Birmingham Conservatoire Autumn 2014 Concert Diary by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Autumn Concerts and Events September â&#x20AC;&#x201C; December 2014 www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Welcome “Just a note to thank you once again for all your help in setting up our audition day in Birmingham – the involvement of the Conservatoire is very much appreciated.”

Autumn Concerts and Events Welcome to the autumn concert season at Birmingham Conservatoire. As we embark on another impressive programme of events I am pleased to present our new look concert diary. The diary has been designed to allow you to better navigate your way around our concert series and special performances. It still enables you to easily identify events happening on a particular date with the ‘At a Glance’ directory on the centre pages. I hope that you enjoy using this to peruse the many delights that the forthcoming season has in store.

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One Unique Venue... Thousands of Unique Events

Offering flexible spaces in a unique environment, Birmingham Conservatoire is a stimulating alternative to other venues. Located in a prime position in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, the venue offers competitive prices and a first-rate, bespoke, personalised service from a team of experienced event managers. Available to hire from one hour upwards, facilities include two acoustically enhanced halls (520 and 154 seats), a range of lecture theatres, a light and spacious board room and over sixty other practice, rehearsal, meeting rooms and break out spaces. First-rate equipment and instruments, technical support, excellent catering, and in-house musicians make Birmingham Conservatoire an ideal choice for your event, whether that be a concert or recital, rehearsal or workshop, meeting, conference, exhibition, product launch or drinks reception. So why not contact us and find out how we can help to make your next event truly unique? To request our brochure or to discuss holding your event at Birmingham Conservatoire, please contact the Venues, Concerts and Events Office on 0121 331 5909 or email bhamcons.concerts@bcu.ac.uk

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Building on its success during the last academic year, a new cycle of International Artist Recitals and Masterclasses is approaching. Nils Monkemeyer (viola), Tradicional Cubano, Niels-Ole Bo Johansen (trombone) and Jean Efflam Babouzet (piano) are all set to appear between now and Christmas. This series has proved popular with both audiences and students alike, and provides a wonderful opportunity to see world renowned musicians performing at the Conservatoire. For further details about this series please see pages 10-13. This season we present concerts at a range of venues across the city. To welcome the Mariinsky Opera’s production of the Ring Cycle to Birmingham Hippodrome, we are thrilled that Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Orchestra will be performing Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, conducted by our Associate Principal, David Purser (page 17). Our partnership with the City of Birmingham Symphony

Nils Mönkemeyer International Artist Masterclasses – P11

Orchestra will continue with two pre-concert showcases featuring our orchestral and keyboard departments (page 34-35). We also begin a new lunchtime concert series at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery from 24 October (page 14). We are delighted to welcome one of the UK’s greatest living composers, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, in his 80th birthday year, to work with students from our composition department. Amongst a mini-festival of events around his visit, the Conservatoire’s pioneering Thallein Ensemble will present a concert of the composer’s works (page 45). We are also excited to host the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition. Cecil Aronowitz was one of the leading viola players of the 20th century and the competition weekend will feature violists from around the world competing for this inaugural prize, amongst another mini-festival of events (page 40-41). As always, we are pleased to welcome an exciting selection of external artists and organisations to perform here this autumn. Celebrated for their unusual and adventurous events, FIERCE Festival present crossdisciplinary artist, Sarah Jane Norman, accompanied by five

Sir Harrison Birtwistle Birtwistle In Birmingham– P26

‘post-virtuosic’ pianists, in a 12-hour musical experiment featuring Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No.3. Conservatoire partners Town Hall Symphony Hall presents John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) in a talk that will look back on his extraordinary life and Angela Brownridge, hailed as a pianist of tremendous talent, performs in our Recital Hall. We welcome back Phoenix Singers to present their annual Christmas celebration and Birmingham Gay Symphony Orchestra (BGSO) make a welcome return to perform Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (pages 46-49). All of this and much more takes place at the Conservatoire this season. We look forward to welcoming you.

Professor David Saint Principal Birmingham Conservatoire 3

Contents

Autumn Season Highlights

Autumn Season Highlights 5

Not to be missed

Lunchtime, Afternoon and Early Evening Events The Monday Showcase Performance Platform featuring The International Artist Masterclasses Series Lunchtimes at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery The Live Jazz Broadcast Autumn Lunchtime Specials Lectures and Talks Beyond Classical

Our Head of Venues, Concerts and Events, Emily Bartlett, offers you her picks of the season:

6 10 14 16 17 18 20

SUN 5 OCT FIERCE FESTIVAL: CONCERTO NO. 3 (SARAH JANE NORMAN) – PAGE 50 11am-11pm Recital Hall Free admission

Evening Events

TUE 14 OCT JOHN LYDON – PAGE 51 8pm Adrian Boult Hall £22.50

Thursdays at Birmingham Conservatoire 21 Frontiers 24 The Jazz Club 27 Orchestras, Ensembles and Chamber Music 28

Autumn Season At A Glance

Orchestras, Ensembles and Chamber Music continued City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Pre-Concert Showcases Prizes and Competitions

32 34 36

TUE 21 OCT PERFORMANCE PLATFORM: TRADICIONAL CUBANO – PAGE 11 1.05pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50)

Special Events and Festivals Instrument Days The Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition Birmingham Recorder and Early Music Festival Birtwistle in Birmingham

SAT 25 OCT CECIL ARONOWITZ FAVOURITES – PAGE 28 7pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4)

38 40 42 44

Seasonal Events Christmas at Birmingham Conservatoire

SAT 1 NOV SIEGFRIED IDYLL: BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA – PAGE 17 5.30pm Birmingham Hippodrome Free admission

Visiting Artists and Organisations Autumn Visiting Artists and Organisations

Coming Up Next Season Booking Information How To Find Us Venue Information

53 54 55 56

THU 27 NOV BIRTWISTLE IN BIRMINGHAM: GILDAS STRING QUARTET, JACK MCNEILL (CLARINET), ELIZA MCCARTHY (PIANO) – PAGE 44 7.30pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) THU 11 – SAT 13 DEC OPERA SCENES – PAGE 47 7pm Recital Hall £9 (£7) MON 15 DEC THE MONDAY SHOWCASE: CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERT – PAGE 8 1pm Adrian Boult Hall Free admission

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Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

MON 27 OCT

The Monday Showcase

SCHUMANN, POPPER AND MARTINŮ

Escape the hustle and bustle and beat away those Monday blues with this series of FREE weekly lunchtime concerts. This set of concerts provides an excellent opportunity for Conservatoire students to give first performances of a variety of repertoire and a weekly snapshot of the exciting work that they are undertaking.

1pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door Giorgi Dolidze piano Schumann Kreisleriana Op.16

MON 29 SEP

Victoria Groves cello Jonathan French piano

PROKOFIEV, DEBUSSY, POULENC AND BACH 1pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door Eileen Lukito piano Prokofiev Sonata No.2 Eleanor Hodkinson soprano Shah Johan bin Shahridzuan piano Debussy Ariettes oubliées Poulenc Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon

MON 13 OCT

MON 20 OCT

DEBUSSY, FAURÉ, MOZART, HOWELLS, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, HAYDN AND BACEWICZ

BARTÓK, RAVEL, BIZET / WAXMAN AND STRAUSS

1pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door

Darrel Chan piano

Yun Ying Cheng piano

JS Bach Toccata in C minor, BWV 911

Debussy Estampes Samantha Oxborough soprano Jonathan French piano

MON 6 OCT

JAZZ 1pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door

Fauré Au bord de l’eau Mozart Tu fosti tradito from Clemenza di tito Howells King David Vaughan Williams The Turtle Dove Mozart Der Zauberer, K.472

1pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door Myenard Martillano piano Bartók Two Romanian Dances Op.8A Ravel Jeux d’eau Shi Ling Chin violin Robert Markham piano Bizet / Waxman Carmen Fantasy Strauss Rosenkavalier Waltz MON 3 NOV

JAZZ

Yi Miao piano Haydn Sonata in E flat XVI:49 Bacewicz Concert Krakowiak

Will Weir drums

Popper Hungarian Rhapsody Op.68 Martinů Theme and Variations on a Slovak folksong, H.378 Schumann Fantasiestücke No.1, Op.73

1pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door

Fourth year jazz student, Will Weir, leads a contemporary jazz group from the drums.

Harry Bolt piano Fourth year Jazz student, Harry Bolt, leads a contemporary jazz group from the piano.

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Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

The Monday Showcase MON 8 DEC

JAZZ 1pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door Stella Roberts piano Fourth year jazz student, Stella Roberts, leads a contemporary jazz group from the piano.

MON 15 DEC MON 10 NOV

MON 1 DEC

HONNEGER, MARTINŮ, BEETHOVEN, DVOŘÁK AND BENNETT

FRANCK, DESENCLOS, GLINKA / BALAKIREV, NIKOLAI KAPUSTIN, JOSEPH MAKHOLM AND TCHAIKOVSKY

1pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door Louise Franks trumpet Joanne Sealey piano

1pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door

Honneger Intrada Martinů Trumpet Sonatina, H.357

Emma Jones saxophone Joanne Sealey piano

Yun Lee piano

Franck Sonata (1st mvt) Desenclos Prelude, Cadence et Finale

Beethoven Piano Sonata Op.109 Rachel Crisp soprano Jonathan French piano Dvořák Song to the Moon from Rusalska, Op.114 Bennett A Garland for Marjory Fleming

CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERT 1pm Adrian Boult Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door Celebrating the festive season, this event takes place as part of our Christmas programme of events. For further details please see page 47.

Guy Murgatroyd piano Glinka / Balakirev The Lark Nikolai Kapustin Piano Sonata No.3, Op.55 Francisco Carey piano Joseph Makholm Trois impressions for piano Tchaikovsky Doumka Op.59

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Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Performance Platform FEATURING THE INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS MASTERCLASS SERIES Taking place each Tuesday, our Performance Platform allows you to escape any stresses of the day and enjoy stunning lunchtime concerts created and presented by leading musicians: namely our postgraduate students, ensembles in residence, junior fellows and tutors, interspersed by visits from leading professional and international artists throughout the year. Tickets for the Performance Platform are FREE to audiences from the weeks Monday Showcase (just show your programme from Monday’s concert to gain free entry) - a little gift from us so that you can enjoy two concerts each week at no expense. TUE 30 SEP

TUE 7 OCT

RICHARD STRAUSS – THE YOUNG ROMANTIC

NILS MÖNKEMEYER

1.05pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door Susanne Stanzeleit violin Lionel Handy cello Robert Markham piano Strauss Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op.6 Strauss Sonata for Violin and Piano in E flat, Op.18 This concert presents two of only a few chamber works by Richard Strauss, written while his style was still that of the Romantics who came before him. The violin sonata shows the young Strauss in love with his future wife, and both works feature a wonderful wealth of melodies and sounds. A real treat for your lunch break!

Suzanne Stanzeleit

RECITAL: 1.05pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door MASTERCLASS: 5pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door £10 (£5) Joint ticket for recital and masterclass Nils Mönkemeyer viola Robert Markham piano An artist who is at the beginning of a brilliant career, Nils Mönkemeyer is under exclusive contract to Sony Classical. Having showcased his artistic brilliance and innovative programming again and again, his talent has brought him international acclaim while igniting an enthusiastic and growing interest in his signature instrument, the viola. This is a rare chance to see Nils perform in Birmingham, followed by a masterclass with students from the Conservatoire’s vibrant string department.

Lorraine McAslan

Victor Sangiorgio

TUE 14 OCT

LORRAINE McASLAN AND VICTOR SANGIORGIO 1.05pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door Lorraine McAslan violin Victor Sangiorgio piano Beethoven Violin Sonata in F, Op.24 Debussy Sonata for Violin and Piano Ravel Tzigane Lorraine McAslan, identified as ‘One of the most distinguished British violinists of her generation’, plays alongside leading Conservatoire pianist and tutor, Victor Sangiorgio.

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Tradicional Cubano

TUE 21 OCT

TUE 28 OCT

TRADICIONAL CUBANO

TROMBONE ODYSSEY

RECITAL: 1.05pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door

MASTERCLASS: 4.30pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door

MASTERCLASS: 2.15pm – 3.30pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door

£10 (£5) Joint ticket for recital and masterclass

Tradicional Cubano Jose Zalba-Smith flute/piano Juan Carlos Arena guitar Paul Trippett double bass Zands Duggan percussion

Artistic Directors Niels-Ole Bo Johansen, Chris Houlding

Javier Zalba Son Abelardo Valdes Almendra Miguel Matamoros Lagrimas Negras González Siaba El cuarto de Tula Sergio Consuelo Velazquez Besame mucho Jose Maria Vitier Contradanza Festiva Enrique Jorrin Rico Vacilon Javier Zalba Mis Dos Hijos Javier Zalba Guaguanco Javier Zalba Guaracha

Mike Svobada Embarkment Fanfare Rene Mogensen New Work for 2 Trombones (world première) Anders Hillborg Haut-Posaune Berio Sequenza V Wayne Siegel Jericho 2.0 Bent Sørensen The Bells of Vineta Christian Lindberg Joe Jack Binglebandit Leonard Bernstein Make Your Garden Grow (Candide) Tommy Dorsey arr Houlding Trombonology

Tradicional Cubano brings together the vibrant and iconic musical sounds of Cuba. A combination of flute, double bass, guitar and percussion, the ensemble takes inspiration from composers such as Miguel Matamoros, Eduardo Sanchez de Fuentes, Sindo Garay and Benny Moré. Their programme will take you to exotic places with music that is rarely performed within the UK. Following their recital you can join us to see the dynamic ensemble work with Conservatoire students in the latest of our Public Masterclasses.

An interesting and challenging programme of new music and classics for solo trombone, for two trombones and for trombone choir featuring Niels-Ole Bo Johansen (Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark) and Chris Houlding (Head of Brass, Birmingham Conservatoire). Following the lunchtime recital, Johansen and Houlding present a public masterclass featuring Conservatoire student trombonists.

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

Birmingham Conservatoire Trombone Choir Niels-Ole Bo Johansen, Chris Houlding trombones

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

TUE 9 DEC

Performance Platform TUE 4 NOV

ROBIN IRELAND 1.05pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door

TUE 2 DEC

BELGRAVE STRING QUARTET (WINNERS OF THE ANDREW DOWNES PERFORMANCE PRIZE 2014)

Robin Ireland viola Birmingham Conservatoire Students

1.05pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door

Paul Patterson Barcarolle for Violin and Piano

Belgrave String Quartet Zhivko Georgiev violin Elizabeth Goble violin Gabriella Gemesi viola Tom McMahon cello

A wonderful opportunity to hear the Conservatoire’s Head of Chamber Music, Robin Ireland, present an exciting afternoon of chamber music featuring Conservatoire students. The programme includes the première of a specially commissioned composition by Paul Patterson to celebrate the 80th birthday of Jeremy Patterson in the presence of the composer, as well as his 60 year relationship with Birmingham Conservatoire.

SAT 25 OCT PUBLIC MASTERCLASS WITH ROGER CHASE

Beethoven Sonata for Piano No.22 in F major, Op.54 Beethoven Sonata for Piano No.23 in F minor, Op.57 Ravel Une barque sur l’océan Ravel Alborada del Gracioso Bartók Sonata for Piano A former student of Pierre Sancan at the Paris Conservatoire, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet was named ‘Artist of the Year’ at the 2012 International Classical Music Awards. He enjoys a highly successful career as both a recitalist and recording artist. Hailed as one of the most engaging live performers of his generation, in his Performance Platform Bavouzet will showcase some of the masterworks of the piano repertoire, followed by a public masterclass with students from the Conservatoire’s School of Keyboard Studies.

TUE 11 NOV

JACK McNEILL AND ELIZA McCARTHY 1.05pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door

RECITAL: 1.05pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano

Winners of the Andrew Downes Performance Prize 2014, The Belgrave String Quartet, made up of Conservatoire string department alumni, perform in their inaugural Performance Platform.

Both Conservatoire graduate Jack McNeill and Guildhall graduate Eliza McCarthy, are carving themselves enviable professional careers. Hear them perform together here, in a programme which includes works by Alban Berg, Ed Bennett, Joe Cutler, Nicola LeFanu, David Matthews and the première of a new work by Michael Wolters.

ADDITIONAL AUTUMN MASTERCLASSES

MASTERCLASS: 2.30pm Adrian Boult Hall, £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door £10 (£5) Joint ticket for recital and masterclass

Stravinsky Three pieces for string quartet Andrew Downes String Quartet No.1 Mendelssohn String Quartet No.6 in F minor, Op.80

Jack McNeill clarinet Eliza McCarthy piano

JEAN-EFFLAM BAVOUZET

Jack McNeill

For full details of this event please see page 44. Alexander Baillie

TUE 16 DEC

ALEXANDER BAILLIE AND JOHN THWAITES 1.05pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door Alexander Baillie cello John Thwaites piano Richard Rodney Bennett Sonata for Cello and Piano* Brahms Sonata for Piano and Cello No.2 in F, Op.99

FRI 7 NOV ALFRED CORFIELD TRUMPET PRIZE AND TRUMPET MASTERCLASS For full details of this event please see page 37.

FRI 28 NOV PUBLIC COMPOSITION MASTERCLASS WITH SIR HARRISON BIRTWISTLE For full details of this event please see page 39.

Alexander Baillie and John Thwaites have been playing together for over thirty years and following this performance will travel to Vienna to record the Brahms Sonatas for SOMM. As Stephen Pritchard wrote in The Observer last year: ‘It’s an outstanding partnership. Throughout, Baillie’s rewardingly intelligent phrasing is matched by Thwaites’s warm, generous, perfectly judged pianism’. *Richard Rodney Bennett’s Sonata is written for, and dedicated to, Alexander Baillie.

Eliza McCarthy

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet /BirmsCons

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Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Lunchtimes at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Taking the Conservatoire out into the City, join us for a brand new series of lunchtime concerts at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery this autumn. FRI 24 OCT

FRI 21 NOV

FRI 19 DEC

THE CLARA QUARTET

THE ALAUDA QUARTET

THE KLEE QUARTET

12.30pm The Round Room, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Free admission Tickets available on the door

The Clara Quartet: Maya Koizumi violin Lily Whitehurst violin Emily Pond viola Lucy Arch cello

The Alauda Quartet: Cristina Prats-Costa violin Milan Berginc violin Rhoslyn Lawton viola Elena Cappelletti cello

The Klee Quartet: Naoko Senda violin Emi Otagao violin Jun Ohta viola Ruri Kuroda cello

Haydn String Quartet No.5 in D major, Op.64 ‘Lark’ Schumann String Quartet No.3 in A major, Op.41

Haydn String Quartet Op.74, No.1 in C major Joseph Horovitz String Quartet No.4 Webern ‘Langsamber Satz’

Haydn Op.20-3 G minor Stravinsky 3 Pieces Mendelssohn No.2 in A minor, Op.13

The Clara Quartet is a recentlyformed ensemble that is proving to be an exciting, up-and-coming addition to the chamber music scene. Praised for their energy and vibrancy, the quartet has been described as ‘dynamic’ and ‘inspiring’ by Chris Hoyle.

An internationally diverse ensemble, the Alauda Quartet hails from four different corners of Europe but shares a unifying passion for chamber music and a strong desire to explore the repertoire of the string quartet. Selected as Park Lane Group artists for 2015, don’t miss the opportunity to hear this talented quartet perform in Birmingham as part of their busy concert and masterclass schedule.

The Klee Quartet formed in 2008 at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo. Having undertaken chamber music studies at the Hochschule für Musik, ‘Hanns Eisler’, Berlin, they are now studying at Birmingham Conservatoire under the direction of Professor Oliver Wille.

Clara Quartet 14

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Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

The Live Jazz Broadcast

Autumn Lunchtime Specials

Come and be a part of this exciting new concert format, where you can witness a live recording from some of our very best senior jazz students during your lunch break. This is a great way to keep your eyes and ears on emerging talent in the Birmingham jazz scene, while being part of an exciting music making experience in the process. A podcast of the recording is made available for you shortly after the concert on the Conservatoire website.

SAT 1 NOV

SIEGFRIED IDYLL 5.30pm Birmingham Hippodrome Free admission Tickets available on the door Conductor David Purser Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Orchestra

WED 8 OCT 1.05pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door

Wagner Siegfried Idyll First performed on the stairs of his home as a birthday present for his wife, Wagner’s gentle and intimate Siegfried Idyll evokes images of sunrise and birdsong. In this performance David Purser leads soloists from the Conservatoire, marking the arrival in Birmingham of Valery Gergiev with the Mariinsky Theatre in Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

WED 22 OCT 1.05pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door WED 5 NOV 1.05pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door WED 3 DEC

FRI 7 NOV

1.05pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door

UPON A GROUND 1.10pm St Philip’s Cathedral £3 (£2.50) (Free admission for students with a valid student ID) Tickets available on the door

WED 17 DEC 1.05pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door

Director Martin Perkins SPECIAL OFFER Join us for all five Live Jazz Broadcasts in the autumn term for the special price of just £10 (£5). These tickets will be available on the door of the first concert on 8 October. Then show your ticket at each subsequent event to gain entry.

In this concert in aid of Birmingham Cathedral, a programme of Seventeenth and Eighteenth century vocal and instrumental music, composed on ground basses, will be performed by members of Birmingham Conservatoire Early Music department. /BirmsCons

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Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Lectures and Talks Providing you with a stimulating insight into a variety of academic topics, a programme of public research seminars feature alongside a number of other lectures and talks.

PUBLIC RESEARCH SEMINARS TUE 14 OCT

AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY DOUBLE BILL: MARTIN PERKINS AND DR CARRIE CHURNSIDE

Dr Carrie Churnside Divas, Guns and Peacocks: The Role of the Operatic Impresario c.1700 The Albergati Archive in Bologna houses a large number of papers belonging to the dilettante composer and patron Count Pirro Capacelli Albergati (1663-1735). Among them are diaries and letters detailing Albergati’s experience of arranging the performance of his own opera, Gli amici (The Friends; 1699) and that of his contemporary, Pier Paolo Laurenti’s Li diporti d’amor in villa (The Amusements of Love in a Country House; 1710). These documents provide a vivid insight into the music business at the turn of the eighteenth century, where the role of the operatic impresario might involve dealing with such diverse issues as divas’ demands, gunfights in the audience, and handling peacocks. 18

PROFESSOR RICHARD LANGHAM SMITH – ‘LOST EXPRESSION’: THE CURSE OF THE URTEXT

DR LOUISE LANSDOWN & ANDREW LEASK – UPPER STRING PLAYERS: ARTISTS AND ATHLETES? A SCIENTIFIC, MEDICAL, MUSICAL AND ATHLETIC APPROACH

Going ‘above the text’ seems to have been forgotten. Maybe a ‘back to the future’ viewpoint on what we know of the detailed techniques of recorded performances from the early years of the twentieth century might inject a new spirit into interpretations of the twenty-first century. This presentation will be illustrated with copious musical examples.

Dr Carrie Churnside /BirmsCons

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Dr Louise Lansdown

TUE 2 DEC

The establishment of Urtexts has been one of the great achievements of twentiethcentury musicology. But maybe their influence on performance has not been entirely positive: we have forgotten the quiver of expressive techniques used at the turn-of-the century (and beyond) from singers and instrumentalists which made these texts ‘expressive’ – of the performers and of the music.

Martin Perkins

ADDITIONAL AUTUMN MASTERCLASSES

TUE 4 NOV

3.30pm Arena Foyer £4 Tickets available on the door

3.30pm Arena Foyer £4 Tickets available on the door Martin Perkins Sir Samuel Hellier’s Orchestra Sir Samuel Hellier (1736-1784) was a minor aristocrat living on a small estate near the village of Wombourne. The relatively modest house belies his ambitions to make it a centre of culture and to bring music to this corner of rural Staffordshire. A collection of 165 surviving letters from Hellier to his estate manager documents his efforts to enrich the lives of his workers by purchasing instruments and arranging lessons in order to form an orchestra. These letters reveal much about musical networks in the region, the practicalities of music-making and the often blurred lines between professional and amateur music-making.

SPECIAL OFFER Attend all autumn term Public Research Seminars for the special price of £8. Tickets will be available on the door of the first seminar on 14 October. Show your ticket at each subsequent event to gain entry.

3.30pm Arena Foyer £4 Tickets available on the door Louise and Andrew are collaborating closely with Professor Robert Ashford (Faculty of Health, BCU), Dr Nachiappan Chockalingam (Biomechanics Facility, Staffordshire University), Dr Tobias Grosshauser and Dr Alberto Calatroni from the Institute for Electronics (ETH, Zurich) and Jamie Bond, Principal Dancer (Birmingham Royal Ballet). The solo violinist Daniel Hope has also pledged his commitment to the project. This session will cover initiatives, methodology, protocol, ethics, findings, future aims, planned publications and funding, as well as some insight into the researchers’ first area of focus and screening. While string playing is clearly a matter of artistry, it is also one of physical athleticism. This latter area has until relatively recently been overlooked by many – particularly the protagonists themselves!

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

TUE 14 OCT JOHN LYDON (formerly Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) For full details of this event please see page 51.

SAT 25 OCT CECIL ARONOWITZ – A TALK HOSTED BY THE BRITISH VIOLA SOCIETY AND BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE For full details of this event please see page 41.

THU 27 NOV SIR HARRISON BIRTWISTLE IN CONVERSATION WITH HOWARD SKEMPTON. For full details of this event please see page 44.

FRI 28 NOV PRE-CONCERT TALK WITH SIR HARRISON BIRTWISTLE For full details of this event please see pages 44-45.

Beyond Classical

Thursdays at Birmingham Conservatoire

Join us for a series of FREE gigs that redefine the rules, taking you beyond the concert hall into the laid-back setting of Symphony Hall Cafe Bar. Sample sonic delights with Birmingham’s rising stars as they guide you through stunning pieces, from the classics to the cutting edge. Grab a drink, have a chat and enjoy the music. In association with Town Hall Symphony Hall.

Thursday evenings at Birmingham Conservatoire typifies the wide variety of musical instruments, genres and styles on offer within our concert programme. From jazz, opera and contemporary music, to guitar, recorder and saxophone ensembles, this concert series offers a sonic feast as you near the end of working week.

THU 16 OCT

THU 30 OCT

THU 23 OCT

THU 30 OCT

THE KLEE STRING QUARTET AND CONSERVATOIRE VOCAL ENSEMBLE

BRAHMS, CHOPIN AND RAVEL

BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE JAZZ ORCHESTRA WITH MARK ARMSTRONG

LIEDERABEND

5.30pm Symphony Hall Cafe Bar Free admission Tickets available on the door Klee String Quartet Naoka Senda violin Emi Otagao violin Jun Ohta viola Ruri Kuroda cello Bartók String Quartet No.2, Op.17 Conservatoire Vocal Ensemble Rachel Crisp soprano Helen Cooper mezzo-soprano Rob Tilson tenor Wil Gee baritone Jonathan French piano Brahms Lieberslieder Waltzes, Op.52

5.30pm Symphony Hall Cafe Bar Free admission Tickets available on the door

8pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door

Marketa Vornikova violin Charles Matthews piano Brahms Sonata in D minor for Violin and Piano, Op.108

Mark Armstrong directs the Conservatoire Jazz Orchestra. This event takes place as part of our Jazz Club Series.

Hannah Slavin piano Brahms Intermezzo in E flat, Op.117 No.1 Chopin Ballade No.3 in A flat, Op.47 Yenting Wang piano Brahms Eight Piano Pieces Op.76, No.s 1 and 2 Ravel ‘La Valse’

For full details please see page 27. THU 6 NOV

BEETHOVEN AND PROKOFIEV

7.30pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door Director Robert Allan Students of the Vocal and Operatic Department On Peter Warlock’s birthday, we present an evening of his songs and arrangements devised by Robert Allan. We are delighted to welcome members of the Peter Warlock Society, who are joining us for this celebration.

THE CECIL DREW ORATORIO PRIZE

5.30pm Symphony Hall Cafe Bar Free admission Tickets available on the door Johanna Niederbacher cello Arthur Bocaneanu piano

7.30pm Recital Hall £4 Tickets available on the door

Beethoven Sonata in A major for piano and cello, Op.69

Observe vocal students compete for this highly esteemed prize.

Shi Ling Chin violin Jonathan French piano

This event takes place as part of our Prizes and Competitions Series. For full details please see page 36-37.

Peter Warlock

Prokofiev 5 Melodies for violin and piano, Op.35

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Tai Yu Ma tenor Jonathan French piano

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Beethoven An die ferne Geliebte and Scottish Folk Songs 20

THU 6 NOV

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www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Thursdays at Birmingham Conservatoire THU 13 NOV

GUITAR DEPARTMENT CHAMBER CONCERT 7.30pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door

THU 4 DEC

THE SOUNDING IMAGE

JAZZ SMALL BANDS WITH GEORGE COLLIGAN

7.30pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door

8pm Arena Foyer £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door

Director Naomi Sullivan Birmingham Conservatoire Saxophone Department

We welcome a return visit from the amazingly gifted New York pianist George Colligan.

Henri Pousseur Vue sur les Jardins interdits Ian Stewart Concerto Grosso I John Cage Four5

Directors Mark Ashford and Mark Eden

This event takes place as part of our Jazz Club Series. For full details please see pages 27.

Bringing new sounds to images, saxophone students from the Conservatoire explore some of the many and varied ways in which music and art can interact and inform each other. In a programme of original works for saxophone chamber groups, the idea of narrative, rhythm, timing, perspective, construction, lighting, colour, tone, texture, framing, space, memory and history will be explored.

Join us for an eclectic concert spanning multiple genres presented by the Conservatoire’s guitar department.

Also featuring other works selected by Conservatoire students; inspired by works from the many art collections on display across the city of Birmingham.

THU 27 NOV

GILDAS STRING QUARTET, JACK McNEILL, ELIZA McCARTHY PRE-CONCERT TALK 6pm Arena Foyer Free admission Tickets available on the door

Opera Scenes

THU 11 DEC

THU 18 DEC

OPERA SCENES

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

7pm Recital Hall £9 (£7) Tickets available from www.birmingham-box.co.uk, 0121 245 4455, or in person from The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square

CONCERT 7.30pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available from www.birmingham-box.co.uk, 0121 245 4455, or in person from The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square

Our eagerly awaited Opera Scenes returns once more. This event takes place as part of our Christmas events programme.

Park Lane Group Young Artists, The Gildas String Quartet, Eliza McCarthy and Jack McNeill combine in a programme that pairs the work of Sir Harrison Birtwistle with that of Howard Skempton. Two works from both composers are included alongside a work by Birmingham Conservatoire composer Andy Ingamells, and a piece by Morton Feldman, a composer much admired by both of tonight’s featured composers.

For full details please see page 47.

This event takes place as part of our Birtwistle in Birmingham mini-festival. For further details please see pages 44-45. The Sounding Image 22

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7.30pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door Director Annabel Knight Birmingham Conservatoire Recorder Department Chamber Ensembles The Recorder Department explores the development of French recorder music from the renaissance into the baroque era, starting with Pierre Attaignant’s famous early prints and continuing via the Palace at Versailles to the salons of Paris. 23

Frontiers

TUE 2 DEC

LEGACIES IN TECHNOLOGY XIII If you are interested in hearing the latest music and seeing work that no one has seen before then our Frontiers series is for you. In recent years our composition and music technology departments have nurtured some of the hottest talent on the British and European music stage and this is where it all started. Featuring guest performers and composers, as well as our student performers and composers, this series explores the vast world of contemporary music both acoustically and electronically.

7pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door Director Simon Hall Bernard Parmegiani La création du monde Plus new compositions from staff and students of the Conservatoire

Bernard Parmegiani, who passed away last year, was one of the giants of electroacoustic music composition. His epic La création du monde composed between 1982 and 1984 was possibly one of his greatest compositional achievements, a symphony of ‘musique concréte’ that charts the creation of the world. The 72 minute masterpiece will be presented in its entirety alongside new compositions from staff and students of the Composition and Music Technology departments, all diffused via the Recital Hall’s 24 channel surround sound system.

Composers’ Platform

MON 27 OCT

TUE 11 NOV

COMPOSERS’ PLATFORM

THE PHILIP BATES COMPOSITION PRIZE

7.30pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door This is the first showcase of the year for our home-grown composers. Expect a wide range of styles, experimentation and music you wouldn’t find anywhere else, written and performed by students at the Conservatoire.

Bernard Parmegiani

7pm Recital Hall £4 Tickets available on the door

MON 15 DEC

Our annual celebration of new compositions for small instrumental ensemble and voice. This event takes place as part of our Prizes and Competitions Series. For full details please see pages 36 to 37.

COMPOSERS’ PLATFORM 7.30pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door In the Christmas edition of our concerts that celebrate works by our very own composers, expect another evening of eclectic music, experimentation and a wide range of styles.

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The Jazz Club Birmingham Conservatoire is home to a stimulating Jazz Department, nurturing some of the very best new talent on the UK jazz scene. This series highlights the outstanding work being produced by the department and also plays an important role in the City’s flourishing jazz calendar. With gigs ranging from traditional to contemporary jazz music, as well as visits by artists of international repute, there is something here for jazz aficionados as well as those completely new to the jazz scene. THU 23 OCT

THU 4 DEC

BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE JAZZ ORCHESTRA WITH MARK ARMSTRONG

JAZZ SMALL BANDS WITH GEORGE COLLIGAN

8pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door A talented trumpet player and composer, Mark Armstrong is a Jazz Professor at the Royal College of Music and Artistic Director of the UK’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra. We invite him here to direct our own Jazz Orchestra, a band formed of our senior jazz students, playing a selection of NYJO repertoire alongside some of our own student compositions.

8pm Arena Foyer £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door We welcome a return visit from the amazingly gifted New York pianist George Colligan. This concert is a culmination of a week’s work with students in ensembles and masterclasses. George is an indefatigable jam session hang, so look out for all the local jazz venues around this time, and you’re bound to hear his irrepressible energy in action.

OTHER JAZZ EVENTS TAKING PLACE THIS AUTUMN: THE MONDAY SHOWCASE JAZZ MON 6 OCT WILL WEIR (DRUMS) + BAND MON 3 NOV HARRY BOLT (PIANO) + BAND MON 8 DEC STELLA ROBERTS (PIANO) + BAND All concerts take place at 1pm Recital Hall For further details please see pages 6 to 9.

THE LIVE JAZZ BROADCAST WED 8 OCT WED 22 OCT WED 5 NOV WED 3 DEC WED 17 DEC All concerts take place at 1.05pm Recital Hall For further details please see page 16. 26

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Orchestras, Ensembles and Chamber Music Featuring the larger ensembles, the Conservatoire’s programme of orchestral concerts provides a journey into large scale repertoire. Concerts often feature soloists who are recent graduates, or those studying in their final year or as a postgraduate, and often highlight a particular composer or theme. Chamber music also holds a special place within Birmingham Conservatoire and throughout our history we have had links with some of the finest musicians working in this field. These concerts are the perfect way to relax and unwind at the end of the working week. THU 25 SEP

THE SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE FRESHER’S WELCOME CONCERT 6.30pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door Simon Blendis violin Alexandra Wood violin Douglas Paterson viola Jane Salmon cello William Howard piano Respighi Piano Quintet in F minor Brahms Piano Quintet The Schubert Ensemble is the Conservatoire’s most senior Ensemble-in-Residence and their visits are always hugely popular. Join us as they present this special concert to welcome new students to the Conservatoire and to the wider University.

SUN 26 OCT

FRI 14 NOV

THE FINAL

BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE COMPOSERS’ ORCHESTRA

12pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door

SAT 25 OCT

CECIL ARONOWITZ FAVOURITES 7pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available from www.birmingham-box.co.uk, 0121 245 4455, or in person from The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square Conducted by Michael Seal (CBSO), Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra present an engaging programme as part of the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition. For full details please see page 41.

Taking place as part of the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition, finalists are accompanied by Birmingham Conservatoire String Orchestra. For full details please see page 41.

6pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door Conductor Edwin Roxburgh From a selection of orchestral compositions submitted by student composers, six are chosen for performance in this concert. During the three days of rehearsals the composers have the opportunity to hear their works rehearsed in detail under the direction of Edwin Roxburgh. Committing themselves to the responsibility of first performances at a very high standard is also an important challenge for the students in the orchestra. The new works will be introduced by the student composers and staff from the Composition Department.

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Autumn Season At A Glance RH ABH AF SH BC BCa BH BMAG NLT

NOVEMBER

Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire Arena Foyer, Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Hall Cafe Bar Birmingham Conservatoire Birmingham Cathedral Birmingham Hippodrome Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery New Lecture Theatre, Birmingham Conservatoire

SEPTEMBER THU 25 SAT 27 SUN 28 MON 29 TUE 30

The Schubert Ensemble Freshers’ Welcome Concert Touch of Basil: Philip Bates Trust Strings Day Monday Showcase Performance Platform: Richard Strauss - The Young Romantic

RH 6.30pm ABH 7pm BC 10am RH 1pm ABH 1.05pm

p28 p50 p38 p6 p10

OCTOBER SUN 5 Fierce Festival: Concerto No.3 (Sarah Jane Norman) MON 6 Monday Showcase: Jazz TUE 7 Performance Platform: Nils Mönkemeyer (Viola) TUE 7 International Artist Masterclass: Nils Mönkemeyer (Viola) WED 8 Live Jazz Broadcast MON 13 Monday Showcase TUE 14 Performance Platform: Lorraine McAslan & Victor Sangiorgio TUE 14 Public Research Seminar TUE 14 John Lydon THU 16 Beyond Classical SAT 18 Birmingham Icknield Male Voice Choir MON 20 Monday Showcase TUE 21 Performance Platform: Tradicional Cubano TUE 21 International Artist Masterclass: Tradicional Cubano WED 22 Live Jazz Broadcast WED 22 CBSO pre-concert showcase THU 23 Birmingham Conservatoire Jazz Orchestra with Mark Armstrong FRI 24 Lunchtimes at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery FRI 24 – SUN 26 The Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition MON 27 Monday Showcase MON 27 Composers’ Platform TUE 28 Performance Platform: Trombone Odyssey TUE 28 International Artist Masterclass: Trombone Odyssey WED 29 The Beryl Chempin Beethoven Prize for Pianists THU 30 Beyond Classical THU 30 Liederabend FRI 31 – SUN 2 NOV Birmingham Recorder and Early Music Festival

RH 11am p50 RH 1pm p6 ABH 1.05pm p10 ABH 5pm p10 RH 1.05pm p16 RH 1pm p7 ABH 1.05pm p10 AF 3.30pm p18 ABH 8pm p51 SH 5.30pm p20 ABH 7pm p51 RH 1pm p7 ABH 1.05pm p11 ABH 4.30pm p11 RH 1.05pm p16 SH 6.15pm p34 RH 8pm p27 BMAG 12.30pm p14 ABH, AF, RH p40-41 RH 1pm p7 RH 7.30pm p24 ABH 1.05pm p11 ABH 2.15pm p11 RH 7pm p36 SH 5.30pm p20 RH 7.30pm p21 ABH, RH p42

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SAT 1 MON 3 TUE 4 TUE 4 WED 5 THU 6 THU 6 FRI 7 FRI 7 SUN 9 SUN 9 MON 10 TUE 11 TUE 11 WED 12 THU 13 FRI 14 FRI 21 FRI 21 FRI 21 SUN 23 THU 27 & FRI 28 SAT 29 SUN 30

Siegfried Idyll Monday Showcase: Jazz Performance Platform: Robin Ireland Public Research Seminar Live Jazz Broadcast Beyond Classical The Cecil Drew Oratorio Prize Upon a Ground The Alfred Corfield Trumpet Prize & Trumpet Masterclass Birmingham Conservatoire Piano Day Harry The Piano Monday Showcase Performance Platform: Jack McNeil & Eliza Carthy The Philip Bates Composition Prize CBSO Pre-Concert Showcase Guitar Department Chamber Concert Birmingham Conservatoire Composers’ Orchestra Lunchtimes at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery East Meets West Birmingham Conservatoire String Orchestra Birmingham Conservatoire Harp Day Birtwistle in Birmingham Junior Conservatoire Chamber Concert Angela Brownridge Recital

BH 5.30pm p17 RH 1pm p7 ABH 1.05pm p12 AF 3.30pm p19 RH 1.05pm p16 SH Foyer 5.30pm p20 RH 7.30pm p36 BCa 1.10pm p17 ABH 7pm p37 BC 10am p39 ABH 5pm p39 RH 1pm p8 ABH 1.05pm p12 RH 7pm p37 SH 6.15pm p35 RH 7.30pm p22 ABH 6pm p29 BMAG 12.30pm p14 ABH 6pm p32 RH 8.30pm p32 BC 10.30am p39 ABH, AF, RH p44 RH 7pm p33 RH 7.30pm p51

Monday Showcase Performance Platform: Belgrave String Quartet Public Research Seminar Legacies in Technology XIII Live Jazz Broadcast The Sounding Image Jazz Small Bands with George Colligan A Taste of Christmas Junior Department End of Term Concert Monday Showcase: Jazz Performance Platform: Jean-Efflam Babouzet International Artist Masterclass: Jean-Efflam Babouzet Opera Scenes A Christmas Cracker Concert Christmas Carol Concert Melody Music Birmingham Christmas Showcase Composers’ Platform Performance Platform: Alexander Baillie & John Thwaites Live Jazz Broadcast The French Connection Lunchtimes at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Birmingham Conservatoire Repertoire Orchestra Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Christmas favourites

RH ABH AF RH RH RH AF ABH RH RH ABH ABH RH ABH ABH NLT RH ABH RH RH BMAG ABH ABH

DECEMBER MON 1 TUE 2 TUE 2 TUE 2 WED 3 THU 4 THU 4 FRI 5 SAT 6 MON 8 TUE 9 TUE 9 THU 11 – SAT 13 SAT 13 MON 15 MON 15 MON 15 TUE 16 WED 17 THU 18 FRI 19 FRI 19 SAT 20

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

1pm p8 1.05pm p12 3.30pm p19 7pm p25 1.05pm p16 7.30pm p23 8pm p27 6pm p46 7pm p33 1pm p8 1.05pm p13 2.30pm p13 7pm p47 3pm p47 1pm p47 6.30pm p48 7.30pm p25 1.05pm p13 1.05pm p16 7.30pm p23 12.30pm p14 7pm p48 7pm p48

Orchestras, Ensembles and Chamber Music continued FRI 21 NOV

FRI 21 NOV

FRI 28 NOV

EAST MEETS WEST

BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE STRING ORCHESTRA

THALLEIN ENSEMBLE

6pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door Birmingham Conservatoire Wind Orchestra Conductor Kevin Field Keuris Catena: Refrains and Variations for 31 wind instruments, percussion and celesta Gilbert Dream Carousel Yii New Work (première) Jones New Work (première) Hindson Headbanger Hindson RPM High-octane new music from Australia, Malaysia, Holland and the UK features in this concert for symphonic wind band, conducted by Kevin Field. With premières from Birmingham Conservatoire student Rob Jones and leading Malaysian composer Yii Kah Hoe, the concert will look at the past colonial and present political and cultural influences shared by each of these countries with the other. The direct and energetic techno sounds of Australian composer Matthew Hindson will provide a stark contrast with sublime works from both the Dutch composer Tristan Keuris and Anthony Gilbert from Britain. Both of these latter composers offer a virtuosic canvas for the members of Birmingham Conservatoire Wind Orchestra.

8.30pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door Birmingham Conservatoire String Orchestra Conductor William Conway Mozart Adagio & Fugue in C minor, K.546 Respighi Antiche danze ed arie (Ancient Airs and Dances): Suite III, P.172 Strauss Metamorphosen, TrV 290 The depth and expressive qualities of the string orchestra are demonstrated in this programme of contrasting pieces, from Mozart’s powerful Adagio and Fugue through to Richard Strauss’s timeless masterpiece, Metamorphosen. The general mayhem caused by the Second World War and the destruction of many of the great opera houses of Germany fuelled an overwhelming sense of disillusionment in Strauss, prompting the composition of his heartfelt eulogy Metamorphosen, in which he quotes from the funeral march of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony.

PRE-CONCERT TALK: 6.15pm Arena Foyer Free admission Tickets available on the door CONCERT: 7pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available from www.birmingham-box.co.uk, 0121 245 4455, or in person from The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square This Thallein Ensemble programme features the music of one of Britain’s pre-eminent composers, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, who celebrates his eightieth birthday this year. Conducted by Richard Baker, the concert marks the end of a three day residency by Sir Harrison, working with our student performers and composers. This concert takes place as part of our Birtwistle in Birmingham mini-festival. For further details please see pages 44 to 45.

SAT 29 NOV

JUNIOR CONSERVATOIRE CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT 7pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door Soloists and chamber ensembles from the Junior Conservatoire come together in the wonderful acoustic of the Conservatoire’s Recital Hall.

FRI 5 DEC

A TASTE OF CHRISTMAS 6pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door Birmingham Conservatoire Brass Band and Symphonic Brass Ensemble

Birmingham Conservatoire Repertoire Orchestra

SAT 6 DEC

FRI 19 DEC

JUNIOR CONSERVATOIRE END OF TERM CONCERT

BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE REPERTOIRE ORCHESTRA

7pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door In a fitting finale to the end of the Junior Conservatoire term, soloists, chamber musicians, choirs and orchestras will all come together.

Our annual end of term celebration to send us all happily home for the Christmas break, this year’s concert features music by Mahler, Mozart, Conservatoire composer Fang Fang and Dvořák.

A seasonally entertaining programme of traditional classics and popular surprises for Brass Band and Symphonic Brass Ensemble directed by Ian Porthouse and Chris Houlding.

SPECIAL OFFER Join us for both of this evenings concerts for the special price of just £10 (£5).

This concert takes place as part of the Conservatoire’s Christmas programme of events. For full details please see pages 48.

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7pm Adrian Boult Hall £10 (£8) Tickets available from www.birmingham-box.co.uk, 0121 245 4455, or in person from The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Pre-Concert Showcases WED 12 NOV

As part of our close relationship with Town Hall Symphony Hall and the CBSO, each term our Symphony Orchestra and a selection of our elite pianists present free showcases in the magnificent setting of Symphony Hall, as a precursor to the CBSO’s concert that evening. Each of our showcases reflects the CBSO’s 20|20 programming stream, where compositions that first saw the light of day a century ago are revisited. These events are now firmly established as highlights within the musical offerings of the academic term.

ELITE PIANISTS 6.15pm Symphony Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door Liang Shan piano Bach French Suite No.6 in E, BWV 817 Ashok Gupta piano Haydn Sonata No.60 in C, Hob XVI:50 Two masterpieces of the high baroque and high classical styles, performed by two pianists from the Conservatoire’s Advanced Postgraduate Diploma programme.

WED 22 OCT

BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 6.15pm Symphony Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra Conductor Michael Seal Bantock Pagan Symphony Michael Seal, who has recently accepted the title of Principal Guest Conductor at Birmingham Conservatoire, takes charge of our Symphony Orchestra. 34

The Pagan Symphony is the second of Bantock’s four symphonies. The work is cast in a single span, though the various sections suggest classical symphonic form. Despite hints at programmatic content – a scherzo section entitled Dance of the Satyrs, for example – the music develops its thematic material in a tightly controlled manner. It is nonetheless an exuberant composition, full of contrast and energy. /BirmsCons

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Prizes and Competitions Observe captivating performances and witness the thrill and anticipation as our students compete to win a range of esteemed prizes and awards.

WED 29 OCT

THE BERYL CHEMPIN BEETHOVEN PRIZE FOR PIANISTS 7pm Recital Hall £4 Tickets available on the door Prepare to be astounded by the skill and virtuosity our students display, as they perform a programme consisting entirely of works by the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven. This is a highlight in our School of Keyboard Studies calendar and an important competition for our students as the winner of this prize will go forward to compete in the prestigious Inter Collegiate Beethoven Competition which is promoted by the Beethoven Society of London.

THU 6 NOV

7.30pm Recital Hall £4 Tickets available on the door Performing two contrasting arias, the Cecil Drew Oratorio Prize sees vocal students who have completed their first year of study compete for this highly-esteemed prize. Demonstrating vocal prowess and impressive talent, our students are sure to provide you with a memorable evening full of emotion and passion. If you love opera, this will be a night to remember.

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TUE 11 NOV

THE ALFRED CORFIELD TRUMPET PRIZE & TRUMPET MASTERCLASS

THE PHILIP BATES COMPOSITION PRIZE

7pm Adrian Boult Hall £4 Tickets available on the door Adjudicator Timur Martynov (solo trumpet, Marinsky Theatre Orchestra, St Petersburg) Pianist Joanne Sealey Wagner arr, Devon Hope Sweedy Wotan’s Farewell & Magic Fire Music from Die Walküre

THE CECIL DREW ORATORIO PRIZE

FRI 7 NOV

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In this, the annual Alfred Corfield Trumpet Prize, the Conservatoire’s finest trumpet students will compete followed by a Public Masterclass with the solo trumpet player from the Marinsky Theatre Orchestra, St. Petersburg. To coincide with Birmingham’s Ring Cycle week, there is also the chance to hear a magnificent extract from Wagner’s Die Walküre by the Conservatoire Horn, Trombone and Tuba Ensemble, directed by Chris Houlding. Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

7pm Recital Hall £4 Tickets available on the door Our annual celebration of new compositions for small instrumental ensemble and voice, this established prize in the Conservatoire calendar encourages submissions from all over the UK and entries that encompass a wide range of genres. Tonight’s event sees the finalists compete for three prizes: one awarded by the Philip Bates Trust, one by Birmingham Conservatoire and one decided by you, the audience. Please join us for an evening of new music which will excite and enthral.

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

OTHER PRIZES AND COMPETITIONS SAT 25 OCT CECIL ARONOWITZ INTERNATIONAL VIOLA COMPETITION: SEMI-FINAL ROUND For full details of this event please see page 40.

SUN 26 OCT CECIL ARONOWITZ INTERNATIONAL VIOLA COMPETITION: FINAL ROUND For full details of this event please see page 41.

Instrument Days The Conservatoire’s instrument days invite players of all ages and abilities to experience a day in the life of a Conservatoire and participate in teaching sessions, workshops, masterclasses, massed ensembles and performances from our own tutors and visiting experts. Harry the Piano

For further details about any of the Conservatoire’s autumn instrument days please visit www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire or contact the Conservatoire on 0121 331 5900 or email conservatoire@bcu.ac.uk.

SUN 9 NOV

SUN 23 NOV

SUN 28 SEP

BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE PIANO DAY

BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE HARP DAY

10am – 6.30pm Free admission To register your attendance please visit www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire

10.30am - 6pm Free admission To register your attendance please visit www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire

Join us for a large-scale community piano workshop. Children from the age of ten, students and amateur adults are all welcome. All concerts and masterclasses (including the concert by Harry the Piano at the end the day) are free to watch and play in.

A warm invitation is extended to harpists of all levels and their families, teachers, harp-lovers and supporters to join us at Birmingham Conservatoire for an inspirational day of harping. The day promises to be an extravaganza of stimulating and fun events.

BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE STRINGS DAY 10am – 5pm Free admission To register your attendance please visit www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire Featuring Nathaniel Vallois violin Jiafeng Chen violin Louise Lansdown viola Robin Ireland viola Eduardo Vassallo cello Tom Millar double bass John Thwaites piano

There is a small charge if you wish to undertake a 40 minute private lesson with a member of the Conservatoire Piano Faculty. Both classical and jazz piano tuition will be available and further details are available at www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire.

Join us for a fantastic day of masterclasses, performances and workshops for strings players of all ages and abilities at Birmingham Conservatoire.

HARRY THE PIANO 5pm Adrian Boult Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door

This annual event will include: • Solo and chamber performances by Conservatoire staff and senior students. • Masterclasses with Louise Lansdown, Nathaniel Vallois, Robin Ireland, Eduardo Vassallo, CBSO bassist Tom Millar and more.

Harry the Piano is a legend of our time, who first shot to prominence during his residency at The Groucho Club, London. He can play anything in the style of anything else and requests will be welcome!

• An in-depth seminar with osteopath Andrew Leask and Head of Strings Louise Lansdown looking at ‘Health Hazard or Assurance - Upper String Playing - Pragmatism, Pedagogy and Percipience’.

“The best damn pianist in the civilised world.” Jonathan Ross

• Ensemble sessions and a string orchestra for players of all ages and abilities. • Displays and trade stands run by renowned luthiers and string instrument specialists.

“His phenomenal talent, unobtrusive charm and wit are a delight.” Stephen Fry

The String Department is alive, thriving and growing at Birmingham Conservatoire and we would love for you to be a part of our celebration of all things strings!

“You practise all your life and think you can play the piano. Then you hear Harry.” Martin Roscoe

Activities will include concerts, workshops, opportunities for ensemble playing, and a teacher’s forum, as well as a masterclass by Catherine White, the Conservatoire’s principal harp tutor. Crowning the day will be a Celebrity Recital by Eleanor Turner, the Conservatoire’s visiting harp professor this year, and a massed harp ensemble session to which everyone will be invited to take part. Also joining us will be Katherine Thomas, our harp pedagogy tutor and Jiyoung Lee, alumnus and international prize-winner. Billy Hornby, aka The Harp Doctor, will be on hand to help further our knowledge of harp maintenance as well as offering opportunities for harp servicing on the day. Following on from our enormously successful Birmingham Harp Mini-Fest several years ago, we hope to welcome friends old and new to our 2014 event!

As part of Birmingham Piano Day sponsored by Yamaha Pianos. 38

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The Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition Violists from around the world have been invited to enter the first Cecil Aronowitz Viola Competition. Organised by Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University and the British Viola Society, the winner will be awarded £2,000 along with several high profile recitals as part of Birmingham Conservatoire’s Concert Series. Dedicated to Cecil Aronowitz, the South African violist and long-term collaborator with Benjamin Britten, the competition is open to applications from violists from anywhere in the world, at the age of 21 or under at the time of the competition. All are welcome to join us to watch the competitions and a mini-festival of other events, as detailed below:

SAT 25 OCT

CECIL ARONOWITZ FAVOURITES

CECIL ARONOWITZ – A TALK HOSTED BY THE BRITISH VIOLA SOCIETY AND BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE

7pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available from www.birmingham-box.co.uk, 0121 245 4455, or in person from The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra

8.30pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door Family, friends and colleagues reminisce about Cecil’s life, character, passion and quirks.

Conductor Michael Seal

FRI 24 OCT

SAT 25 OCT

JURY CONCERT

THE SEMI-FINAL

7pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door

8.30am – 5.15pm Adrian Boult Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door

To open the weekend’s events, members of the viola competition jury Louise Lansdown, Nicola Aronowitz, Thomas Riebl, Emile Cantor, Simon Rowland-Jones and Adam Romer perform works by Bach, Brahms, Marcello, Schubert, Kreisler, Schumann and Hindemith.

Semi-final competitors: Sophie de Bardonnèche, Mathis Rochat, Jugmin Lim, Monica Jensen, Violaine Despeyroux, Tomohiro Arita, Albert Daza, Zhenwei Shi, Timothy Ridout, Shishi Gong, Yingi Qui, Yujia Lui, Silvija Čiuladytė, Silas Zschocke.

Jonathan Martindale violin Lucy Nolan viola

SUN 26 OCT

Berlioz Overture: Le Carnaval Romain Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra K364 (320d) Britten The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

14 semi-finalists from all over the world will be competing throughout the day, each playing for 30 minutes. You can join us for all or part of the event to observe these talented young violists. A detailed programme will be available at www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts closer to the time.

SAT 25 OCT

PUBLIC MASTERCLASS WITH ROGER CHASE

WORKSHOP WITH ROSS COHEN OF THE ABSOLUTE ZERO VIOLA QUARTET

9.30am – 5.30pm Arena Foyer £4 Tickets available on the door

3.30pm – 6pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door

Watch esteemed violist and teacher Roger Chase give masterclasses to students from all over the UK throughout the day.

Join one of the members of the Absolute Zero Viola Quartet, Ross Cohen, in this open workshop. Cohen states that he took up the viola at age eight because he felt sorry for the instrument with its peculiar alto clef. Whatever his reasons, he later went on to study at the Royal College of Music, and has since performed with the Hallé Orchestra, The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and he is currently principal viola with the Welsh Sinfonia.

SAT 25 OCT

Conservatoire Principal Guest Conductor Michael Seal leads Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra in this engaging programme, featuring three Aronowitz favourites, as part of the weekend’s events. Starting with Berlioz’s rousing Roman Carnival Overture and concluding with Britten’s wonderfully characteristic and ever-popular Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, we will also hear Mozart’s beautiful Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, in keeping with the theme of the weekend.

ABSOLUTE ZERO VIOLA QUARTET 11am Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door The Absolute Zero Viola Quartet is made up of players from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra. Having been together since 1995, the quartet is the creator of the world’s first viola quartet CD recognising that an all viola string quartet is rather rare!

SUN 26 OCT

THE FINAL

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12pm - 4pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door

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Following on from Saturday’s semi-final, see the finalists of the first Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition compete for first prize, accompanied by Birmingham Conservatoire String Orchestra.

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Birmingham Recorder and Early Music Festival Enjoy recorder and early music performances, taster sessions and more at our International Recorder and Early Music Festival. The festival includes concerts with Fontanella recorder quintet, Susanna Borsch and Chris Orton as well as masterclasses, workshops and competitions, National Youth Recorder Orchestra taster sessions and auditions, plus sessions about how to look after your recorder. If you wish to attend as a recorder player, you can register a place for your favoured day or the full weekend at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/birmingham-international-recorder-andearly-music-festival-events-pass-registration-12017656133. Tickets to individual concerts are also available on the door, as detailed below:

Fontanella Recorder Quintet

SAT 1 NOV

SUN 2 NOV

EARLY MUSIC AND RECORDER DEPARTMENT CONCERT

THE NIGHTINGALE’S RESPONSE

FLYING HIGH DEEP IN THE OCEAN

7pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door

1.30pm Recital Hall £6 (£3.50) Tickets available on the door

Fontanella Recorder Quintet Rebecca Austen-Brown, Katriina Boosey, Louise Bradbury, Sarah Humphrys, Annabel Knight recorders

Chris Orton recorders

1.30pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door FRI 31 OCT

Directors Martin Perkins and Annabel Knight

SUSIE TELL ME A STORY!

Susanna Borsch recorders

Annabel Knight recorders, flute Martin Perkins harpsichord Gail Hennessy oboe With members of the Conservatoire Recorder and Early Music Departments.

With music by David Dramm, Felipe Waller, Kate Moore, Oscar Bettison, Michiel Mensingh, Akiko Ushijima and Guus Janssen.

In this lunchtime concert, Conservatoire early music tutors and students perform a programme of chamber music from the 17th to 18th centuries.

8.30pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door

Fontanella present a concert of music for Recorder Quintet inspired by the sights and sounds of nature and birdsong from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries, featuring music by Van Eyck, Purcell, Hans Martin Linde, Tim Coker and Tomi Räisanen,

Contemporary recorder music soloist Chris Orton performs recent pioneering works for recorder and electronics by Dorothee Hahne, Fabrizio de Rossi Re, Georgio Tedde and Fausto Romitelli.

Susie, tell me a story! is about seven composers writing a musical story for recorders and electronics. Susanna Borsch, assisted by David Dramm, weaves together these seven compositions into an exciting narrative. Call it a theatrical concert. Call it a musical adventure. Call it the most exciting quest for a bundle of recorders ever. Susanna Borsch 42

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Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Birtwistle in Birmingham Birtwistle in Birmingham is a mini-festival celebrating the music of arguably Britain’s greatest living composer, whilst also celebrating his 80th birthday. The festival builds on the Conservatoire’s retrospectives of Pierre Boulez, Louis Andriessen, Heiner Goebbels and Robert Ashley in recent years. Over three days, Birtwistle will be in attendance at Birmingham Conservatoire, working with our composers and instrumentalists. In addition to public talks, the culmination on his visit will be a final concert with the Conservatoire’s celebrated Thallein Ensemble, which will include a performance of his acclaimed work Panic which caused a minor scandal at the Last Night of the Proms a few years ago. Birtwistle in Birmingham is produced in partnership with the Park Lane Group and supported by the Hinrichsen Foundation, Holst Foundation and the RVW Trust. THU 27 NOV

GILDAS STRING QUARTET, JACK McNEILL AND ELIZA McCARTHY PRE-CONCERT TALK – SIR HARRISON BIRTWISTLE IN CONVERSATION WITH HOWARD SKEMPTON 6pm Arena Foyer Free admission Tickets available on the door CONCERT 7.30pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available from www.birmingham-box.co.uk, 0121 245 4455, or in person from The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square Jack McNeill clarinet Eliza McCarthy piano Gildas String Quartet Christopher Jones violin Sophie Cameron violin Kay Stephen viola Anna Menzies cello

‘...it was the Gildas’s acute accounts ... that really made the occasion worthwhile.’ The Sunday Times

FRI 28 NOV

COMPOSITION MASTERCLASS WITH SIR HARRISON BIRTWISTLE

THALLEIN ENSEMBLE

10.30am Recital Hall £4 Tickets available on the door

PRE-CONCERT TALK WITH SIR HARRISON BIRTWISTLE 6.15pm Arena Foyer Free admission Tickets available on the door

A public composition masterclass with Sir Harrison Birtwistle and three Birmingham Conservatoire composition students - Anthony Leung, James Alexandropoulos-McEwan and Apostolis Alysandratos - exploring new works for clarinet quintet written for Jack McNeill and the Gildas String Quartet.

CONCERT 7pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available from www.birmingham-box.co.uk, 0121 245 4455, or in person from The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square Thallein Ensemble

FRI 28 NOV

Conductor Richard Baker

CONSERVATOIRE STAFF AND STUDENTS PLAY BIRTWISTLE

Sir Harrison Birtwistle Cortège Sir Harrison Birtwistle Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum Sir Harrison Birtwistle Panic Blanka Stachelek New Work Soul Zisso New Work Edmund Hunt New Work

1pm Recital Hall £5 (£3) Tickets available on the door

Sir Harrison Birtwistle Verses for clarinet and piano Skempton Catch Skempton Clarinet Quintet Andy Ingamells New Work Feldman Two Pieces for Clarinet and String Quartet Sir Harrison Birtwistle The Tree of Strings Park Lane Group Young Artists, The Gildas String Quartet, team up with Eliza McCarthy and Jack McNeill in a programme that pairs the work of Sir Harrison Birtwistle with that of Howard Skempton. Two works from both composers are included alongside a work by Birmingham Conservatoire composer Andy Ingamells, and a piece by Morton Feldman, a composer much admired by both of tonight’s featured composers.

FRI 28 NOV

Performers to include: Melinda Maxwell oboe Michael Webb bassett horn Sofia Sarmento piano Sir Harrison Birtwistle Pulse Sampler Zach Dawson New Work Sir Harrison Birtwistle Betty Freeman: Her Tango Sir Harrison Birtwistle An Interrupted Endless Melody Patrick Giguère New Work Sir Harrison Birtwistle Linoi Jack McNeill

The Conservatoire’s acclaimed Thallein Ensemble present a programme of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s work, including his much talked about Panic. Conducted by Richard Baker, the concert marks the end of Sir Harrison’s three day residency at the Conservatoire, and also features work by three of the Conservatoire’s postgraduate composers.

Melinda Maxwell is joined by APD pianist Sofia Sarmento and Conservatoire student Michael Webb in this lunchtime concert of solos and duos by Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Also featured are new works written by two Conservatoire postgraduate composers.

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Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Christmas at Birmingham Conservatoire

Phoenix Singers

Take a break from your Christmas shopping and join us to celebrate the holiday season with mulled wine, mince pies and a selection of concerts to help put you in the festive mood.

THU 11 – SAT 13 DEC

SAT 13 DEC

MON 15 DEC

OPERA SCENES

A CHRISTMAS CRACKER CONCERT

CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERT

FRI 5 DEC

7pm Recital Hall £9 (£7) Tickets available from www.birmingham-box.co.uk, 0121 245 4455, or in person from The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square

3pm Adrian Boult Hall £12 (£2 - children) Tickets available from Pat Finney (0121 475 7556) or Sue Wright (0121 475 4005) or by emailing sue.wri@btinternet.com

1pm Adrian Boult Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door

A TASTE OF CHRISTMAS 6pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door

Musical Director Paul Wingfield Director Jamie Hayes Repertiteur Shah Johan bin Shahridzuan

Birmingham Conservatoire Brass Band & Symphonic Brass Ensemble Conductors Christopher Houlding and Ian Porthouse

Students from the Vocal and Operatic Department

Peter Graham Shining Star March Arr. Peter Graham Away in a Manger Philip Harper Yule Dance Rollins/Nelson arr. Sandy Smith Frosty the Snowman Mendelssohn arr. Wilcox Hark the Herald Angels Sing Adolphe Adam O Holy Night Prokofiev arr. Ray Farr Troika Eric Ball Kingdom Triumphant Chris Houlding English Carol Sequence Lauridsen O Magnum Mysterium J Strauss Cuckoo Polka Lehar Meine Lippen Lehar Vilja Chris Houlding The Twelve Days of Christmas Javits arr. Maxwell Santa Baby Harvey Festive Cheer

A Selection of Opera Scenes An annual highlight in our Christmas event programme, our eagerly awaited Opera Scenes returns once more. Let us take you on a journey where you will be delighted by performances from our vocal students as they present scenes from a variety of well-loved operas. We are very pleased to welcome Paul Wingfield, who has recently completed the Jette Parker course at The Royal Opera House, as musical director for Opera Scenes 2014, along with Jamie Hayes, a director of very broad experience, both working with us for the first time.

A seasonally entertaining programme of traditional classics and popular surprises for Brass Band and Symphonic Brass Ensemble directed by Ian Porthouse and Chris Houlding. 46

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Phoenix Singers Conductor James Llewelyn Jones Accompanist Sara Wilander

To celebrate the festive season we welcome you to join us for our popular annual carol concert. With carols and festive favourites led by the Conservatoire’s Chorus, audience participation is encouraged.

A family concert of exciting seasonal pieces, including a guest appearance by the Jaguar Land Rover Band and a selection of audience participation carols.

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

MON 15 DEC

MMB’S CHRISTMAS SHOWCASE 6.30pm New Lecture Theatre Free admission Tickets available on the door Melody Music Birmingham Come and enjoy the festive season with MMB! Melody Music Birmingham is a music group for children and young people with Additional Support Needs (ASN), and this concert will showcase the talents of the students. There will be songs and pieces celebrating Christmas as well as other seasonal favourites. It promises to be a wonderful conclusion to the term, so why not come and support our fantastic students? MMB was set up by Melody, a charity that strives to provide individuals with ASN opportunities for instrumental music making. MMB has been based at the Conservatoire since its conception, and is run by past and present students of the college.

FRI 19 DEC

BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE REPERTOIRE ORCHESTRA 7pm Adrian Boult Hall £10 (£8) Tickets available from www.birmingham-box.co.uk, 0121 245 4455, or in person from The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square Birmingham Conservatoire Repertoire Orchestra Conductor Daniele Rosina Stavroula Thoma piano

To send us all happily home for the Christmas break, our end of term concert opens with a rarity, Mahler’s Blumine, and ends with an old favourite, Dvořák’s ever-popular and joyous 8th Symphony. Daniele Rosina, this evening’s conductor, also leads the orchestra in performances of Mozart’s turbulent D minor piano concerto and a new work, written specially for the occasion, by PhD composer Fang Fang.

Mahler Blumine Mozart Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor K466 Fang Fang New Work Dvořák Symphony No.8 in G, Op.88

SAT 20 DEC

TCHAIKOVSKY’S SWAN LAKE AND CHRISTMAS FAVOURITES 7pm Adrian Boult Hall £10 (£8) - advance £12 (£10) - on the door Tickets available from bgso.org.uk/concerts Birmingham Gay Symphony Orchestra Vivat! West Midlands Police Choir Conductor Jack Lovell Tchaikovsky certainly knew how to ruffle a few feathers and his score to Swan Lake sets hearts aflutter. Jack Lovell unleashes this classic alongside Christmas favourites to fill your soul with cheer as the BGSO celebrates in the only way they know how!

OTHER EVENTS TAKING PLACE DURING THE CHRISTMAS PERIOD: MON 15 DEC COMPOSERS’ PLATFORM Taking place as part of our Frontiers concert series, please see page 25. TUE 16 DEC ALEXANDER BAILLIE AND JOHN THWAITES Taking place as part of our Performance Platform concert series, please see page 13. WED 17 DEC THE LIVE JAZZ BROADCAST Taking place as part of the Live Jazz Broadcast concert series, please see page 16. THU 18 DEC THE FRENCH CONNECTION Taking place as part of our Thursdays at Birmingham Conservatoire concert series, please see pages 22-23. FRI 19 DEC THE KLEE QUARTET Taking place as part of our new Lunchtimes at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery concert series, please see page 14.

Birmingham Conservatoire Repertoire Orchestra 48

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Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Autumn Season Visiting Artists and Organisations At Birmingham Conservatoire we value our relationship with a varied range of artists and organisations, from across Birmingham, the UK, and aboard and it is always a pleasure to welcome them for their concerts and events.

John Lydon

Angela Brownridge

TUE 14 OCT

SUN 30 NOV

JOHN LYDON

PIANO RECITAL BY ANGELA BROWNRIDGE

8pm Adrian Boult Hall £22.50 Tickets available from www.thsh.co.uk, 0121 345 0600, or in person from Symphony Hall Box Office, The ICC, Centenary Square Always outspoken, controversial and sincere, John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) looks back on his extraordinary life in a memoir that will be full of surprises, humour and emotion. Touch of Basil

Sarah-Jane Norman

SAT 27 SEP

SUN 5 OCT

TOUCH OF BASIL: PHILIP BATES TRUST

FIERCE FESTIVAL: CONCERTO NO.3 (SARAH JANE NORMAN)

7pm Adrian Boult Hall £9 (£7 children & students) (£30 group of 4) Advance £10 (£7 children & students) (£30 group of 4) On the door Tickets available from 0121 747 5705 Carrie-Ann Williams and Jessica Wise – Ashleyan Opera Prize winners Ex Cathedra Academies of Vocal Music

Lucy Licence soprano, Chlöe Child vocalist – Philip Bates Performance Prize Winners Krystina Murtagh vocalist Tom Walker Trio Basil’s Bunch Sarah Brienza clarinet, Georgina Bloomfield violin Stephen Davis tenor, Susan Bates soprano Heart of England Singers Conductor Martin Bates Programme to include: Blanka Stachalek Tryptyk (Philip Bates Prize for Composers and Songwriters winner)

11am-11pm Recital Hall Free admission Tickets available on the door Known for their unusual and adventurous programming, FIERCE Festival present crossdisciplinary artist Sarah-Jane Norman, alongside five ‘postvirtuosic’ pianists, to perform Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No.3 entirely by sight reading, in a 12-hour musical experiment.

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Birmingham Icknield Male Voice Choir

SAT 18 OCT

BIRMINGHAM ICKNIELD MALE VOICE CHOIR ANNUAL CONCERT 7pm Adrian Boult Hall £12 Tickets available on the door Birmingham Icknield Male Voice Choir Musical Director Steve Roche Alexandra Wynne soprano Madden School of Irish Dancers

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

Angela Brownridge piano Beethoven Sonata in F minor, Op.57 ‘Appassionata’ Liszt Sposalizio and Petrarch Sonnet 104 Debussy Suite pour le piano Chopin Sonata No.2 in B flat minor, Op.34 Scriabin Four Studies from Op.8, Nos.1, 2, 11 & 12 Angela Brownridge has appeared in venues worldwide and has been hailed as ‘a star in classical music and one of the world’s finest pianists’ by The New York Times. Here she presents a programme of some of the greatest works by Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and Scriabin.

Music to suit all tastes from standard male voice choir numbers to songs made famous by the Beatles and the Righteous Brothers. With a fantastic soprano and talented Irish dancers, acts are interlinked with humorous anecdotes and witty monologues.

This annual celebration concert presented by the Philip Bates Trust includes a wide variety of musical styles and genres from classical through to rock music.

7.30pm Adrian Boult Hall £15 (£12) Tickets available on the door

The ‘Appassionata’ sonata is the most innovative and dramatic of Beethoven’s middle period. Debussy’s Suite pour le piano shows off every aspect of the piano’s capabilities and the Liszt works are two of his most beautiful and poetic. The Chopin sonata shows the composer at the height of his dramatic and lyrical power and the Scriabin studies are some of the finest to have come out of Russia.

‘...thoughtful, magical, sensuous performances in some of the most remarkable and moving playing that will remain in this critic’s memory. She is an artist of the highest calibre and this was playing of the highest order.’ The Daily Telegraph

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Autumn Season Visiting Artists and Organisations

Coming Up Next Season Below is a sneak preview of a few of the Conservatoire’s hotly-tipped events coming up in the spring. Look out for further announcements at www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts, and on Facebook (facebook.com/BirmCons) and Twitter (BirmCons). THU 22 JAN THURSDAYS AT BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE: PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE 7.30pm Recital Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door

TUE 17 MAR INTERNATIONAL ARTIST RECITAL AND MASTERCLASS: THE ROSAMUNDE TRIO 1.05pm and 5pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) – each event Tickets available on the door

Join Birmingham Conservatoire’s Percussion Ensemble as they present a programme of varied works with pounding beats and tinkling melodies.

The Rosamunde Trio has toured extensively in the UK on 15 occasions and has also performed in festivals and major venues in the USA, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Cyprus and the Czech Republic. Featuring three highly-acclaimed international soloists – Martino Tirimo (piano), Ben Sayevich (violin) and Daniel Veis (cello) – the Rosamunde Trio have been performing together since 2002.

WED 11 – FRI 20 FEB SCRIABIN AND THE RUSSIAN PIANISTS (FESTIVAL) Various times, dates and venues We are delighted to announce an exciting ten day festival celebrating the music of the influential and controversial early modern composer Alexander Scriabin, alongside that of his Russian contemporaries. TUE 3 MAR INTERNATIONAL ARTIST RECITAL AND MASTERCLASS: RACHEL BARTON PINE (VIOLA) 1.05pm and 5pm Adrian Boult Hall £6 (£3.50) – each event Tickets available on the door

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Christmas Favourites

SAT 13 DEC

MON 15 DEC

SAT 20 DEC

A CHRISTMAS CRACKER CONCERT

MMB’S CHRISTMAS SHOWCASE

TCHAIKOVSKY’S SWAN LAKE AND CHRISTMAS FAVOURITES

3pm Adrian Boult Hall £12 (£2 - children) Tickets available from Pat Finney (0121 475 7556) or Sue Wright (0121 475 4005) or by emailing sue.wri@btinternet.com

6.30pm New Lecture Theatre Free admission Tickets available on the door

Taking place as part of the Conservatoire’s Christmas Events programme, please see pages 47-49.

7pm Adrian Boult Hall £10 (£8) Advance £12 (£10) On the door Tickets available from bgso.org.uk/concerts Taking place as part of the Conservatoire’s Christmas Events programme, please see pages 47-49.

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Celebrated as a great interpreter of classical works, as well as being recognised as an artistic ambassador making links between classical and rock music for the younger generation, we cannot wait to see the outcome of Pine’s work with our students. WED 4 MAR THE TOWN HALL SYMPHONY HALL PRIZE 7pm Recital Hall £4 Tickets available on the door The prize for this major competition includes a 50 minute public recital at the prestigious Town Hall or Symphony Hall. As they vie to be awarded first prize, talented students will perform 20 minutes of contrasting music, either as a soloist or in chamber ensembles. Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

FRI 20 MAR THE PROJECT ORCHESTRA 7.30pm Adrian Boult Hall £6.50 (£4) Tickets available on the door In this concert, a handpicked orchestra under the baton of Daniele Rosina will accompany three of the Conservatoire’s most promising soloists as they perform Concertos by Poulenc, Vaughan Williams and Addison. MON 23 – FRI 27 MAR FRONTIERS FESTIVAL Various times, dates and venues In recent years Birmingham Conservatoire has emerged as one of Europe’s most adventurous music colleges, and our contemporary music festival, Frontiers Festival, is acknowledged as one of the most ambitious in the UK. With recent features on the Downtown New York arts scene as well as Louis Andriessen, Heiner Goebbels and Pierre Boulez, Frontiers Festival 2015 looks at Birmingham Conservatoire’s groundbreaking European Integra project.

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

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www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

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PARKING There are three car parking spaces for disabled visitors outside of the Conservatoire. Access to these spaces is via the Council House barrier at the edge of Margaret Street. Spaces are available on a first-come-first-served basis and display of the relevant badge is essential. There is no other parking available at the Conservatoire but there are several pay and display car parks located close by. /BirmsCons

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EXCHANGES AND REFUNDS Birmingham Conservatoire does not offer refunds on tickets after purchase. Where purchased in advance, and subject to availability, tickets can be exchanged for an alternative performance within the current concert season, provided tickets are returned to the Venue, Concert and Events Office no less than 48 hours before the event start time. Tickets for events presented by external artists and organisations within Birmingham Conservatoire are subject to the refund and exchange policy of the organisation.

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In Person Visit The Box at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2EP

By Phone Call the ticket hotline 0121 245 4455 Open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5.30pm

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CONCESSIONS Unless otherwise stated, concession prices apply to children (16 and under or in full-time education), students, over 60s, disabled customers and the unemployed. Please note that we may ask to see identification when admitting people carrying concession tickets.

ADVERTISED PROGRAMME Every effort is made to ensure that all information included within the Concert and Events Diary is correct at the time of going to print. However the Conservatoire reserves the right to change the programme or replace artists due to unforeseen circumstances.

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THROUGH OUR TICKETING PARTNER – THE BIRMINGHAM BOX Where stated in the event listings, tickets can be purchased through our ticketing partner The Birmingham Box. Book by clicking on the link within the online listing at www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts or:

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ADVANCE RESERVATION Where tickets are available on the door, you can guarantee your ticket by telephoning the Venues, Concerts and Events Office on 0121 331 5909 to reserve your ticket in advance. Telephone lines are open Monday to Friday 10am-4pm. Your ticket will then be available for you to pay for at the Conservatoire Box Office from up to 45 minutes prior to the event start time.

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ON THE DOOR Where indicated in the event listings, tickets for Conservatoire events are available to purchase from Birmingham Conservatoire Box Office from up to 45 minutes prior to the event start time.

Visa, Delta, Connect, Mastercard and Switch cards can be used. Cheques should be made payable to Birmingham Repertory Theatre. When purchasing tickets in person or over the telephone, credit card bookings incur a 3% fee per transaction and debit card bookings incur a 50p fee per transaction. Both of these payments are waived for online bookings and all cash payments are fee free.

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Tickets for Conservatoire events are individually priced (as shown in the event listings) and available to purchase in a variety of ways:

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Museum of the Jewellery Quarter

One square represents approximately 3 minutes walk

Venue CLOAKROOM A free cloakroom service is available at most events taking place in the Adrian Boult Hall. BAR / COFFEE BAR The Conservatoire coffee bar is open throughout the day from 9am to 5pm. For evening and weekend events the coffee and licensed bar is open from one hour before and during the interval of events selling teas and coffees, soft drinks, a range of alcoholic beverages and a range of snacks. Ice cream is on sale during the interval of most events in the Adrian Boult Hall. Interval drinks can be ordered in advance from the coffee and licensed bar from up to one hour before the event start time. ACCESSIBILITY All of the Conservatoire’s venues and spaces are accessible by wheelchair. Accessible toilet facilities are also available. There are designated wheelchair spaces in both the Adrian Boult Hall and Recital Hall. Accompanying companion seats are available by requesting these in advance from the Venues, Concerts and Events Office on 0121 331 5909. Wheelchair users are entitled to concessionary price tickets with a complimentary companion seat ticket is available on request if required. Guide dogs are welcome at all venues. If you are bringing a guide dog, please let the Venues, Concerts and Events Office know in advance by telephoning 0121 331 5909, so that we can allocate a space for him or her.

LATECOMERS To minimise disruption to performers and other audience members, latecomers will only be admitted to the Halls during a suitable break in the performance. This may be at the interval of the event. FRIENDS OF BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE MAILING LIST To receive future Concert and Event Diaries, and details of special events, offers and promotions, please join our mailing list by sending your details to: Mailing List, Venues Concerts and Events Office, Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG. Alternatively please email bhamcons.concerts@bcu.ac.uk or telephone 0121 331 5909. Your details will be stored on a secure electronic database and will not be passed onto any third parties. YOUR COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS The Venues, Concerts and Events team are always interested to hear your comments and suggestions about our concert programme, suggestions for future programming, our venue and our services. You can write to the Head of Venues, Concerts and Events, Emily Bartlett, at the Venues, Concerts and Events Office, Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place Birmingham B3 3HG.

Birmingham Conservatoire thanks its sponsors, funders, partners and supporters SPONSORS

PARTNERS

Avid Classical Guitar Centre DfE (Music & Dance Scheme) European Culture Programme EMI Music Sound Foundation John Avins Trust Leverhulme Trust The Schubert Ensemble of London The Tillet Trust The Wolfson Foundation Wilmcote Charitable Trust

Aston Performing Arts Academy Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Birmingham Hippodrome Birmingham Music Service Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra Birmingham Royal Ballet City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Coventry Performing Arts Service Deutsche Bank Ex Cathedra In Harmony Stoke and Telford Jazzlines Leamington Music mac Birmingham Music Education Council Music for Youth Musicians’ Union Orchestra of the Swan Perry Beeches II Quench Arts Royal College of Organists Royal Shakespeare Company sampad Sound Futures South Birmingham College Stan’s Café Third Ear Town Hall Symphony Hall Tredegar Town Band Welsh National Opera Wolverhampton Music Hub

EVENT FUNDERS Arts Council England Hinrichsen Foundation Holst Foundation Kingdom of the Netherlands PRS Foundation for New Music RVW Trust

A copy of this brochure is available in large print by contacting the Venues, Concerts and Events Office on 0121 331 5909.

MEMBERSHIP Association of European Conservatoires Conservatoires UK Incorporated Society of Musicians

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Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Supporting Us

Birmingham Conservatoire Association

Birmingham Conservatoire is very grateful for the support of individuals and companies.

SUPPORT THE MUSICIANS OF TOMORROW – JOIN US TODAY

THERE ARE MANY WAYS IN WHICH YOU CAN SUPPORT US:

Birmingham Conservatoire Association is a voluntary organisation supporting the work of the students at Birmingham Conservatoire. Our international membership consists of alumni, current and former members of staff, distinguished Honorary Members including the President of Birmingham Conservatoire Sir Simon Rattle CBE Duniv, parents, friends and all those wishing to support our objectives.

• Sponsor a concert or series of concerts. • Sponsor a student and follow them through their course of study. • Support the Conservatoire Endowment Fund – a fund set up to benefit students in need. • Make a donation. The Conservatoire values donations small or large. • Donations can be gift-aided, increasing their value to the Conservatoire. For further details, or if you have an idea you would like to discuss with us, please contact: Andrea Cox Principal’s Office Birmingham Conservatoire Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG Tel: 0121 331 5910 Email: andrea.cox@bcu.ac.uk

‘Our choir heard about the possibility of hiring students from the Conservatoire as soloists, so we thought we’d give it a try. We were delighted – I wouldn’t have known that they weren’t professional soloists with years of experience “on the circuit”. They presented confidently, and have become firm favourites with the local audience.’ Anselm Kersten, Musical Director, Market Harborough Choral Society 2014

We are a Registered Charity which is independent from the Conservatoire. Our work includes the production of a twice-yearly promotional magazine Fanfare III, financial support for the CBSO String Training Scheme and to individual students for a variety of needs (such as instrumental purchase and repair, travelling and living expenses, and masterclasses), the annual Undergraduate Welcome and biennial Alumni and Staff Reunions. Membership is open to everyone who wishes to support the work of the students at Birmingham Conservatoire. The students increasingly need your help in these days of global financial hardship. Please refer to our website www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/bca to see the benefits offered to BCA members and join us online or by requesting an application form from BCA Hon Secretary John Smith 0121 476 4741 smith@hrs359.fsnet.co.uk

Looking for Musicians?

Discover Musicians for Any Occasion If you are seeking to enhance an event with music, Birmingham Conservatoire is proud to offer professional and talented student musicians for events including corporate functions, weddings, charity dinners, ceremonies, parties and public recitals. We have a range of classical and jazz ensembles and soloists to enhance your event with superb live music! Our friendly and efficient External Engagements team can also help you to select an ensemble and programme that will make your special event a memorable occasion, both for you and for your guests or potential clients. To find out more about booking our performers and details of our competitive prices, please contact our External Engagements Team on 0121 331 6901, email external.engagements@bcu.ac.uk, or use our enquiry form at www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire.

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Stay in touch for details of forthcoming concerts, special offers and our latest news. To join Birmingham Conservatoireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mailing list please email bhamcons. concerts@bcu.ac.uk or contact the Venues, Concerts & Events Team on 0121 331 5909. www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts /BirmCons @BirmCons Birmingham Conservatoire Paradise Place Birmingham B3 3HG