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.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has announced its 2026–27 Season: a year of artistic ambition, civic pride and musical breadth under Music Director Kazuki Yamada. The season brings together major symphonic journeys – including Beethoven and Mahler cycles – with new commissions, international touring and landmark moments such as the CBSO Chorus’s 1000th performance. Looking both forwards and back, the orchestra returns to Coventry Cathedral for Britten’s War Requiem, while a wide‑ranging programme that embraces film, popular music and cross‑genre collaborations reflects the CBSO’s commitment to sharing exceptional music with the widest possible audiences.
Shaped by extensive listening to the people of Birmingham, the 2026-27 Season responds to a city where music plays a vital role in daily life, with 96% of residents saying it is important to them. Research also revealed a strong desire for live music and shared cultural experiences, with more than half of respondents valuing a ‘great night out’ with family and friends, alongside a growing appetite for diverse and cross‑genre programming. Embracing scale, risk and joy in equal measure, the new season opens on 17 September 2026.
Looking ahead to the new season, Emma Stenning, CEO at the CBSO comments: “Over the past two years we have listened closely to the people of Birmingham – through research, audience feedback and the work of our Community Board – and that dialogue has shaped a season designed to offer something for everyone. We continue our Mahler journey and present a complete Beethoven symphony cycle with our Music Director Kazuki Yamada, while welcoming Ilan Volkov as our new Principal Guest Conductor and Collaborative Artists Jess Gillam, Alice Sara Ott and Rushil Ranjan, each bringing fresh energy and ideas to the CBSO. Our return to Coventry Cathedral for Britten’s War Requiem will be a defining moment of the season, sharing a powerful message of peace that feels especially resonant today. Alongside this, film and pop concerts, cross‑cultural collaborations and our family programming allow us to broaden our audiences, reflect the diversity of our city and invest in the next generation of music‑lovers. We hope you’ll join us for a truly special year of music‑making.”
For Remembrance Day, Kazuki Yamada brings Britten’s humanitarian masterpiece home to Coventry Cathedral, with a plea for peace as resonant now as the day it was written. A timeless, intensely moving meditation on man’s inhumanity to man, the CBSO gave the world premiere of the piece at Coventry Cathedral in 1962 and the Orchestra’s return in 2026 also marks 50-years since Benjamin Britten’s death. This performance will be followed by an international tour.
Mahler symphonies to open and close the season
KazukiYamada and the CBSO continue their Mahler cycle: a signature artistic journey that explores music grappling with life, death and renewal. The 2026-27 Season opens with Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony, in a concert which also celebrates the 1000th performance of the CBSO Chorus. The season will close in June 2027 with Mahler’s 3rd Symphony.
Three Collaborative Artists redefining what an orchestra can do
This season sees the CBSO welcome Alice Sara Ott, Jess Gillam and Rushil Ranjan as Collaborative Artists, who each offer fresh perspectives and exciting programming across genres, venues and formats. Pianist Alice Sara Ott brings major concerto and chamber performances at home and on tour, saxophonist Jess Gillam appears as a soloist, presenter and creative collaborator across concerts and education projects, and composer‑producer Rushil Ranjan expands the orchestra’s sound world through his genre‑defying Orchestral Qawwali Project.
Beethoven’s full symphony cycle
Marking 200 years since Beethoven’s death, Kazuki Yamada and the CBSO will perform all nine symphonies in 2027, celebrating one of the most famous and enduring symphonic cycles of all time alongside performances of the Violin Concerto and a wide‑ranging programme of chamber music.
A major commitment to new music
In addition to exciting projects with CBSO’s Collaborative Artists – Alice Sara Ott, Jess Gillam and Rushil Ranjan – the CBSO’s first Composer in Residence, GRAMMY-nominated composer Anna Clyne, is central to the season; including the world premiere of her new viola concerto ‘Resonant Forms’ with Lawrence Power, a performance of PALETTE by the CBSO Orchestral Residency scheme, and a Decca recording of Glasslands with Jess Gillam and Alpesh Chauhan.
Ilan Volkov debut season
The CBSO will welcome Ilan Volkov for his first season as Principal Guest Conductor and repertoire will feature Bruckner’s 7th Symphony, Messiaen’s Turangalila and a Shakespeare inspired programme.
Film and pop music concerts
From Classic FM Hall of Fame and Jules Buckley’s Quincy Jones celebration to Guitar Heroes, ABBA and Home Alone – the CBSO season is packed with popular family-orientated concerts that celebrate milestones in popular culture. There will also be concerts that celebrate special anniversaries; such as 50 years of Star Wars: A New Hope and the 20th anniversary of Casino Royale in partnership with esk live and B:Music; and 25 years of the legendary film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring presented by The Flying Music Company at BP Pulse Live.
Kazuki Yamada’s generous and joyful programming
The CBSO’s Music Director,Kazuki Yamada also champions programmes that invite audiences in through joy and familiarity this season, treating much‑loved repertoire with the same care, imagination and musical rigour as the symphonic canon. From a festive ‘double Nutcracker’ that sets Tchaikovsky alongside Duke Ellington’s sparkling reinvention, to a Night at the Opera with an all-star cast, celebrating the enduring power of great melody and drama.
Concerts for young children and families
From toddlers to teenagers, the CBSO’s family and Notelets concerts are presented by CBSO musicians and designed to remove barriers and spark a lifelong connection with music. Created especially for under‑6s, Notelets are joyful, interactive performances where children can sing, dance and discover orchestral instruments for the very first time, supported by free creative activities and opportunities to meet the musicians. Across the season, BSL‑interpreted family concerts further widen access, ensuring orchestral music is welcoming and inclusive for audiences of all ages.
A season that embraces scale, risk and joy in equal measure
From vast, ambitious works such as Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony and Weinberg’s rarely performed operatic epic The Passenger, to symphonic film, jazz‑inflected reimaginings and large‑scale popular orchestral projects, the season demonstrates a willingness to programme at full stretch – artistically, logistically and imaginatively. Rather than separating the serious from the celebratory, the CBSO places demanding contemporary and 20th‑century masterpieces alongside exuberant, high‑craft crossover, asserting that ambition, curiosity and pleasure can and should coexist on the same stage.
Kazuki Yamada, Music Director, CBSO, comments:“It brings me so much happiness to be looking forward to another season with this wonderful orchestra and our fantastic audiences. And what a year of music making it’s going to be: 18 concerts at home and another 21 across the UK and around the world. Wherever we perform, I am always proud to share the CBSO’s incredible energy, openness and spirit with our audiences.” The CBSO would also like to thank the many guest musicians, soloists and ensembles that will join them for the 2026–27 season.
Nelsen Goerner (piano) City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Kazuki Yamada
Hindemith Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber (1943) Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Op.43 (1934) Bartók Concerto for Orchestra BB123 (1943)
Symphony Hall, Birmingham Thursday 9 April 2026
Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Pictures (c) Andrew Fox (above) and Marco Borggreve (below)
There was a pleasing overall balance to this evening’s concert from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and its music director Kazuki Yamada: the three works, written within a decade of each other, drawing extensively on earlier composers or, indeed, traditional music.
If not as familiar as it once was (and not least in Birmingham), Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber is always worth revival – not least for finding Hindemith at his most approachable and uninhibited. It was this latter aspect which came over most vividly here – Yamada securing a forceful though never blowzy response in the opening Allegro, then making the most of its ‘Turandot’ Scherzo’s freewheeling play on Weber’s already recalcitrant overture to which the CBSO responded in like fashion. Easily to underestimate, the Andantino emerged as music of no mean pathos as well as a foil to the final March’s breezy treatment of incisive then jocular melodies, with a close of real panache. Did a smile on the face of certain older punters indicate the latter tune’s audible resemblance to a once popular wartime song?
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini has become increasingly familiar in recent decades, as has Rachmaninoff’s music as a whole, and tonight’s performance amply underlined why. He may not have partnered the CBSO for several years, but Nelson Goerner secured a rapport from the outset – the initial 15 variations pivoting between impetuosity and inwardness with dextrous assurance, then those three which constitute a ‘slow movement’ rendered with a soulfulness and, in the evergreen Variation XVIII, a deftness such as banished any hint of sentimentality. The closing six variations duly unfolded as a ‘finale’ capricious and scintillating, Goerner at one with the orchestra in rounding off this work with a deathless payoff. Impeccably played if emotionally aloof, Brahms’ Intermezzo in A major (Op. 118/2) was the less than apposite encore.
The CBSO has an association with Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra itself going back decades with the present account notable, above all, for its sheer virtuosity of playing. Interpretatively things was not quite this consistent – the expressive contrasts in its Introduzione just a little inflexibly drawn so that the movement felt no more than the sum of its admittedly impressive parts, with the succession of duets in Presentando le coppie a little too detached from each other for this to become the genial though equally vulnerable scherzando it ideally should be.
Conversely, the Elegia had an ideal balance between wrenching anguish and that unworldly ‘night music’ from which it emerges and into which it ultimately withdraws, while the quirky interplay of styles and parodies – whether Léhar or Shostakovich seems beside the point – in the Intermezzo interrotto never sounded at all contrived. Neither did the Finale disappoint as it navigated between pulsating energy and brazen high jinx, on route to a coda of hushed anticipation capped by a peroration which set the seal on this work in an exhilarating QED.
Overall, a fine showing for the CBSO and Yamada in the wake of their latest European tour. The orchestra returns next week in an enterprising programme of Respighi and Puccini, the latter represented by syntheses from two of his operas devised by the conductor Carlo Rizzi.
To read more about the CBSO’s 2025/26 season, visit the CBSO website. Click on the names for more on their principal conductor Kazuki Yamada and pianist Nelson Goerner
Stewart Goodyear (piano, above), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Kazuki Yamada
Simon Hellfighters’ Blues (2024) Mazzoli Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) (2014) Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue (1924) Ives ed. Sinclair Three Places in New England (1911-14) Gershwin An American in Paris (1928)
Symphony Hall, Birmingham Wednesday 21 January 2026
Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse
The heady interplay of jazz and blues idioms (with a little help from pioneer W. C. Handy) of Carlos Simon’s Hellfighter’s Blues launched in exhilarating fashion this City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra concert, pertinent as the 250th anniversary of American Independence approaches.
Missy Mazzoli’sSinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) could not have been further removed with its formal parallel to that of the solar system; an abstraction offset by the ‘sinfonia’ connotations of a Medieval hurdy-gurdy whose modal drone, recreated here with harmonicas played by the horns and woodwind, underlies the piece’s increasing velocity. That this suggested a tangible connection with the past and, at the same time, absorbed accrued influences into an idiom of today said much about the effectiveness of Mazzoli’s modus operandi these past two decades.
It could have been a conceptual leap too far from here to Gershwin’s galvanizing of the ‘jazz age’ aesthetic almost a century earlier yet Rhapsody in Blue has lost but little of its edge in the interim, especially as Stewart Goodyear rendered its solo part with almost reckless enjoyment. With almost every focal point either underlined or rendered in inverted commas, this was not the subtlest of performance, but Kazuki Yamada was at one with his pianist in conveying the breezy excitement of this music, with the final stages emerging as a high-octane apotheosis. Goodyear is evidently a pianist with whom to reckon – maybe his next appearance will find him tackling Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F? For the present, he gave the slow movement of his own Piano Sonata (1996), poised midway between Copland and Piston, as plaintive encore.
Whatever his radical tendencies, Charles Ives embodies the ethos of an earlier age (Michael Tilson Thomas aptly described him as America’s greatest late-Romantic composer), such as felt uppermost with Yamada’s take on Three Places in New England. So the intensifying of feeling in The ‘St. Gaudens’ at Boston Common was secondary to a distanced recollection of time, while the elaborate march-fantasy that is Putnam’s Camp, Redding, Connecticut was genial rather than boisterous – albeit until its accumulation of activity for an ending of visceral abandon. The Housatonic at Stockbridge yet which left the deepest impression – its fervent evocation of place from the vantage of marital bliss duly inspiring a welling-up of emotion which not even Yamada’s slight over-hastiness could rob of its sheer eloquence.
An American in Paris might have been an awkward piece with which to close, but succeeded well on its own terms. Something between tone poem and symphonic rhapsody. Gershwin’s evocation of a compatriot (himself?) a little lost in the French capital received an impulsive yet perceptive reading. There was a start-stop feel to its earlier stages, but what ensued was rarely less than persuasive – not least those final bars with their tangible sense of resolution.
It certainly brought to a resounding close a concert which conveyed much of the sheer variety of American music across little more than a century. Hopefully Yamada will programme more of this repertoire – perhaps an Ives symphony or music by the late, great Christopher Rouse?
Peter Moore (trombone), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Kazuki Yamada (above)
Mahler Blumine (1884) Fujikura Trombone Concerto ‘Vast Ocean II’ (2005/23) [UK Premiere] Mahler Symphony no.1 in D major (1887-88, rev. 1889-98)
Symphony Hall, Birmingham Thursday 15 January 2026
Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Photo (c) Andrew Fox
Mahler has not been absent from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s schedule since those halcyon years of Simon Rattle, though even he never undertook a chronological traversal of such as the orchestra’s current music director Kazuki Yamada duly commenced this evening.
Although the First Symphony was heard in its customary four-movement version as finalized for a Vienna performance in 1898, the so-called Blumine taken over from earlier incidental music and included as second movement in the earliest performances was given as an entrée to this concert. With its lilting trumpet melody – effortlessly unfolded by Holly Clark – and its aura of rapt inwardness, this elegant intermezzo was audibly out of place given the transition from symphonic poem to symphony, but it retains an appeal that was winningly evident here.
Two years ago Yamada and the CBSO gave the premiere of Wavering World by Japanese-born composer Dai Fujikura, and it was heartening to see the association continued with this first hearing in the UK for Vast Ocean II. Not so much a reworking as the reconceiving of a piece from 18 years earlier, this trombone concerto unfolded within the context of an orchestra rich in alluring sonorities yet streamlined in texture. This latter entered gradually while remaining focussed on (if never beholden to) a soloist whose role is almost that of a ‘cantus firmus’ that guides the music, through waves of increasing activity, towards a fervent culmination before a suspenseful closing evanescence. It helped to have in Peter Moore a soloist who manifestly believed in the music and contributed greatly to the impact of this memorable performance.
And so to Mahler’s First Symphony that, following on from Yamada’s accounts of the Fourth and Ninth in recent seasons, drew a suitably visceral response from conductor and orchestra. Not that this traversal was without failings: the ‘coming of spring’ in the opening pages was unerringly judged, as too the transition into its genial main theme, though this first movement rather lost focus in the mounting intensity of its final stages which felt rather rushed through. There were no provisos about a scherzo whose impetuous outer sections found ideal contrast with its ländler-informed trio of winning poise. The ensuing funeral march was equally well judged, bassist Anthony Alcock setting in motion this unlikely processional whose pathos is tinged by irony and even ambivalence before its jaunty climax then withdrawal into silence.
Launched with piercing clamour, the finale may ultimately have been no more than the sum of its parts, but the best were indeed memorable. So if the expressive second theme sounded overly generic, the approach to the central peroration was astutely handled, with the hushed recollection of earlier ideas never less than spellbinding. Nor was the stealthy build-up to the apotheosis lacking purpose, even if this latter emerged as less than majestic given Yamada’s headlong rush to those brusque closing chords. Audience response was accordingly effusive.
One person who would no doubt have wanted to be present was Andrew Clements, who died just four days earlier. A regular CBSO reviewer for the Guardian, his laconic while considered observations were always centred on the premise that music, whether in or of itself, mattered.
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