What's On — Classical events

• CBSO Season 2007-08  

  1 Sep 07 - 31 Aug 08 Symphony Hall

  DISCOUNTS FOR CBSO CONCERTS Please note that only one discount can be applied to any ticket. Special offers, discounts and concessions cannot be combined. Concerts which are not promoted by the CBSO may have different discounting policies • please check with the Ticket Office at time of booking. *CONCERT PACKAGES* Buy tickets for 3 or more concerts and start saving. *STANDBY TICKETS* are available from 1pm on the day of each evening performance and from 10am for matinée concerts. Please come early to avoid queues. Patrons aged 60+ receive 20% discount and patrons who are benefit recipients can purchase tickets for £4 (qualifying benefits: Income Support, Pension Tax Credit and Disability Tax Credit). Holders of ‘Passport to Leisure’ cards can purchase Circle tickets for £20, and seats on all other levels for £13 (one ticket per Passport Holder). All standby tickets are issued subject to availability and on production of valid and suitable identification. Please note the CBSO reserves the right to allocate standby tickets in certain areas in the hall. *STUDENTS & YOUNG PEOPLE* From 1pm on the day of each evening performance and from 10am for matinée concerts, anyone in fulltime education and young people aged 25 and under can purchase remaining tickets at the discounted price of £4. Proof of eligibility may be required. Please note: the CBSO reserves the right to allocate these tickets in certain areas of the hall. Under our ‘Audiences for Tomorrow’ scheme, the CBSO offers a limited number of tickets at special prices for secondary school groups, subject to availability. Teachers should call Beth Musgrove in the CBSO’s Education department on 0121 6166500 for more information. *DISABLED PATRONS* If you have a disability you are entitled to receive 50% discount off full price seats. Should you need the service of a companion, their ticket is also half price. Proof of eligibility may be required. N.B. Disabled patrons can combine their 50% discount with the additional Concert Package discounts. For further information on facilities for patrons with disabilities, including the infra-red system for the hearing impaired, please contact Symphony Hall on 0121 780 4949. Receivers are available from the Performance Manager at the concert. Guide dogs welcome. To order a Braille concert programme, call the CBSO direct on 0121 616 6500. *LOST TICKETS* Please note there is a £2 charge for printing duplicate tickets. *GROUP BOOKERS* are entitled to a 20% discount for parties of 11 or more and receive one FREE ticket for the group organiser. Groups also benefit from a reservation facility and the opportunity to meet CBSO musicians at concerts. Please call the Group Booking Department on Freephone 0800 358 7070. *CAR PARKING* Limited space is available for Blue Badge holders driving their own vehicles. To reserve free parking, please contact the Ticket Office on 0121 780 3333. You will be asked for your Blue Badge number, vehicle registration, concert date and contact details when booking a space. Please put requests for more than three dates in writing to Performances Birmingham Ticket Office, Symphony Hall, Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2EA. WHEELCHAIR POSITIONS: Spaces for patrons who need to remain in their wheelchair during the performance are located on the ground and upper circle levels. Please telephone 0121 780 4949 to book. *FAMILY TICKETS* To qualify for a family ticket, one or two adults must be accompanied by one or more children aged 16 and under, up to a maximum group of six people. Family tickets are available in all areas, and will be allocated subject to availability. Adult family ticket: £16.50; child family ticket: £8. *RETURNS & RESALES* In the case of a sold-out event, any tickets returned for resale on the day of the performance will be available for sale 90 minutes before the start of the concert. Tickets are accepted at the discretion of the Ticket Office but CBSO sales take priority. There is a service charge of 10% of the face value and money resulting from a resale will be forwarded by cheque. Please note that only cash or cheques will be accepted in payment for returns.
  
  
  

• 2007-08 Birmingham International Concert Season  

  1 Sep 07 - 31 Aug 08 Symphony Hall

  DISCOVER GREAT CLASSICAL MUSIC AT THE HEART OF BIRMINGHAM WHEELCHAIR USERS AND DISABLED PATRONS 50% discount on full priced tickets. If you require a companion, they are also entitled to a 50% discount. STUDENTS AND UNDER 25 50% discount on full priced tickets. KIDS GO FREE Adults £17.50, first child (under 18) free, additional children £7 each. Maximum group of 6 people. Free concert programme included. GROUPS OF 11 OR MORE 20% discount on full priced tickets. Phone the Group Booking Department on 0800 358 7070 open 10am to 5pm Monday to Friday. £5 TICKETS Some £5 tickets will be available one calendar month in advance of the concert. Limit of 4 per person. Not available as part of a concert package. STANDBY DISCOUNTS Available from 1pm on the day of the evening performance (10am on matinees):Passport to Leisure holders £12 Benefit* Recipients £5 Students and under 25s £5 *Qualifying benefits are Income Support, Pension Tax Credit and Disability Tax Credit.Please call the Ticket Office for further information. All tickets are offered subject to availability. Only one discount can apply unless stated otherwise. Proof of eligibility may be required when purchasing/collecting reduced price tickets. For terms and conditions of sale please visit www.thsh.co.uk. LOST TICKETS A charge may be made for printing duplicate tickets. CONCERT PACKAGE BENEFITS TICKET SAVINGS Book 6 to 8 concerts and save 10% Book 9 to 10 concerts and save 15% Book 11 to 16 concerts and save 20% Book 17 or more concerts and save 30% Savings apply to full, student and under 25s, 60plus, wheelchair users and disabled price tickets. SIX MONTHS INTEREST FREE CREDIT If you book a concert package by Direct Debit by Saturday 30 June 2007 TICKET EXCHANGE SCHEME You can exchange package tickets for the same priced seats for any other concert in the Birmingham International Concert Series 2007/08, subject to availability. Each original ticket may be exchanged once; subsequent exchanges will be charged at £3 per concert. FREE CONCERT PROGRAMME For concerts in your package. CAR PARKING FOR JUST £3.80 AT BRINDLEYPLACE Please let us know the number of places required when ordering your concert package. We will issue a voucher entitling you to the reduced rate, which is payable on arrival at the car park. Spaces are subject to availability at the time of arrival. TOUR OF TOWN HALL Your invitation for the Town Hall tour will be sent to you with your tickets. 12½% DISCOUNT AT FARRINGDONS CLASSICAL MUSIC SHOP Discount applies to full price CDs, videos and DVDs. 10% DISCOUNT ON TOWN HALL AND SYMPHONY HALL MERCHANDISE Discount applies to your next purchase from our merchandise range.
  
  
  

• Orchestra of the Swan Season  

  Town Hall

  A series of friendly and informal afternoon concerts hosted by conductor David Curtis. Orchestra of the Swan - an Explorchestra! Making music - breaking barriers '...a gutsy and versatile group...' The Guardian Orchestra of the Swan gives performances of the highest professional standard, sharing our passion and conveying the spirit with all our audiences. '...a clear, warm-toned performance...a radiant lyrical splendour...' The Independent Supported by Arts Council England "www.orchestraoftheswan.org":http://www.orchestraoftheswan.org
  Conductor David Curtis
  Pre-concert talk taking place in the auditorium at 1.30pm Post-concert Conversation Club taking place in the Circle Bar 15 minutes after the end of the performance. Entrance free to concert ticket holders
  

• Symphonic Dances  

  Wed 14 May 2008 Symphony Hall

  Simon Holt’s new Percussion Concerto offers a vivid and quirky portrait of the composer's childhood memories of his great uncle, who was a taxidermist: with movement titles such as ‘fly’, ‘skennin’ Mary’ and ‘a drawer full of eyes’, it is sure to offer up a few surprises! The solo part is taken by a brilliant young Scottish percussionist who has already performed with orchestras all around the world. Martyn Brabbins shows off his special affinity with Russian music in a centenary tribute to Rimsky-Korsakov in the shape of the colourful suite from his fairy-tale opera, and in Rachmaninov’s last orchestral work, the thrilling Symphonic Dances. 6.15pm pre-concert talk
  Martyn Brabbins conductor Colin Currie percussion
  Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel • Suite 24' Holt: A Table of Noises (World premiere) 21' Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances 36'
  

• Rachmaninov's Second Symphony Russian State Symphony Orchestra 

  Thu 15 May Symphony Hall

  In its heart-felt lyricism and inexhaustible stream of melody, the Second Symphony is one of the most emotionally charged of all Rachmaninov's works. It is heard next to the youthful fire of his First Piano Concerto and Prokofiev's dazzling suite from the opera The Love for Three Oranges. The Russian State Symphony Orchestra have this music in their blood and bring a truly authentic passion to their performances. Classic FM's Anne-Marie Minhall says of tonight's recommended concert: _" Expect some musical fireworks as Dmitri Alexeev takes on Rachmaninov's earliest work. The composer produced his First Piano Concerto when he was still a teenager training at the Conservatoire in Moscow, but he altered it radically nearly thirty years later and this is the version we hear today."_
  *Mark Gorenstein* Conductor *Dmitri Alexeev* Piano
  *Tchaikovsky* The Snow Maiden (excerpts) *Rachmaninov* Piano Concerto No 1 27' *Rachmaninov* Symphony No 2 60'
  

• The Fron Male Voice Choir  

  Fri 16 May Symphony Hall

  *Voices of the Valley Encore* The Fron Male Voice Choir follow the release of their second album _Encore_ with a UK tour. The Choir’s debut, _Voices of the Valley_, became the best-selling classical album of 2006. Fron’s follow-up presents another carefully selected musical mix. Such indestructible popular classics as _Bridge Over Troubled Water_ and Paul McCartney’s _Yesterday_ nestle alongside _How Great Thou Art_, _Amazing Grace_ and _Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer_. There’s something for everybody, but always sprinkled with that indefinable Welsh mystique! £20, £27.50
  
  
  

• Favourites from the Opera City of Birmingham Choir 

  Sat 17 May Symphony Hall

  A night of great passions, great music and great singing. From the splendour of Egyptian pomp, through haunting Sea Interludes, an entertainment for a Russian Prince, the heartbreak of the American deep south to the fiery passions of a Spanish Gypsy girl, all are here for a night to remember! The concert will end at approximately 9.30pm
  *Maureen Brathwaite* Soprano *Roderick Earle* Bass *City of Birmingham Choir* *City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra* *Adrian Lucas* Conductor
  *Verdi* Triumphal Scene from Aida *Britten* Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes *Gershwin* Porgy and Bess (Concert Version) *Borodin* Polovtsian Dances *Bizet* Concert Suite from Carmen
  

• Lunchtime Organ Concert Thomas Trotter  

  Mon 19 May Town Hall

  
  
  *Parry* Toccata & Fugue, _The Wanderer_ *J.S.Bach* Trio Sonata No. 1 *Saint-Saëns* Fantasie in D flat Danse Macabre *Litaize* Prélude et Danse Fuguée
  

• Chant d'Amour  

  Tue 20 May Symphony Hall

  There is nothing else in the whole of classical music to compare with the experience of hearing Messiaen’s amazing Turangalîla Symphony live. A larger-than-life tribute to the cosmic power of love, it features a massive orchestra and major solos for piano and ondes martenot, the other-worldly electronic instrument that was this composer’s speciality. It is conducted in the composer’s centenary year by Ilan Volkov, who has built a very strong reputation in large-scale 20th-century scores. We also begin a three-week Janácek focus with Taras Bulba, his stirring triptych telling of the battles and ultimate death of a Ukrainian Cossack hero. 6.15pm pre-concert talk
  Ilan Volkov conductor Steven Osborne piano Cynthia Millar ondes martenot
  Janácek: Taras Bulba 23' Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie 76'
  

• BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert  

  Wed 21 May Town Hall

  Our friendly lunchtime concert series continues with the first in a series of recitals featuring Beethoven’s most popular violin sonatas in the hands of outstanding young players. Jennifer Pike was 2002 Young Musician of the Year, and has just been nominated for a South Bank Show/The Times Breakthrough Award. £7, 60 plus/full-time students/under 16’s/unwaged £5
  *Jennifer Pike* Violin *Daniel Tong* Piano
  *Mozart* Sonata for violin & piano 30 in E minor K304 12’ *Schubert* Sonata for violin & piano No.3 in G minor D408 16’ *Beethoven* Sonata for violin & piano in C minor Op.30 No.2 26’
  

• Laurence Jackson violin, Ulrich Heinen cello, Robert Markham piano Lunchtime concerts at the CBSO Centre 

  Thu 22 May 2008 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre

  
  
  Schubert: Nocturne, D. 897 Beethoven: Piano Trio in B flat (Archduke)
  

• Chant d'Amour  

  Thu 22 May Symphony Hall

  There is nothing else in the whole of classical music to compare with the experience of hearing Messiaen’s amazing Turangalîla Symphony live. A larger-than-life tribute to the cosmic power of love, it features a massive orchestra and major solos for piano and ondes martenot, the other-worldly electronic instrument that was this composer’s speciality. It is conducted in the composer’s centenary year by Ilan Volkov, who has built a very strong reputation in large-scale 20th-century scores. We also begin a three-week Janácek focus with Taras Bulba, his stirring triptych telling of the battles and ultimate death of a Ukrainian Cossack hero. 6.15pm pre-concert talk
  Ilan Volkov conductor Steven Osborne piano Cynthia Millar ondes martenot
  Janácek: Taras Bulba 23' Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie 76'
  

• Czech Mates: Military Symphony  

  Wed 28 May Symphony Hall

  The young Czech conductor Jakub Hru°sˇa has been making a name for himself all over Europe in recent seasons, and for his CBSO debut he conducts a varied programme including music from his homeland. We continue our Janácˇek series with the Suite from his comic-book opera set among the forest wildlife, and you also have an all-too-rare opportunity to hear a set of Dvorˇák’s Slavonic Dances played as part of a concert rather than as encores! Haydn was the only major composer to write anywhere near a hundred symphonies • and this is a real gem. Tchaikovsky’s barn-storming overture completes a fun programme.
  Jakub Hrusa conductor
  Dvorák: Three Slavonic Dances 15' Haydn: Symphony No. 100 (Military) 28' Janácek: The Cunning Little Vixen • Suite 20' Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture 18'
  

• American Enterprise  

  Wed 28 May Town Hall

  Maverick and enthusiast, Carlo Curley has brought the organ out of the church loft and imbued his recitals with crusading zeal for the instrument's colour and vitality. His recital, the final one this season, explores the huge, and sometimes outrageous, range of American organ music. Prepare to hear Town Hall's organ as it has never been heard before! *6.15pm Pre-concert talk: Graeme Kay in conversation with Carlo Curley*
  *Carlo Curley* Organ
  *Programme includes:* *Hugh McAmis* Dreams *Seth Bingham* Roulade *Charles Ives* Variations on America *Samuel Barber (arr Strickland)* Adagio for Strings *Dudley Buck* Concert Variations on The Star-Spangled Banner *Edward MacDowell (arr Curley)* To a Wild Rose, from Woodland Sketches *Stefan Lindblad* Toccata on an American Theme, in homage to Leonard Bernstein
  

• Marie-Christine Zupancic flute, Richard Jenkinson cello, Benjamin Frith piano Lunchtime concerts at the CBSO Centre 

  Thu 29 May 2008 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre

  
  
  Weber: Flute Trio Martinu : Flute Trio Kapustin: Flute Trio (In Jazz Style)
  

• Battles On The Ice: Military Symphony  

  Sat 31 May Symphony Hall

  Throughout history the Russian people have taken great pride in their ability to defend the Motherland from foreign invasion, and Russian composers have also been quick to immortalise these victories in music. Tonight we hear two of the best works thus inspired: Tchaikovsky’s patriotic Overture celebrates the victory over Napoleon in 1812, while Prokofiev’s Cantata (based on his music for Eisenstein’s famous film) depicts a legendary medieval battle between a Russian prince and the invading Teutonic knights. Haydn’s music is rather less warlike, but he incorporates the sounds of the military into his 100th Symphony with typical wit and charm. 5.45pm pre-concert talk
  Jakub Hrusa conductor Elena Manistina mezzo soprano City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus
  Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture 18' Haydn: Symphony No. 100 (Military) 28' Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky 36'
  

• Summer Serenade with Orchestra of the Swan  

  Sun 1 Jun Town Hall

  A seasonally flavoured programme of some of the most delightful music for strings by Vivaldi, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Elgar - four of the greatest melodists of all time! *1.30pm Free pre-concert talk and post-concert conversation*
  
  *David Curtis* Conductor *David Le Page* Violin *Mozart Divertimento* in D K136 13' *Elgar Serenade* for Strings 12' *Vivaldi* Summer from The Four Seasons 10' *Tchaikovsky* Serenade for Strings 28'
  

• Lunchtime Organ Concert Henry Fairs  

  Mon 2 Jun 2008 Symphony Hall

  
  
  
  

• Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony Philharmonia Orchestra 

  Tue 3 Jun 2008 Symphony Hall

  Gustavo Dudamel's sensational debut at the 2005 Proms came just one day after his UK debut at Symphony Hall. The critics raved and, at the age of just 24, he became one of the most hotly-tipped young conductors of his generation. He returns to Birmingham with Brahms's epic First Piano Concerto and Shostakovich's defiant Fifth Symphony, a passionate affirmation of individual liberty against totalitarian oppression. *_The most astonishingly gifted conductor I’ve ever come across._* Sir Simon Rattle, from the Telegraph 6.15pm Pre-concert talk with Lyndon Jenkins
  *Gustavo Dudamel* Conductor *Piotr Anderszewski* Piano
  *Brahms* Piano Concerto No 1 45' *Shostakovich* Symphony No 5 50'
  

• New Generation Arts Festival:  

  Thu 5 Jun Town Hall

  
  
  
  

Book Tickets

Choose an event below
or phone 0121 780 3333

Get Connected

receive listings updates

• CBSO
• CBSOCentre
• classical
• classicalmusic
• concert
• Haydn
• janacek
• Lunchtime
• Messiaen
• millar
• organ
• organmusic
• osborne
• piano
• Prokofiev
• Rachmaninov
• russian
• SymphonyHall
• Tchaikovsky
• TownHall
• volkov