Tag Archives: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

In concert – Alice Sara Ott, CBSO / Kazuki Yamada: Grieg, Bax, Clyne & Debussy

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Alice Sara Ott (piano), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Kazuki Yamada

Bax Tintagel (1917-19)
Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor Op.16 (1868)
Clyne Restless Oceans (2018)
Debussy La mer L109 (1903-05)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Tuesday 22 September 2026

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Photo (c) Hannah Blake-Fathers

The sea, in various manifestations, was a dominant factor in this evening’s concert by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. One which began with Tintagel, long the most familiar (if not the only one now being revived) of Bax’s tone poems, where Kazuki Yamada showed a sure grasp of music more a reflection of its composer’s involvement with the pianist Harriet Cohen than of Arthurian times or places. Its ‘love music’ lacked nothing in rapture, yet it was the seascape from which it emerges then to which it returns that made the lasting impression.

Grieg’s Piano Concerto might not convey any overt maritime associations, but its expressive ambience is audibly that of the outdoors (unlike that of the Schumann concerto that provided its model in many particulars) and Alice Sara Ott – CBSO Collaborative Artist these next two seasons – responded with playing as impetuous and soulful as its opening movement requires. Fleeting hesitancies aside, there was no mistaking the rapport between her and Yamada; with its cadenza an emotional culmination in every respect. Soulful while never inert expressively, the central Adagio exuded inward warmth as found ideal contrast in the bracing energy of the finale – its poetic middle section artlessly rendered, and its apotheosis opulent with no undue bathos. Ott’s limpid rendering of John Field’s Ninth Nocturne made for an appealing encore.

The second half got off to a short if by no means sweet start with Restless Oceans, a compact yet eventful celebration of female identity from Anna Clyne – CBSO Composer in Residence for the current season – that lacked little in presence. Rhythmically incisive and harmonically expressive ideas, alternating purposefully on their way to the tersely unequivocal conclusion, were offset by vocal and gestural contributions from the musicians that added a layer of vivid theatricality. Further and more extended instances of Clyne’s music will follow in due course.

Bax can only have been too aware when writing Tintagel of Debussy’s La mer – this latter a game-changer in terms of orchestral composition, whose influence continues to radiate some 120 years on. Right from the opening of From dawn to midday on the sea, it was apparent Yamada had found the balance between the placing of detail within an overall structure that, if not symphonic per se, has a formal integration and expressive sweep as feels nothing if not symphonic – witness the majestic peroration with which this opening movement culminates.

Much the most elusive of these symphonic sketches, Play of the Waves yielded a lightness of touch and deftness of motion that only emphasized its emotional ambivalence. Unerringly phrased, its coda prepared ideally for Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea, a finale where the combative and alluring are brought together for what proved a thrilling culmination (though Yamada might have dispensed with those trumpet entries which Debussy subsequently and unwisely added). Certainly it brought this concert to its unequivocal and impressive close.

Yamada returns to Birmingham just before Christmas and Ott does likewise next May, while the CBSO is back in a week’s time with a programme featuring Elgar’s Enigma Variations as well as a second hearing for the co-commissioned Saxophone Concerto by Gwilym Simcock.

To read more about the CBSO’s 2026/27 season, visit the CBSO website. Click on the names to read more on pianist Alice Sara Ott and conductor Kazuki Yamada, and more on composer Anna Clyne

Published post no.3,027 – Thursday 24 September 2026

News – CBSO launch new season…including the 1,000th performance of the CBSO Chorus!

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posted by Ben Hogwood, with text from the press release. Pictures (c) Andrew Fox and Hannah Blake-Feathers (bottom)

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s 2026-27 concert season launches today, with a family of incredible musicians, choirs and youth ensembles, making music that matters to the people of Birmingham, the West Midlands and beyond. The season’s opening concert marks a special milestone for the CBSO Chorus, which will celebrate its landmark 1,000th performance this evening.

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) season launch follows the success of ‘CBSO in the City’– an ambitious and ground-breaking city-wide music festival, which saw Birmingham’s orchestra deliver over 20 free performances in five days across the city. The event, as with the new season, reaffirms the CBSO’s commitment to engage with the broadest possible audience – and the ensemble’s pride to be Birmingham’s orchestra on the local and international stage.

New season highlights include the CBSO’s return to Coventry Cathedral in November for Britten’s War Requiem, a full cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies, new commissions, and a wide‑ranging programme embracing film, popular music and cross‑genre collaborations.

CBSO: Beatle Mania. Conductor: Stuart Morley.

Fresh perspectives

The CBSO embraces new energy in this upcoming season with brand-new additions to the orchestra’s creative team. Ilan Volkov makes his debut as Principal Guest Conductor with Bruckner’s 7th Symphony, Messiaen’s Turangalila and a Shakespeare-inspired programme. The orchestra also welcomes its first Composer in Residence, GRAMMY-nominated composer Anna Clyne, who presents the world premiere of her new viola concerto ‘Resonant Forms’ with Lawrence Power, plus performance and recording projects.

New Collaborative Artists pianist Alice Sara Ott, saxophonist Jess Gillam and composer‑producer Rushil Ranjan, will also make their mark. The 2026-27 season will feature major concerto and chamber performances from Alice Sara Ott, solo concerts, presenting and education projects with Jess Gillam and a collaboration with Rushil Ranjan’s Orchestral Qawwali Project, a unique blend of Sufi poetry, Indian Classical dance and symphony orchestra.

Marking history

Kazuki Yamada (above with CBSO CEO Emma Stenning and Director of Artistic Planning Cath Arlidge) and the CBSO mark 200 years since Beethoven’s death in the 2026-27 season with a cycle of all nine of the German composer’s symphonies in 2027, as well as performances of his Violin Concerto and chamber music.

The orchestra also makes its return to Coventry Cathedral for Remembrance Day with a performance of Britten’s War Requiem which marks both the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death and 64 years since the CBSO gave the world premiere of the piece at the Cathedral in 1962. The 11 November performance will be followed by a European tour.

The upcoming season will also delight film fanatics with concerts celebrating 50 years of Star Wars and 75 Years of Bollywood as well as tributes to legendary film composers John Williams and Quincy Jones. 

Pop fans won’t be left behind either. On 27 February, the CBSO presents its tribute to guitar legends with music by Black Sabbath, Muse, Jimi Hendrix, Guns N Roses, Queen, David Bowie and more before turning truly Scandinavian with Symphonic Abba on 22 April.

Family favourites and festive fun

Across the season, the CBSO’s Family and Notelets concerts aim to spark a lifelong connection with music. For under‑6s, Notelets interactive performances give children a space to sing, dance and discover orchestral instruments for the very first time. For older children, the orchestra’s Halloween Spooktacular invites ghosts and ghouls aged 6 and over to don their spookiest costumes for a night of Halloween-themed music at Symphony Hall on 25 October.

Christmas at Symphony Hall starts on 5 December with three festive masterpieces by Benjamin Britten, presented in collaboration with choral charity Ex Cathedra, before Kazuki Yamada takes the podium to lead the orchestra in three interpretations of The Nutcracker. Christmas pop favourites from ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ to ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ are on the menu for the CBSO Christmas Party on 17 December, then the spotlight turns on the orchestra’s vocal groups for Choral Christmas on 18 December. 

Emma Stenning, CBSO Chief Executive, comments: “When I look at this season, I see an orchestra that knows who and what it’s for. It’s not for a particular kind of audience, or a particular kind of music. It’s for Birmingham and for the Midlands, and it’s in demand across the world.  It’s for the die-hard orchestral fans, and for anyone who has never been and thinks it is not for them. It’s for the people who have been coming for decades and for the six-year-old who picks up a triangle at the end of a Notelets concert and cannot put it down.”

Kazuki Yamada, CBSO Music Director, comments: “With every season, the relationship between the orchestra and I deepens and strengthens. I am delighted to continue our Mahler cycle, as well as exploring all of Beethoven’s symphonies across this season. I am also looking forward to bringing the orchestra back to Coventry Cathedral for a landmark performance of Britten’s poignant and powerful War Requiem, as well as bringing joyous festive music to Symphony Hall this Christmas. We look forward to welcoming diverse audiences from Birmingham and beyond – everyone is welcome.”

The CBSO would also like to thank the many guest musicians, soloists and ensembles that will join them for the 2026–27 season. For full details, visit the CBSO website.

Published post no.3,018 – Wednesday 15 September 2026

In concert – CBSO, CBSO Orchestral Residency / Edward Gardner: Varèse & Adams

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City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, CBSO Orchestral Residency Musicians / Edward Gardner

Varèse Ionisation (1929-31); Amériques (1918-21, rev. 1927)
Adams Harmonielehre (1985)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Friday 17 July 2026

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

It was likely coming after the ‘official’ end of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s season that brought a disappointingly low turnout for this concert, itself the culmination of the initial CBSO Orchestral Residency. This saw some five-dozen musicians, aged from 21 to 25, working alongside the orchestra’s musicians for an intensive week of rehearsals with Edward Gardner – principal guest conductor of the CBSO during 2010-16 and whose expertise across a broad range of repertoire was duly demonstrated by the ambitious programme heard tonight.

A first half devoted to Edgard Varèse ensured a testing workout for percussion in particular – 13 of them placed across the rear of the platform for the scintillating interplay of timbre and texture that is Ionisation; not the first such piece for the concert hall, but certainly the first of consequence. A pity that remarks by the conductor and Residency musicians did not precede rather than follow it, allowing the climactic entry of tuned instruments (chimes, glockenspiel and piano) to fade into the solo flute as commences Amériques with spellbinding immediacy.

Long notorious in terms of scale and impact, the latter work has now become something of a showpiece as this builds from post-impressionist musing, via passages alternately speculative and strident, to an apotheosis where jousting brass underpinned by a ‘walking bass’ uncannily anticipates symphonic jazz a generation hence. Under Gardner’s guidance, there was no risk of its losing focus – the players responding with discipline and no little relish to music as has lost none of that capacity to provoke and enthral just a century after its Philadelphia premiere.

The CBSO has an association with Harmonielehre stretching back more than 30 years to the recording (only the second) made with Simon Rattle. That this orchestra, with its Residency contingent, now brings greater freedom and flexibility says much about the development in orchestral playing over that time – along with the integration of John Adams’s work into the repertoire such that, far from being a polemic for reasserting the supremacy of ‘tonality’, it now yields all the attributes of a showpiece and may even be thought of as a crowd-pleaser.

Symphonic in aim if not necessarily intent, let alone attainment, this is music that can easily sprawl and it was to Gardner’s credit the un-titled first movement – with its alleged imagery of a super-tanker taking flight – maintained the impetus of those seismic opening chords, via music of expressive luxuriance, to a conclusion that fairly hit the ground running. Even finer was The Anfortas Wound, its brooding sombreness suffused with wrenching starkness on the way to a climax whose anguish references a comparable passage in Mahler 75 years on.

As with many symphonies actual or otherwise, the finale seems more a rounding-off than a resolution of the issues at stake, though there was no lack of purpose in Meister Eckhardt and Quackie as this imaginary encounter between a Medieval theologian and the composer’s infant daughter yielded unstoppable momentum prior to a headily affirmative close. Nor was there any doubting the conviction by which an expanded CBSO brought this work, and with it the whole concert, to its impressive conclusion. Roll on the Orchestral Residency for 2027.

To read more about the CBSO’s 2026/27 season, visit the CBSO website, and to read more about the CBSO Orchestral Residency. Click on the names to read more on conductor Edward Gardner, and composers John Adams and Edgard Varèse

Published post no.2,953 – Monday 6 July 2026

In concert – Janai Brugger, CBSO / Kazuki Yamada: Copland, Tower, Price & Adams

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Janai Brugger (narrator/soprano), CBSO Chorus (Julian Wilkins, chorus-master), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Kazuki Yamada

Copland Fanfare for the Common Man (1942); Lincoln Portrait (1942)
Tower Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman (1989)
Price orch. Rosner The Heart of a Woman (c1930-50)
Adams Harmonium (1980-81)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Saturday 4 July 2026

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

Marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and music director Kazuki Yamada duly pulled out the stops with a programme that placed musical achievements from the past century within an unlikely yet stimulating context.

The first half unfolded as two diptychs focussing, respectively, on male and female concerns. Thus a brazen but never brash take on Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man preceded his Lincoln Portrait – its sentiments as apposite to World War Two as to the American Civil War, after whose Battle of Gettysburg Lincoln made his famous ‘Address’. Yamada drew nobility and fervour from its lengthy preamble, then Janai Brugger delivered its subsequent narration with enough poise and understatement to offset any risk of hubris during the climactic stages.

Initiated by a visceral reading of Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, its brass and percussion deployed in notably combative manner, the female response continued with Florence Price’s The Heart of a Woman. Not so much a song-cycle as a ‘themed’ collection which has only recently been assembled from its composer’s extensive contribution to this genre, its 10 settings of black American authors have been orchestrated by Israeli-American composer Lior Rosner with no mean subtlety and eloquence, though on occasion softening the harmonic piquancy with which Price seeks to highlights aspects of her own experience.

Wistful and rapturous by turns, these merge into a rather generalized sequence lacking any more cumulative intensity to justify it as a whole; the exception being Don’t you say no to me which, with its vivid (if slightly self-conscious) elements of blues and ragtime, sounds like a number such as Ella Fitzgerald might have recorded in her youth. Brugger (with kit-percussionist Alex Henshaw-Van den Bos) made the most of its insouciance, with Yamada encouraging the orchestra to a warmly empathetic response elsewhere. Hardly a revelatory discovery, but attractive and affecting music such as reinforced the impression that Price is at her best freed from those formal constraints encountered in her symphonies or concertos.

After the interval came Harmonium, by which John Adams established his wider reputation almost 45 years ago. Now as then, its overall impact belies its relative concision and, while its streamlined ebb and flow arguably overrides the manifest ambivalence in John Donne’s Negative Love then emphasizes predictability over pathos in Emily Dickinson’s Because I could not stop for Death, the integration of chorus and orchestra is unfailing. To this end, coordination was not all that it might have been though the seminal passages were tellingly realized – not least that seismic build-up into a setting of Dickinson’s Wild Nights whose heady crescendos then raptly inward ending, both among its composer’s finest inspirations, were conveyed with conviction boding well for the CBSO performance at this year’s Proms.

Before that London concert, however, audiences in Birmingham can enjoy more Adams when Edward Gardner conducts his epic Harmonielehre and Edgard Varèse’s ambitious Amèriques, with the CBSO and CBSO Orchestral Residency Musicians at Symphony Hall on July 17th.

To read more about the CBSO’s 2026/27 season, visit the CBSO website. Click on the names to read more on chief conductor Kazuki Yamada, soloist Janai Brugger, the CBSO Chorus and composers Joan Tower and Florence Price

Published post no.2,939 – Monday 6 July 2026

News – Saxophones in the City: Budding Birmingham talent to perform with star saxophonist Jess Gillam

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published by Ben Hogwood from the press release. Picture of Jess Gillam (c) Robin Clewley

Amateur musicians of all ages will get the chance to rehearse and perform with award-winning saxophonist and CBSO Collaborative Artist Jess Gillam as part of ‘CBSO in the City’ which will bring free performances to iconic spaces across Birmingham this summer (27-31 August) for the third year.

The next generation of Birmingham’s musical talent is set to receive a vital boost this summer, with a new ‘come and play’ initiative launched by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). As part of the upcoming CBSO in the City, Birmingham-based saxophonists and clarinettists will have the chance to rehearse and perform with CBSO Collaborative Artist Jess Gillam. As she prepares to embark on her first season as a Collaborative Artist, Jess will lead amateur musicians in a rehearsal session on Saturday 29 August, before performing with the massed saxophone and clarinet ensemble in the city-centre’s vibrant waterside gathering spot, Brindley Place.

CBSO Collaborative Artist Jess Gillam said: “I’m so looking forward to my first season with the CBSO as a Collaborative Artist, alongside some amazing upcoming concerts, I’m also looking forward to deepening my relationship with Birmingham community. This event is the perfect way to do this, and it’s a great opportunity for aspiring musicians of all ages to boost their skills and get together for some inspiring ensemble playing. At a time when music education is so often underfunded and undervalued, this is our chance to show that the next generation deserves high-quality learning and performance opportunities – wherever they’re based.”

Keen musicians of all ages are invited to sign up on the CBSO website until midday on 20 July. Rehearsal sessions will take place on the morning of Saturday 29 August at the CBSO Centre, while the performance will take place that afternoon in Brindley Place.

The CBSO’s annual Birmingham-wide CBSO in the City festival returns for 2026 with five days of free music running from Thursday 27 to Monday 31 August across the summer bank holiday weekend. The 2026 programme will present performances from full orchestral spectacles to duos, quartets and free family concerts.

At a time when classical music is working ever harder to reach new audiences, the CBSO continues its mission to serve the whole city of Birmingham. Orchestral players will meet local audiences wherever they are: presenting music in stations and on local transport as well as in the city’s most iconic spaces (and beyond), from the Bullring and Botanical Gardens to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Black Country Living Museum.

CBSO Chief Executive Emma Stenning said: “Birmingham is a city that holds its cultural life with real conviction. The pride people feel in this orchestra, the breadth of what they listen to, the generosity with which they engage with music that’s new to them – that’s something Birmingham brings, and we celebrate. Everything begins here. And if we’re serious about being Birmingham’s orchestra – not just in name but in practice – then we have to bring music to the city, not as something separate from daily life, but woven through it.”

CBSO in the City is generously supported by John Osborn CBE.

While all events are free and unticketed, standard admission applies at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, RBSA Gallery and Black Country Living Museum.

Published post no.2,933 – Tuesday 30 June 2026