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Centre Stage Eduardo Vassallo and Laurence Jackson
Fri 6 Feb 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
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Friday Night Classics: A Night at the Oscars
Fri 6 Feb 2009 Symphony Hall
Put the champagne on ice and roll out the red carpet as silver-screen showman Carl Davis hosts this evening of Oscar-winning movie soundtracks. With themes that include The Lord of the Rings, Dr Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Dances with Wolves, Titanic, Robin Hood, The Godfather and much more, join us for a night that celebrates the soundtrack to all our lives.
Carl Davis- conductor City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
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Notelets Action Stations! 11am
Sat 7 Feb 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
Action Stations! - a mini concert for 3-5 year olds and their families. Come and get active with action songs and music to make you move, for all those fidgety feet!
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Notelets Action Stations! 2pm
Sat 7 Feb 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
Action Stations! - a mini concert for 3-5 year olds and their families. Come and get active with action songs and music to make you move, for all those fidgety feet!
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Dvorák’s New World
Sat 7 Feb 2009 Symphony Hall
Was there ever a more evocative, nostalgic work than the New World Symphony? Right from the opening bars it is clear that the composer’s thoughts were more of his beloved Bohemia than of the exciting city of New York in which he found himself. Rachmaninov also had his moments of homesickness after he moved to the USA, but the bubbly brilliance of his ever-popular Paganini Rhapsody makes it one of his most extrovert works. Sometimes musicians simply choose to ignore their surroundings: Prokofiev’s equally brilliant first symphony was composed, amazingly, against the stormy background of the Russian Revolution!
Michal Dworzynski - conductor Alexander Kobrin - piano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 (Classical) 15’ Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini 25’ Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) 40’
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Sunday Morning Coffee Concert - Minetti Quartett
Sun 8 Feb 2009 Town Hall
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Nash Ensemble
Tue 10 Feb 2009 Town Hall
Rarely has a composer produced a work of such effortless genius as the sixteen-year-old Mendelssohn’s _Octet_ - a miraculous stream of wonderful melody. The Nash Ensemble marks the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn’s birth (February 1809) with a performance of this masterpiece in the hall in which the composer once played and conducted. It is heard next to the delicious Sextet from Strauss’s _Capriccio_ and the dark tragedy of Mozart’s great G minor String Quintet. 6.15pm pre-concert talk Tickets £5-£20
*Strauss* Sextet (_Capriccio_) 6’ *Mozart* Quintet in G Minor, K516 33’ *Mendelssohn* Octet 38’
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Bruch's Violin Concerto
Wed 11 Feb 2009 Symphony Hall
The latest in a long line of outstanding young conductors to emerge from Finland, Pietari Inkinen makes his Birmingham debut with the youthful First Symphony by his compatriot Sibelius. The passionate sweep of this music ends a programme full of romantic ardour for the week of Valentine’s Day: Bruch’s timeless concerto is played by the CBSO’s leader, and a selection of Mendelssohn’s music for Shakespeare’s beloved romantic comedy provides a perfect companion.
Pietari Inkinen - conductor Laurence Jackson - violin City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Overture, Scherzo and Wedding March 20’ Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 26’ Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 38’
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Schools Concert: New World Symphony 11.30am and 1.30pm
Fri 13 Feb 2009 Symphony Hall
Set sail for America with the CBSO, to hear the New World as the Czech Antonín Dvorˇák experienced it in 1893 - full of promise and new sounds. The slow movement of this most popular of symphonies is renowned for featuring on the Hovis advertisement, and today’s performances - devised especially for Key Stage 2 children (years 5 & 6) - make this a perfect introduction to the sights and sounds of symphony orchestra. “I might be able to play as good as you, if I keep practising.” Child at The Planets Schools Concert, February 2008 Special prices apply: £4 per ticket for children and teachers, and home-schooling* children and parents. To book please call Group Bookings on 0800 358 7070. For information on pre-concert support packages and other opportunities available for schools with the CBSO, please contact the CBSO’s Education Department by email (education@cbso.co.uk) or telephone (0121 616 6530). *proof of eligibility, eg registration with your Local Authority, will be required.
Michael Seal - conductor Tommy Pearson - presenter City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
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Tchaikovsky & Shostakovich
Fri 13 Feb 2009 Symphony Hall
The Russian State Philharmonic has the music of their homeland running strong in their blood. And with tonight’s celebrity soloists we can expect the powerful music of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich to come to life in vivid technicolour: the illicit passion of Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini offset by the Mozartian elegance of the Rococo Variations; the brilliance of Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto in stark contrast to the despair and joy of his Sixth Symphony. Tickets £5-£37.50
*Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra* *Valery Poliansky* conductor *Julian Lloyd Webber* cello *Tatyana Polianskaya* piano
*Tchaikovsky* Francesca da Rimini 22’ *Shostakovich* Piano Concerto No 2 20’ *Tchaikovsky* Variations on a Rococo Theme 18’ *Shostakovich* Symphony No 6 33’
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An Evening with Barbara Dickson
Sat 14 Feb 2009 Town Hall
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Birmingham Jazz Season - Martin Speake Quartet featuring Bobo Stenson on piano
Sat 14 Feb 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
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Orchestra of the Swan: Bach's Brandenburg
Wed 18 Feb 2009 Town Hall
*Handel* Concerto Grosso op6 no9 *JS Bach* Suite in b minor *JS Bach* Brandenburg concerto no4 *JS Bach* Brandenburg concerto no5 *Christine Whiffen* harpsichord *David Le Page* violin *Diane Clark* flute
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Britten Sinfonia at Lunch - Feb 2009
Thu 19 Feb 2009 Town Hall
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Transfigured Night
Thu 19 Feb 2009 Symphony Hall
The idea of transfiguration loomed large for late romantic artists, and these two masterpieces by Strauss and Schoenberg • although the product of composers who were just 25 years old • seem to sum up a whole lifetime’s experience in music that is among the most luscious ever composed. Schoenberg’s masterpiece for strings tells of a transfigured night in which a couple fall in love all over again. Messiaen’s more explicitly religious world-view provides the perfect complement: in his powerful piece for wind, brass and percussion he expresses his own deeply-held beliefs on the resurrection of the dead. And the concert climaxes with a chance to hear the CBSO and Andris Nelsons • already so admired in Strauss’s music • play the magnificent tone poem Death and Transfiguration.
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht 32’ Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum 26’ Strauss: Tod und Verklärung 24’
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Symphonic Rock with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Fri 20 Feb 2009 Symphony Hall
Following sell-out shows at London's Royal Albert Hall, experience the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing great rock anthems and classic pop tracks, featuring hits by: *Queen, The Moody Blues, The Beatles, Procol Harum, U2, Madonna, Bon Jovi, Meat Loaf and Eric Clapton*
*Ken Bruce, BBC Radio 2* presenter *Nick Davies* conductor *Metro Voices*
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Shelby Lynne plus special guests
CancelledSat 21 Feb 2009 Symphony Hall
This event has been cancelled due to the artist's recording commitments. Please contact the Box Office for information about ticket returns on 0121 780 3333.
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CBSO Youth Orchestra
Sun 22 Feb 2009 Symphony Hall
Andris Nelsons demonstrates his commitment to Birmingham’s young musicians in this, his debut appearance with the CBSO’s acclaimed Youth Orchestra. And it’s all about colour. Whether in the gorgeous oriental fantasies of Ravel’s impressionist song-cycle Shéhérazade, the brilliant sunrise that opens his Daphnis and Chloé suite or the glittering Russian jewel-box of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, this is a programme to dazzle the ears. Expect our superb young players to give it their all, as Andris Nelsons celebrates the start of what we hope will be a very special relationship.
Andris Nelsons - conductor Christine Rice - mezzo-soprano
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2 16’ Ravel: Shéhérazade 19’ Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition 30’
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Centre Stage CBSO Players
Tue 24 Feb 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
CBSO Players Rossini: String Sonatas Nos. 1, 3 and 4 Barrière: Sonate à Deux
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Made in America
Tue 24 Feb 2009 Symphony Hall
Many composers have left Europe to find a new home in the USA, and both in Bartók’s wartime Concerto for Orchestra • composed for the virtuosi of the Boston Symphony Orchestra • and Dvorˇák’s most popular concerto, composed in New York, you can hear elements of each composer’s old world as well as the new. John Adams’ riotous orchestral showpiece seems more authentically American, though it was a by-product of his celebrated opera Nixon in China, and imagines Madam Mao reliving her music-hall past.
Andris Nelsons - conductor Alban Gerhardt - cello City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Adams: The Chairman Dances (24 Feb) 12’ Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor 40’ Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra 35’
