanding soloist. 5.45pm Pre-concert talk - Nielsen: The Four Temperaments Find out more about tonight’s symphonies and overture by this great Dane.
Sakari Oramo - conductor Akiko Suwanai - violin City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Nielsen: Helios Overture 12’ Nielsen: Symphony No. 6 (Semplice) 31’ Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 22’ Nielsen: Symphony No. 2 (The Four Temperaments) 35’
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BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert
Change of DateTue 13 Jan 2009 Town Hall
Two of the finest of Radio 3's recent crop of new Generation Artists perform delightful works by Beethoven.
*Alina Ibragimova* Violin *Cedric Tiberghien* Piano *Beethoven* Rondo for Violin & Piano in G major, WoO.41 *Beethoven* Sonata No.4 for Violin & Piano in A minor, Op.23
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Centre Stage Haydn and Handel in London
Thu 15 Jan 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
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Handel’s Jephtha
Thu 15 Jan 2009 Town Hall
250 years since Handel’s death, we return to the hall where so many of his works have been heard, not least as the cornerstone of the Birmingham Triennial Festivals. Jephtha, his last oratorio, is one of his very finest works in English, and tells the story of the great military captain who finds himself in conflict with God’s law as a result of a rash promise. Featuring a host of glorious arias and dramatic choruses, and with a leading cast conducted by Handel specialist Nicholas McGegan, this is a must for Handel fans. There will be one interval after Act One. 6.15pm Pre-concert talk - Handel’s Jephtha Conductor Nicholas McGegan • in conversation with CBSO Events Officer Richard Bratby.
Nicholas McGegan - conductor Paul Nilon - Jephtha Dominique Labelle - Isis Dianna Moore - Storge Daniel Taylor - Hamor City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Andrew Foster-Williams - Zebul City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus
Handel: Jephtha 150’
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Anton & Erin Cheek to Cheek No judges, just dancin’
Fri 16 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
Join Anton du Beke and Erin Boag from BBC’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ in a glamorous celebration of Ballroom and Latin song and dance. Accompanied by world salsa champions Chris Marques and Jaclyn Spencer, Anton and Erin will combine sophistication and seduction in an exhilarating mix of dance styles from the Tango, Rumba and Cha-Cha-Cha to the ballroom elegance of the Waltz and Foxtrot. Classic hit songs such as: *Fly me to the Moon*, *Take Five*, *Sing, Sing, Sing* and *It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing*, will be mixed with music from the Golden Age of Hollywood by *Irving Berlin*, *Cole Porter*, *Jerome Kern* and *George* and *Ira Gershwin*. The vibrant Latin influences of Kings of Jazz *Tito Puente* and *Perez Prado* will complete this heady evening featuring the best of music, song and dance.
London Concert Orchestra conducted by Gavin Sutherland
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Celebrating Nielsen: Pride & Power
Sat 17 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
We have invited the Hallé to give the second half of our Nielsen cycle with its music director Mark Elder. Nielsen might have written his First Symphony while he was working as a second violinist, but there’s nothing bashful about it - he even marked the score “Proudly”! It bursts with energy and freshness. His mighty Fifth Symphony is even more powerful - a gripping musical battle between order and chaos, triggered by one of the all-time great drum solos. It’s one of the greatest symphonies of the 20th century, so it’s only fitting that our guests are playing it alongside two dramatic masterpieces by Nielsen’s hero - Ludwig van Beethoven. 5.45pm Pre concert talk - Nielsen: Pride and Power An introduction to tonight’s pieces by these two musical power-houses.
Hallé Mark Elder - conductor Anja Kampe - soprano
Beethoven: Overture, Egmont 8’ Nielsen: Symphony No. 1 27’ Beethoven: Ah, Perfido! Scene and Aria 15’ Nielsen: Symphony No. 5 35’
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Sunday Morning Coffee Concert - Quintet Aquilon
Sun 18 Jan 2009 Town Hall
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Pure Gold
Tue 20 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
Unfairly derided by snootier critics as ‘more corn than gold’ on account of the composer’s successful Hollywood career, the lush music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold has won a huge audience in recent years. His 1945 violin concerto, which draws on three of his film scores, has become a particular favourite with violinists, while his music for a 1920 Vienna production of Shakespeare’s comedy also contains music of great charm and wit. Korngold’s father Julius was an important supporter of Brahms in Vienna, and his majestic First Symphony concludes a warmly romantic programme. 6.15pm Pre concert talk - Pure Gold Critic, biographer and blogger Jessica Duchen introduces the music of E.W. Korngold.
Michael Seal - conductor Anthony Marwood - violin City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Korngold: Much Ado About Nothing - Suite 15’ Korngold: Violin Concerto 23’ Brahms: Symphony No. 1 45’
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Centre Stage CBSO Players
Wed 21 Jan 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
CBSO Players Boccherini: Quintet in C Op. 28 No. 4 Glazunov: String Quintet
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Evening Organ Concert - David Sanger
Wed 21 Jan 2009 Town Hall
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Britten Sinfonia at Lunch - Jan 2009
Thu 22 Jan 2009 Town Hall
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Friday Night Classics: The Gershwins in Hollywood
Fri 23 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
No-one wrote a hit-tune like George and Ira Gershwin. And when the brothers left Manhattan for the bright lights of Hollywood, the results were bound to be showstopping! Conductor John Wilson loves the great movie musicals of the 1930s; join him and star West End vocalists Kim Criswell and Gary Williams for an evening of pure jazz-age glamour. Featuring I Got Rhythm, ’Swonderful, The Man I Love, An American in Paris, Strike Up The Band, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, They All Laughed and many more, it’s just hit after hit after hit!
John Wilson - conductor Kim Criswell - vocalist Gary Williams - vocalist City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
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Faith in the City Expressions of belief
Sat 24 Jan 2009 Town Hall
For around 750 years in Iberia, Catholics, Jews and Muslims enjoyed religious freedom, spoke each others’ languages and shared philosophies, science and cultures. It is a period known as _la convivencia_ - the co-existence. We begin to explore this concept with Bernstein’s overtly Jewish Chichester Psalms which are sung in Hebrew, the devout setting of the Mass by MacMillan and Islamic repertoire performed by Abdul Salam Kheir. _“All the lands, in their diversity, are one, and men are all neighbours and brothers”_ (Al-Zubaidi, tutor of the Andalusian Caliph, Al-Hakam II, 10th century) £30 (£27.50), £23.50 (£21), £15 (£13), £8.50 (£7) Visit Ex Cathedra's website by clicking "here":http://www.ex-cathedra.org/
Ex Cathedra Choir *Conductor* Jeffrey Skidmore *Oud & Vocals* Abdul Salam Kheir *Chichester Psalms* Bernstein *Mass* MacMillan
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Wagner: Passion Beyond Reason
Wed 28 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
Andris Nelsons has already won great acclaim for his interpretations of Wagner’s operas in Riga, and next year he makes his debut at the Bayreuth Festival. For his first CBSO Wagner outing, he has chosen contrasting extended sequences from three of the composer’s greatest operas, culminating in the apocalyptic climax of the entire Ring cycle. Acclaimed Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin takes the roles of Isolde and Brünnhilde - two of the very greatest operatic heroines, both driven by a love more powerful than life itself.
Andris Nelsons - conductor Iréne Theorin - soprano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Wagner: Tannhäuser - Overture and Venusberg Music 24’ Wagner: Tristan und Isolde - Prelude and Liebestod 17’ Wagner: Götterdämmerung - Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Siegfried’s Funeral March & Brünnhilde’s Immolation
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Wagner: Passion Beyond Reason
Thu 29 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
Andris Nelsons has already won great acclaim for his interpretations of Wagner’s operas in Riga, and next year he makes his debut at the Bayreuth Festival. For his first CBSO Wagner outing, he has chosen contrasting extended sequences from three of the composer’s greatest operas, culminating in the apocalyptic climax of the entire Ring cycle. Acclaimed Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin takes the roles of Isolde and Brünnhilde - two of the very greatest operatic heroines, both driven by a love more powerful than life itself.
Andris Nelsons - conductor Iréne Theorin - soprano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Wagner: Tannhäuser - Overture and Venusberg Music 24’ Wagner: Tristan und Isolde - Prelude and Liebestod 17’ Wagner: Götterdämmerung - Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Siegfried’s Funeral March & Brünnhilde’s Immolation
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Celebrity Piano Recital: Murray Perahia
Sat 31 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
Murray Perahia is simply one of the greatest living pianists. “The soul of a poet, the mind of a thinker, the hands of a virtuoso; no wonder the audiences love this guy,” wrote one critic recently. As a young man Perahia played chamber music with Rudolf Serkin and Pablo Casals, was befriended by the legendary Vladimir Horowitz, and was Peter Pears’ accompanist. His music-making is marked not only by its depth and maturity but also by its sheer _joie de vivre_ - don’t miss this recital. Tickets £5-£30
*Programme to be announced*
