Music to your ears

MIDSUMMER MUSIC IN BIRMINGHAM

Whilst it’s certainly true that the bulk of the CBSO Season kicks off with a fine fanfare in autumn to carry us through the winter months, there are still plenty of opportunities to catch musical gems for all ages and tastes as the days stretch out and summer finally arrives.

SIMPLY SCHUBERT

Town Hall, Birmingham Thursday 14 July, 7.00pm

We begin with a summer shower of Schubert. It’s always a delight to welcome back conductor Edward Gardner and this time we’ll be joining him for a short jaunt to Town Hall on July 14 to perform three of Schubert’s works. Beginning with the overture from his rarely performed deeply Romantic opera, Fierrabras, this is followed by his first Symphony (famously composed when he was just 16) and we end with his fourth, a dramatic stormy work influenced by Mozart.

We return to Town Hall just a few days later on July 17 for a rather special birthday celebration as our community choir, SO Vocal, turns ten. A truly vibrant group, this will doubtlessly be an uplifting evening of eclectic and exhilarating music. The singer’s smiles will be tinged with sadness though, as this celebratory concert will also mark the last one conducted by Ula Weber. Come and celebrate, sing along and say goodbye.

Next up, we continue our summer mini tour of Birmingham venues with a trip to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and a Saturday matinee performance by Birmingham’s’ finest young musicians, the CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy. Their programme is brought to us by the number five, including Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.5 with soloist Irène Duval and Beethoven’s immortal Symphony No.5 with CBSO regular Michael Seal at the podium.

Then it’s a big CBSO hello (again) to Kazuki Yamada who returns to conduct our unofficial Proms preview on July 24 at Symphony Hall and, of course, our actual performance at this year’s Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on July 25. We’ll be performing works by Glinka, Smyth and Rachmaninoff and, as it happens, Rachmaninoff’s romantic Second Symphony is one of Kazuki’s personal favourites, so doubtlessly he will be giving full reign to its soaring melodies. There’s passion too in the beautiful Double Concerto by Dame Ethel Smyth and with soloists Ben Goldscheider and Elena Urioste, you can expect big emotions and even bigger tunes. These two performances will be particularly meaningful for Kazuki as he both prepares for and then makes his Proms debut.

CBSO SO VOCAL 10 YEAR CELEBRATION

Town Hall, Birmingham Sunday 17 July, 6.00pm

CBSO YOUTH ORCHESTRA ACADEMY: A FIST FULL OF FIVES

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Saturday 23 July, 3pm

KAZUKI YAMADA CONDUCTS RACHMANINOFF SYMPHONY NO.2

Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Sunday 24 July, 2.00pm

THE CBSO AT THE BBC PROMS

Royal Albert Hall Monday 25 July, 7.30pm

This year the CBSO will once again be running a coach to and from The Proms. See p21 for details.

As ever, full performance details and links to buy tickets can be found at cbso.co.uk and in your Season brochure or you can call the B:Music box office on 0121 780 3333.