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Puccini’s 150th: La Bohème
Thu 23 Oct Symphony Hall
Already acclaimed the world over for his opera performances, Music Director Andris Nelsons celebrates Puccini’s 150th birthday this autumn with concert performances of the passionate love story that has become the best-loved of all the composer’s operas. Set among the penniless students of Paris’s Bohemian Quarter, this tender tale of the seamstress Mimi and aspiring poet Rodolfo is one of the great operatic tearjerkers, and inspired, among other things, the musical Rent and the movie Moulin Rouge. A terrific young cast joins the CBSO and Choruses for what will surely be one of the must-see events in Birmingham this year.
Andris Nelsons - conductor Kristine Opolais - Mimì Erin Wall - Musetta Pavel Cernoch - Rodolfo Markus Brück - Marcello Kostas Smoriginas - Schaunard City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus & Youth Chorus
Puccini: La Bohème 105’
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Puccini’s 150th: La Bohème
Sat 25 Oct Symphony Hall
Already acclaimed the world over for his opera performances, Music Director Andris Nelsons celebrates Puccini’s 150th birthday this autumn with concert performances of the passionate love story that has become the best-loved of all the composer’s operas. Set among the penniless students of Paris’s Bohemian Quarter, this tender tale of the seamstress Mimi and aspiring poet Rodolfo is one of the great operatic tearjerkers, and inspired, among other things, the musical Rent and the movie Moulin Rouge. A terrific young cast joins the CBSO and Choruses for what will surely be one of the must-see events in Birmingham this year.
Andris Nelsons - conductor Kristine Opolais - Mimì Erin Wall - Musetta Pavel Cernoch - Rodolfo Markus Brück - Marcello Kostas Smoriginas - Schaunard City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus & Youth Chorus
Puccini: La Bohème 105’
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Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto
Wed 29 Oct Symphony Hall
Bruckner’s majestic, spiritually uplifting symphonies are perfectly suited to the grand open spaces of Symphony Hall’s world-famous acoustics, and there are few symphonies grander than Bruckner’s Sixth, premiered by none other than Gustav Mahler (whose own Sixth Symphony will be heard in June). Mendelssohn’s effervescent concerto is on a far more modest scale, but its soaring melodies have assured it a firm place in the repertoire for more than a century and a half. It’s played tonight by the 2002 BBC Young Musician of the Year. 6.15pm Pre-concert talk - Bruckner’s Sixth Stephen Johnson, broadcaster and author of Bruckner Remembered talks about this great late-Romantic symphony.
James Gaffigan - conductor Jennifer Pike - violin
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro - Overture 4’ Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto 27’ Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 54’
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The RAF in Concert 2008
Thu 30 Oct Symphony Hall
Join us for an irresistible musical journey through the past, present and future of the Royal Air Force. A diverse mix of light classics, jazz, big band and music from the shows by the critically acclaimed musicians from the Royal Air Force. This glorious celebration to mark the 90th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force is guaranteed to evoke nostalgia, inspire and uplift all ages. With a triumphant finale, reminiscent of the Last Night of the Proms, this will make an ideal gift or outing for the whole family.
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CBSO Youth Orchestra
Fri 31 Oct Symphony Hall
Even by Mahler’s own standards, his Seventh Symphony is extraordinary. He called it a “song of the night”, though it ends in roof-raising jubilation. But first comes a fantastic journey through a world of dreams, nightmares, moonlit lovesongs and romance. It’s a whole new musical world - so who better to play it than our renowned Youth Orchestra, under the brilliant Dutch maestro Jac van Steen? If you heard the CBSO Youth Orchestra’s stunning performances of Nielsen and Bartók last season, you’ll know to expect an unforgettable evening as our superb young players tackle their most challenging programme yet. bq.These committed and gifted youngsters produced performances which would put many professional bodies to shame, with crisp articulation, impressively accurate intonation, but, above all, a depth of tone and confidence of phrasing which really denotes an ensemble of the highest class.bq. Musical Opinion
Jac van Steen - conductor
Mahler: Symphony No. 7 80’
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Elgar’s Cello Concerto
Tue 4 Nov Symphony Hall
Composed during the blitz and premiered at the 1943 Proms, Vaughan Williams’ serene Fifth Symphony seems like a retreat from the real world to an imagined paradise. Elgar’s equally lyrical Cello Concerto, composed in 1919, also feels like a reaction against the horrors of wartime. Vernon Handley, such a tireless champion of English music, precedes these two masterpieces with a musical fairytale by Granville Bantock, who did so much for Birmingham’s musical life and was instrumental in the founding of the CBSO in 1920. 6.15pm Pre-concert talk - Vaughan Williams’ Fifth Baz Chapman - Programme Director of Sing Up - shares his enthusiasm for Vaughan Williams’ great wartime symphony.
Vernon Handley - conductor Anne Gastinel - cello
Bantock: The Witch of Atlas 15’ Elgar: Cello Concerto 26’ Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 42’
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Elgar’s Cello Concerto
Wed 5 Nov Symphony Hall
Composed during the blitz and premiered at the 1943 Proms, Vaughan Williams’ serene Fifth Symphony seems like a retreat from the real world to an imagined paradise. Elgar’s equally lyrical Cello Concerto, composed in 1919, also feels like a reaction against the horrors of wartime. Vernon Handley, such a tireless champion of English music, precedes these two masterpieces with a musical fairytale by Granville Bantock, who did so much for Birmingham’s musical life and was instrumental in the founding of the CBSO in 1920. 1.15pm Pre-concert talk - Vaughan Williams’ Fifth Baz Chapman - Programme Director of Sing Up - shares his enthusiasm for Vaughan Williams’ great wartime symphony.
Vernon Handley - conductor Anne Gastinel - cello
Bantock: The Witch of Atlas 15’ Elgar: Cello Concerto 26’ Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 42’
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Celebrity Recital: John Williams
Thu 6 Nov Symphony Hall
One of today’s greatest guitarists, John Williams’s restless questing spirit has led him to work in virtually every genre, from classical to cross-over, jazz to rock, Bach to Beatles. A legend in his own lifetime, he has attracted admiration and controversy but never indifference. His recital at Symphony hall will be keenly anticipated - book now. Tickets £5-£20
*Programme to be announced*
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The Temptations plus support
Fri 7 Nov Symphony Hall
Since the early 1960s The Temptations have thrilled crowds with the likes of Get Ready, Papa Was A Rollin Stone, I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, You’re My Everything, Just My Imagination, My Girl and Treat Her Like A Lady. Their enduring style of lead vocals and emotive harmonies combined with stylish choreography has earned them the crown of Emperors of Soul.
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Family Concert: Steps in Time
Sun 9 Nov Symphony Hall
Time travelling across the musical universe is the theme for today’s family concert! Our own real-life Doctor Who, in the form of popular presenter Alasdair Malloy, will keep the CBSO stepping in time with a selection of dances from across the ages. So forget about two left feet and get with the beat in an afternoon packed with numbers conjuring up twinkling toes for waltzes, courtly dances, marches and sambas, including music by Walton, Mozart, Arnold, Dvorák and Piazzolla. Why not come along dressed as your favourite kind of dancer? FREE CREATIVE WORKSHOPS AND MUSIC in the foyers from 1.30pm
David Danzmayr - conductor Alasdair Malloy - presenter
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Romeo and Juliet
Thu 13 Nov Symphony Hall
Popular CBSO guest Andrew Litton returns with a colourful programme featuring two brilliant musical responses to Shakespeare: Walton’s score for Laurence Olivier’s 1944 film of Henry V, together with highlights from Prokofiev’s ever-popular ballet premiered six years earlier. Barber’s gloriously lyrical Violin Concerto, composed between these two works, receives its first-ever CBSO performance, played by a dazzling American soloist.
Andrew Litton - conductor Anne Akiko Meyers - violin
Walton: Henry V - Suite 15’ Barber: Violin Concerto 25’ Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet (highlights) 50’
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Strauss's Four Last Songs
Fri 14 Nov Symphony Hall
Three great masterpieces: the autumnal sweetness of Strauss’s final songs, the gentle Idyll that Wagner presented to his wife on Christmas Day, and Beethoven’s _Eroica_ - a work that changed the course of Western music for ever. The Orchester der KlangVerwaltung Munich is made up of musicians from leading german orchestras including the Berlin and Munich Philharmonics. it was founded in 1997 with the aim of realising the unique musical vision of conductor Enoch zu Guttenberg, who has gained a cult following for radical performances of fierce integrity and depth. *BBC music magazine’s editor, Oliver Condy, explains why he has recommended tonight’s concert:* _"The Four Last Songs are Richard Strauss’s emotional farewell to the world. With Wagner’s exquisite Siegfried Idyll and Beethoven’s groundbreaking Third Symphony, this concert features three of the finest works to have emerged during the last 200 years.”_ "BBC Music Magazine":http://www.bbcmusicmagazine.com Tickets £5-£37.50
*Orchester der KlangVerwaltung Munich* *Enoch zu Guttenberg* conductor *Solveig Kringelborn* soprano
*Wagner* Siegfried Idyll 18’ *Strauss* Four Last Songs 20’ *Beethoven* Symphony no 3, Eroica 50’
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A Night at The Opera
Tue 18 Nov Symphony Hall
*A Spectacular Celebration of the Worlds favourite Opera Classics* At last, an event to celebrate the universal love for some of the most enduring music ever created! A Night at the Opera starring Jonathan Ansell, special guests and the Night at the Opera Orchestra is a glorious celebration of the most famous and best loved arias from the world’s favourite operas Jonathan Ansell, the charismatic young singer with the sensational tenor voice who shot to fame three years ago with pop opera group G4 on the X Factor, has now established himself as a bona fide solo star. Jonathan achieved amazing success with the classically-trained group G4, whose final performance as a group was a sensational sold out show at the Royal Albert Hall. But surpassing this, he has now achieved a debut solo album that topped the classical charts and also hit the top ten of the pop charts. Including Aida, The Barber of Seville, La Boheme, Carmen, Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Madame Butterfly, The Magic Flute, Rigoletto Tosca, La Traviata and many more.
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Viennese Classics
Wed 19 Nov Symphony Hall
Schubert and Brahms: their music epitomises all that was best in the Viennese tradition between the death of Beethoven and the arrival of Mahler. Olari Elts has chosen to couple one of Schubert’s sunniest symphonies with Brahms’ supremely dramatic violin concerto, played by an exceptional Norwegian soloist making his first appearance in Birmingham. Shorter works show a different side to both composer’s amazingly varied talents.
Olari Elts - conductor Henning Kraggerud - violin
Brahms: Variations on a theme by Haydn 19’ Brahms: Violin Concerto 36’ Schubert (orch. Webern): German Dances 8’ Schubert: Symphony No. 5 26’
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Friday Night Classics: Best of Bond
Fri 21 Nov Symphony Hall
Never mind if you didn’t get invited to the red-carpet premiere of Quantum of Solace - because the CBSO is always licensed to thrill. Whether your favourite Bond is Craig or Connery, Brosnan or Moore, this will be an allaction celebration with the best of 40 years of Bond themes. Featuring such all-time greats as From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, Licensed to Kill and Dr No, as well as modern Bond classics including Golden Eye and Casino Royale, this is music guaranteed to leave you both shaken - and stirred.
Carl Davis - conductor Mary Carewe - vocalist
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Uchida Plays Mozart
Sun 23 Nov Symphony Hall
Few pianists today command the respect and awe accorded to Mitsuko Uchida. “One of today’s great pianists,” wrote The Times, while The Independent summed her up as simply “sublime”. In this concert she directs two of Mozart’s greatest concertos from the keyboard-the serenity and poise of the A major Concerto contrasting with the tragedy of the C minor. Uchida’s lucid Mozart playing is ideally suited to the perfect acoustic of Symphony Hall, uniting performer and audience in an experience of crystal-clear intensity. *Classic FM’s Anne-Marie Minhall says of tonight’s recommended concert:* _Tonight the pianist Mitsuko Uchida joins forces with the orchestra formed in in 1981 and made up of fifty players from fifteen countries-The Chamber Orchestra of Europe. A chance for you to enjoy two of Mozart’s Piano Concertos written at the same time, but in very distinct moods. Mitsuko Uchida gained her international reputation by playing and recording the music of Mozart-there’s nothing she doesn’t know about the composer’s best-loved works for keyboard._ "Classic FM":http://www.classicfm.co.uk Tickets £5-£37.50
*Chamber Orchestra of Europe* *Mitsuko Uchida* piano/director
*Stravinsky* Apollon Musagète 30’ *Mozart* Piano Concerto No 23 in A Major, K488 24’ *Mozart* Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor, K491 30’
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Totally Tchaikovsky!
Wed 26 Nov Symphony Hall
Tchaikovsky’s struggles with his personal demons left a mark on many of his works, and the dramatic Fifth Symphony of 1888 is one of the pieces in which positive forces ultimately seem to triumph over the darkness. Composed during the same year, the fantasy overture Hamlet is one of his three works based on Shakespeare plays. Andris Nelsons is also joined by his compatriot Baiba Skride for the tuneful concerto that represents the lighter side of Tchaikovsky’s art, and which they recorded together with the CBSO in Birmingham last year.
Andris Nelsons - conductor Baiba Skride - violin
Tchaikovsky: Hamlet - Overture 19’ Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto 34’ Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 47’
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A Taste of France
Tue 2 Dec Symphony Hall
Widely acknowledged as an expert conductor of 20thcentury music, Ilan Volkov includes three French masterpieces in a programme full of orchestral colour. Debussy’s famous portrait of the sea in all its various moods finds a more exotic counterpart in the 1912 ballet by Paul Dukas (of Sorcerer’s Apprentice fame) which tells of a Persian man’s quest for the Flower of Immortality. We are also joined by the Nazareth-born pianist, who scored a success here in Beethoven two years ago, for two contrasting concertos: Ravel’s jazzy Left Hand Concerto and a new work by Jordanian composer Saed Haddad. 6.15pm Pre-concert talk - Premiere! - Saed Haddad’s Piano Concerto Conductor Ilan Volkov and soloist Saleem Abboud Ashkar talk to Stephen Maddock about tonight’s UK premiere.
*Ilan Volkov* conductor *Saleem Abboud Ashkar* piano
*Dukas* La Péri 19’ *Ravel* Piano Concerto for the left hand 20’ *Haddad* "Alternative World-versions" for Piano & Orchestra (UK premiere) 11' *Debussy* La Mer 25’
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Oleta Adams
Thu 4 Dec Symphony Hall
The legendary Oleta Adams makes a welcome return to the UK in an evening of Gospel and Christmas classics. In a rare concert appearance outside of the US, this unforgettable artist combines her perennial hits with uplifting gospel favourites and soulful ballads, bringing her own soul-stamped signature to the festive season with _Winter Wonderland_ and _Let It Snow_ together with special arrangements of traditional carols. Oleta also shares new material from her eagerly anticipated Gospel album, and sings her renowned interpretation of _Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me_ together with the hauntingly beautiful _Get Here_ from the platinum selling _Circle of One_. Backed by some of America’s finest musicians and The Kingdom Choir, Oleta’s unique vocal style effortlessly blends Gospel with Jazz, and Soul with Rhythm & Blues in an evening not to be missed! "www.oletaadams.com":http://oletaadams.com
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Ultimate Romantics 1: Mahler and Wagner
Wed 10 Dec Symphony Hall
In two concerts this winter, some of the most extravagant and passionate music of the late romantic era comes to Symphony Hall. The second act of Wagner’s Tristan contains one of music’s greatest love scenes. The adagio from mahler’s unfinished tenth Symphony is similarly in love with life, but it is the heartfelt last testament of a man about to be torn from the world. Few young conductors have received the plaudits that have been awarded to Vladimir Jurowski, new Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and music Director of Glyndebourne Opera, who conducts the first concert in this series. 6.15pm pre-concert talk Tickets £5-£37.50
*London Philharmonic Orchestra* *Vladimir Jurowski* conductor *Anja Kampe* Isolde *Robert Dean Smith* Tristan *Sarah Connolly* Brangaene *Laszlo Polgar* Marke *Stephen Gadd* Melot/Kurnewal
*Mahler* Adagio from Symphony No 10 22’ *Wagner* Act II from Tristan and Isolde 75’
