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The Organ Symphony
Thu 2 Oct Symphony Hall
There are few more thrilling sounds in all music than the 6,000 pipes of Symphony Hall’s magnificent Klais organ pitted against a full-strength CBSO, and Saint-Saëns’ ever-popular symphony is just the piece to show off this dynamic combination. The elegant classicism of Mozart’s serene concerto and Ravel’s fairy-tale miniatures should provide the perfect upbeat. The New York Philharmonic’s Associate Conductor Xian Zhang returns for her third visit to Birmingham.
Xian Zhang - conductor David Saint - organ Michael Collins - clarinet City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Ravel: Mother Goose Suite 18’ Mozart: Clarinet Concerto 28’ Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 (Organ) 36’
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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
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Orchestra of the Swan Season 2008/09
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
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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. 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 City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro - Overture 4’ Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto 27’ Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 54’
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Celebrity Piano Recital: Paul Lewis
Thu 30 Oct Town Hall
Few other pianists have identified themselves so closely with the great Viennese classics as Paul Lewis. A protégé of the legendary Alfred Brendel, his award-winning recordings of the Schubert Sonatas have been highly acclaimed. Tonight he combines Schubert’s majestic G major Sonata with two of Mozart’s most profound piano works and Ligeti’s scintillating _Musica ricercata_, parts of which were used in Stanley Kubrick’s film _Eyes Wide Shut_. This is a chance to hear at first hand one of today’s most celebrated young pianists. 6.15 Pre-concert talk: Paul Lewis in conversation Tickets £5-£20
*Mozart* Fantasia in C minor, K475 12’ *Ligeti* Musica ricercata-11 Pieces for Piano 27’ *Mozart* Rondo in A minor, K511 9’ *Schubert* Sonata in G major, D894 30’
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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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Orchestra of the Swan: Mozart V Salieri
Sun 30 Nov Town Hall
Despite a lack of evidence, the legend that Salieri poisoned Mozart out of jealousy has been fixed in people's minds by the film Amadeus. The older composer could certainly spin a good tune, but judge for yourselves whether he comes anywhere near the genius of two of Mozart's most delightful. 1.30pm free pre-concert talk Post-concert Conversation Club in the Circle Bar 15 mins after the end of the performance. "It's just how music should be." Birmingham Post £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 *Diane Clark* Flute *Helen Cole* Harp
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Carols by Candlelight
Sat 20 Dec Symphony Hall
Herald Christmas in the most elegant way with this joyous concert of carols and seasonal classics presented with all the grace and charm of the 18th Century in an evocative candle-lit style setting. CAROLS FOR ALL including _Good King Wenceslas_, _God Rest You Merry Gentlemen_, _Once in Royal David’s City_, _Away in a Manger_, _Hark! The Herald Angels Sing_, _It Came Upon The Midnight Clear_, _O Little Town of Bethlehem_, _Unto Us Is Born A Son_, _The First Nowell_.
*Steven Devine* conductor *Laura Parfitt* soprano *MOZART FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA* in full period costume *MOZART FESTIVAL CHORUS*
*Handel* Zadok the Priest, Let the bright Seraphim, Christmas sequence from Messiah *Mozart* Laudate Dominum *Corelli* Allegro and Pastorale from Christmas Concerto *Vivaldi* Gloria (Opening Chorus)
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Nash Ensemble
Tue 10 Feb 2009 Town Hall
Rarely has a composer produced a work of such effortless genius as the sixteen-year-old Mendelssohn’s _Octet_ - a miraculous stream of wonderful melody. The Nash Ensemble marks the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn’s birth (February 1809) with a performance of this masterpiece in the hall in which the composer once played and conducted. It is heard next to the delicious Sextet from Strauss’s _Capriccio_ and the dark tragedy of Mozart’s great G minor String Quintet. 6.15pm pre-concert talk Tickets £5-£20
*Strauss* Sextet (_Capriccio_) 6’ *Mozart* Quintet in G Minor, K516 33’ *Mendelssohn* Octet 38’
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Andsnes Plays Mozart and Beethoven
Sun 17 May 2009 Town Hall
The outstanding pianist Leif Ove Andsnes plays and directs a pair of contrasting classical concertos with his native Norwegian musicians: sparkling, sunny Mozart and turbulent Beethoven. Two much-loved works from a later era continue the classical and Norwegian themes - Prokofiev’s dashing Classical Symphony and Grieg’s Holberg Suite. *Classic FM’s Anne-Marie Minhall says of tonight’s recommended concert:* _ Leif Ove Andsnes is one of my favourite musicians. Not only is he one of the best pianists on the planet, he’s also deeply passionate about every project he undertakes from playing Grieg on top of a Norwegian mountain to running his own annual summer music festival in Risor, three hours from Oslo. Andsnes is also a devoted chamber musician and regularly works with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra as their first guest leader._ "Classic FM":http://www.classicfm.co.uk Tickets £5-£30
*Norwegian Chamber Orchestra* *Leif Ove Andsnes* _piano/director_ *Terje Tønnesen* _director_
*Mozart* Piano Concerto No 14 in E flat, K449 22’ *Prokofiev* Classical Symphony 14’ *Grieg* Holberg Suite 21’ *Beethoven* Piano Concerto No 3 in C minor, Op 37 34’
