What's On — All events

Friday Night Classics: John Williams Blockbusters

Fri 10 Oct Symphony Hall

No-one writes a big film theme like John Williams - no wonder he’s the world’s most popular living classical composer. And if you think his music is thrilling on the big screen, just wait until you hear it live at Symphony Hall - as the CBSO plays a blockbuster concert of John Williams’ very greatest themes from his signature edition scores.
Michael Seal - conductor Tommy Pearson - presenter City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Including music from: Star Wars Schindler’s List Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Superman Close Encounters of the Third Kind E.T. Raiders of the Lost Ark Olympic Fanfare and Theme JFK Munich Saving Private Ryan Jaws
Trio Valore plus support
Cancelled
Fri 10 Oct Town Hall

Unforutnately this performance has been cancelled, all ticket purchases will be refunded by the Box Office on 0121 780 3333.
Birmingham’s Brightest

Sat 11 Oct Symphony Hall

Everyone knows that Birmingham has the brightest and most vibrant youth music scene in the UK; hear why in this jam-packed gala concert! Feel the sheer visceral thrill of the famous Birmingham Schools’ Azaad Dhol Ensemble, before the acclaimed CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy makes its Symphony Hall debut in Ligeti’s flamboyant Concert Romanesc. Two show-stopping young choirs raise the roof before the CBSO proper takes the stage alongside one of Britain’s best-loved young soloists • teenager clarinettist Julian Bliss • in Malcolm Arnold’s irresistibly jazzy concerto. Throw in a couple of John Williams’ blockbuster movie soundtracks including music from Star Wars, with the CBSO, and you’ve got a concert that celebrates both the young - and the young at heart! This concert coincides with the National Association of Music Educators Conference at the ICC.
Michael Seal - conductor Tommy Pearson - presenter Julian Bliss - clarinet CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy City of Birmingham Young Voices Birmingham Schools’ Azaad Dhol Ensemble Sing For All Massed Choir
David Garrett and his band

Sat 11 Oct Town Hall

Part genius, part maverick, total virtuoso•this violin sensation plays his own personal musical blend of the traditional and contemporary. Fresh from this year’s Classical Brits, BBC’s Proms in Park and the much-loved Classical Spectacular, his natural talent is “world class” (The Independent). From the haunting melodies of Ennio Morricone, Bizet’s fiery and passionate Carmen, Paganini’s masterpiece Rhapsody and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to the inspired arrangement of Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters. Discover this international star for yourself. "....already the stuff of legend" BBC Music Magazine
Orchestra of the Swan: Italian Sunshine

Sun 12 Oct Town Hall

Mozart meets Mediterranean sunshine for an autumn Sunday matinee. Orchestra of the Swan are renowned for the vivacity of their excellent playing and the sunny informality of their presentation. They're joined this afternoon by the outstanding Jennifer Pike, 2002 BBC Young Musician of the Year and 2008 winner of the South Bank Show/The Times Breakthrough Award. Top-class playing and fantastic value for money. -"It's just how music should be."_ *Birmingham Post* 1.30pm free pre-concert talk and Post-concert Conversation Club in the CircleBar 15 mins after the end of the performance. £8.50, £12.50, £16.50, £19.50 Choir benches £6.50 60 plus £7.50, £11.50, £15, £17.50 Orchestra of the Swan is a Town Hall Associate Artist.
Orchestra of the Swan David Curtis _conductor_ Jennifer Pike _violin_
*Rossini* Overture, _An Italian Girl in Algiers'_ *Mozart* Violin Concerto No. 3 in G *Mendelssohn* Italian Symphony
Level 42

Sun 12 Oct Symphony Hall

Level 42 took the 80s by storm with their brand of bass driven jazz funk that came from the underground soul scene of wedge hair cuts, pegged trousers, sharp shoes and soul patrols. They led a band of UK ‘funksters’ and soul acts that for a time changed the face of the street scene in Britain , dovetailing with the start of the commercial New Romantic movement , Two Tone and the dying embers of punk. Level 42 clearly became the most influential of all the British acts but with the likes of Incognito, Light of the World, Lynx , and Beggar and Co to name just four , made their indelible mark and gave the scene an identity which allowed mainstream radio to embrace more easily the infectious bass lines that were the hallmark of Mark King and Level 42 for a decade and beyond.
Lunchtime Organ Concert: Thomas Trotter

Mon 13 Oct Town Hall

Thomas Trotter performs Mendelssohn’s Third Sonata, Wesley’s Holsworthy Church Bells, Benedict’s Marche des Templiers and more. Admission from 12.30pm. Programme lasts approximately 1 hour. Thomas Trotter is a Town Hall Associate Artist.
Cyndi Lauper plus special guests

Mon 13 Oct Symphony Hall

Cyndi Lauper has announced a rare live tour of the UK. Having burst onto the world stage as the quintessential girl who wants to have fun and after more than 20 sterling years and global record sales in excess of 25 million, Cyndi Lauper has proven that she has the heart and soul to keep her legion of fans compelled by her every creative move with world famous hits such as _Girls Just Want To Have Fun_, _Time After Time_, _True Colours_ and _I Drove All Night_. With her recently released, newly minted collection, _Bring Ya To The Brink_, Cyndi firmly asserts her position as one of the most beguiling, innovative, and downright exciting recording artists of this - and any other - generation, she has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, 2 Emmy Awards, 2 American Music Awards, 7 American Video Awards, 18 MTV awards. But it's as a master craftsman of her own recordings that give Cyndi her greatest sense of accomplishment. With _Bring Ya To The Brink_, she has raised the creative bar, hitting what is destined to mark another career watermark of success. "I still have so much to say and share," says Cyndi. "I'm grateful for each and everyday that I get to make music. As long as there's a corner of the world where people want to hear me, I'll be there... singing my heart out."

Please Note: Show starts at 7:30pm
A Debate on Climate Change

Tue 14 Oct Town Hall

*The Lunar Society* *Sir Michael Lyons* Chair
Should Birmingham be planning a radical response to climate change? Sir Michael Lyons will chair a Question Time-style discussion between the audience and an invited panel on the impacts of climate change. The panel includes David Henderson, former OECD Chief Economist, Nigel Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Professor Jacquie McGlade, Executive Director of the European Environmental Agency, Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre, Michael Meacher MP and Julian Morris of the International Policy Network. £5, 60 plus/full-time students/unwaged £3.50 This debate is hosted by the Lunar Society and sponsored by Martineau Johnson.
Tchaikovsky From St Petersburg

Tue 14 Oct Symphony Hall

The St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra is Russia’s oldest and most legendary orchestra, conducted by Tchaikovsky himself for the first performance of his tragic Pathétique Symphony. In tonight’s concert, this most emotional of all Russian works is heard next to the autumnal melancholy of Elgar’s cello concerto, in the hands of the wonderful Dutch cellist Quirine Viersen. *Classic FM's Anne-Marie Minhall says of tonight's recommended concert:* _I was lucky enough to see the St Petersburg Philharmonic and Yuri Temirkanov perform live in their home city a couple of years back. They’re an absolutely stunning orchestra to see (and hear) in action. Included in tonight’s programme is a short piece by the St Petersburg-born composer, Anatoli Liadov. Poor old Liadov was the composer who, unwittingly, changed the course of musical history by not writing something. It was he who was first approached by the maestro, Sergei Diaghilev, to write the score for a new ballet called The Firebird. Unfortunately for Liadov, he couldn’t get the score done in time and so the job went to one Igor Stravinsky instead._ "Classic FM":http://www.classicfm.co.uk 6.15pm pre-concert talk £5-£37.50
*St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra* *Yuri Temirkanov* conductor *Quirine Viersen* cello
*Liadov* Kikimora 6’ *Elgar* Cello Concerto 28’ *Tchaikovsky* Symphony no 6, Pathetique 46’
Stephen Stills

Wed 15 Oct Symphony Hall

Legendary guitarist/singer-songwriter Stephen Stills is one of the most influential and enduring figures in rock and roll. He’s the only artist ever to be inducted twice in the same night into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - for The Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash. His work spans five decades, four iconic groups (Manassas and CSN&Y in addition to the two already mentioned), two era-defining anthems - For What It’s Worth and Love The One You’re With, and a rich canon of solo material. Ranked #28 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, Stills also has a trio of album masterpieces on their compendium of The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: Buffalo Springfield Again, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Déjà Vu.
Please note: Stephen Stills will be accompanied by a band on stage.
BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert: Veronika Eberle & Oliver Schnyder

Thu 16 Oct Town Hall

This friendly lunchtime concert offers you the chance to hear the 19-year-old Veronika Eberle, one of the most promising young violinists to emerge from Germany in recent years, in two exuberantly youthful works.
*Veronika Eberle* Violin *Oliver Schnyder* Piano *Beethoven* Sonata for violin & piano 26’ *Strauss* Violin Sonata 28’
Andy Kirkpatrick: When Hell Freezes Over

Thu 16 Oct Town Hall

British mountaineer Andy Kirkpatrick has a reputation for climbing in extreme conditions. He also has a reputation as the most extreme speaker on the mountaineering circuit, with stand-up talents to rival the top comedy acts in the UK. ‘When Hell Freezes Over’ focuses on his winter expeditions to Patagonia, a treacherous mountain range at the southern most portion of South America. Andy’s show gives a taste of what it’s like to go on a major expedition, with tales of being trapped on mile high summits in hurricane winds, buried by avalanches, and pushed close to hypothermia whilst lashed to the side of a mountain. A 100 mile-an-hour ride through Andy’s whiteknuckle experiences of the last decade. “makes Ray Mears look like Paris Hilton” The Metro
BBC Big Band with Ian Shaw In association with BBC Radio 2

Fri 17 Oct Town Hall

Britain’s finest Big Band returns for a second season at Town Hall. This concert, to be recorded for BBC Radio 2’s Big Band Special, features an evening of jazz and swing classics, plus special guest vocalist Ian Shaw. Winner of Best Vocalist at the 2007 BBC Jazz Awards, Ian is a regular performer with the BBC Big Band and will feature jazz standards and songs from his recent albums, Drawn To All Things-The Songs of Joni Mitchell and the self-penned Lifejacket. “He has few rivals” Sunday Times “The best jazz vocalist we have” Time Out “One of the contemporary scene’s class acts” The Guardian “A razor-sharp performer with faultless time and unrivalled passion” WBGO Jazz88FM New York In association with BBC Radio 2. Concert to be recorded forBBC Radio 2’s Big Band Special. BBC Big Band is a Town Hall Associate Artist.
*Jiggs Whigham* Conductor *Ian Shaw* Vocals
Birmingham Jazz Season - Django bates & stoRMChaser

Fri 17 Oct Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
Mendelssohn’s Elijah

Sat 18 Oct Town Hall

Mendelssohn’s Elijah is one of the mightiest of all choral works, with an heroic grandeur that sweeps all before it. The work runs in Birmingham’s blood since it was commissioned for the 1846 Birmingham Music Festival and premiered at Town Hall. Tonight, to inaugurate Mendelssohn’s bicentenary year of 2009, Elijah is performed by the critically acclaimed Ex Cathedra, in a new edition specially prepared for the occasion. The marriage of hall, history, outstanding singers and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment make this an unmissable concert. *BBC Music magazine’s Editor, Oliver Condy, explains why he has recommended tonight’s concert:* _Beloved by choral societies up and down the country, Mendelssohn’s Elijah is one of the great oratorios, crammed to the brim with superb tunes. And where else to see Elijah than in Birmingham’s newly restored Town Hall? An unbeatable roster of performers should make for an unbeatable evening._ "BBC Music Magazine":http://www.bbcmusicmagazine.com
*Ex Cathedra XL Anniversary Choir* *Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment* *Jeffrey Skidmore* conductor *Julia Doyle* soprano *Diana Moore* mezzo-soprano *Mark Padmore* tenor *Nicolas Mulroy* tenor *James Rutherford* bass
*Mendelssohn* Elijah (1846)
Glen Campbell In Concert

Sat 18 Oct Symphony Hall
Dorridge Music School In Concert

Sun 19 Oct Symphony Hall

A night of music, song and dance presented by Dorridge Music School. Following the success of last year’s 21st anniversary concert, students and staff will perform music to suit all tastes live on stage using drums, guitars, flutes, violins, pianos, saxes plus the Symphony Hall Organ. With a guest choir and 3 local dance schools, music includes everything from Land of Hope and Glory to Michael Jackson’s Thriller! Varied entertainment for the whole family.
Lunchtime Organ Concert: David Saint

Mon 20 Oct Town Hall

An opportunity to hear Mendelssohn’s Sixth Sonata, Peeters’ Suite Modale, Bovet’s Salamanca and more. Admission from 12.30pm. Programme lasts approximately one hour.
Talking Cities: Urban Design Lecture Series Sponsored by Atkins

Mon 20 Oct Town Hall

Talking Cities presents critical issues facing cities like Birmingham today. The first three lectures have provided fresh ways of thinking about Birmingham's future from the role of public spaces such as the proposed City Park and ways to transform roads into streets, to the city's creative multicultural influences on architecture and city spaces. This lecture will further explore, and challenge, the latest thinking in city making from leading speakers. £5 and discount rates for students

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BBC Big Band, photographer Frazer Ashford

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Sat 13 Sep