WHAT’S ON
JANUARY
BOOK ONLINE: thsh.co.uk
WHAT’S ON AT TOWN HALL SYMPHONY HALL RESIDENT ORCHESTRA
ASSOCIATE ARTISTS
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Ex Cathedra, Birmingham City Organist Thomas Trotter, Black Voices
Certain events by Resident Orchestra or Associate Artists are included in respective concert packages. Contact the Box Office for more information.
HOW TO BOOK By phone: 0121 780 3333
Online: www.thsh.co.uk
In person: Town Hall Box Office is open two hours before the start time of a performance. Symphony Hall Box Office, in the ICC is open 10am – 6pm (Monday – Saturday). Closed Sundays and Bank Holidays except when there is an event (open two hours before event starts).
DISCOUNTS & PACKAGES
HOW TO REACH US
For more details visit thsh.co.uk
NOT NORMAL – NOT OK Town Hall Symphony Hall are proud to support the Not Normal – Not OK campaign, to encourage safety and respect within live music venues.
Town Hall is located in Victoria Square, Birmingham, B3 3DQ.
Symphony Hall is located within the International Convention Centre, 8 Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2EA. For further information visit www.thsh.co.uk/your-visit Funded by
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Town Hall renovation also funded by
BOOK BY PHONE: 0121 780 3333
BOOK NOW 0121 780 3333 www.thsh.co.uk
Wed 1
Thu 2
1PM
ICC Hall 1
SHEN YUN: 31 DEC 2019 – 2 JAN 2020
SHEN YUN’s unique artistic vision expands theatrical experience into a multi-dimensional, inspiring journey through one of humanity’s greatest treasures—the five millennia of traditional Chinese culture.
2:30PM Town Hall
THE JOHANN STRAUSS GALA
6PM
SHEN YUN: 31 DEC 2019 – 2 JAN 2020
ICC Hall 1
Start your New Year celebrations in traditional style with this afternoon of music from the Strauss family and friends. Music includes The Blue Danube Waltz, Radetzky March, Tritsch Tratsch Polka, and many more. With the Johann Strauss Dancers in full period costume, soprano Lizzie Holmes, the Johann Strauss Orchestra and conductor John Rigby. SHEN YUN’s unique artistic vision expands theatrical experience into a multi-dimensional, inspiring journey through one of humanity’s greatest treasures – the five millennia of traditional Chinese culture.
1:30PM Town Hall
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT
2PM
SHEN YUN: 31 DEC 2019 – 2 JAN 2020 LIMITED AVAILABILITY
ICC Hall 1
See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score. SHEN YUN’s unique artistic vision expands theatrical experience into a multi-dimensional, inspiring journey through one of humanity’s greatest treasures—the five millennia of traditional Chinese culture.
Fri 3
11AM & Town Hall 1:30PM
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT
Sat 4
11AM & Town Hall 1:30PM
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT
Sun 5
11AM
Town Hall
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT
3PM
Town Hall
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT RELAXED PERFORMANCE
3PM
Symphony Hall
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PRESENT VIENNESE NEW YEAR
See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score. See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score. See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score. See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score.
Vienna, city of dreams... as sweet as a slice of sachertorte and as fizzy as champagne, it simply wouldn’t be New Year without the music of Johann Strauss and friends! There’ll be elegant waltzes, playful polkas, and good old-fashioned operetta romance. So let the CBSO and maestro Thomas Rösner whirl you back to a more glamorous age, as we raise a glass to the start of another great year of music. Prosit!
BOOK ONLINE: thsh.co.uk
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Tue 7
1PM
Town Hall
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT
Wed 8
10:30AM Town Hall & 1PM
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT
Thu 9
10:30AM Town Hall & 1PM
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT LIMITED AVAILABILITY
7:30PM Symphony Hall
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PRESENT VISION OF THE FUTURE
See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score. See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score. See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score.
Birmingham is a young city, and the CBSO has always thrived on the energy, imagination and uncompromising commitment of our young people – so as we turn 100, we’re handing this concert over to our fearless team of Youth Ambassadors.
Fri 10
10:30AM Town Hall & 1PM
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT
5PM
JAZZLINES FREE GIGS FREE EVENT
See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score.
ICC Hall 5
Jazzlines Free Gigs are designed to help you get that Friday feeling. Unwind in the bar after a long week to the sensational sounds of talented jazz musicians.
Sat 11
11AM & Town Hall 1:30PM
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT
Sun 12
11AM & Town Hall 1:30PM
WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT
2:30PM Symphony Hall
BLACK DYKE IN CONCERT
Mon 13
1PM
LUNCHTIME ORGAN CONCERT – THOMAS TROTTER
Tue 14
7:30PM Symphony Hall
See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score. See the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt on tour, direct from the West End, as it returns vividly and noisily in director Sally Cookson’s fun-filled adaptation set to Benji Bower’s versatile lively score.
Town Hall
Black Dyke Band invites you to a scintillating concert full of thrilling film scores, toe tapping big band jazz, barnstorming classics and highlights of the traditional brass band repertoire. This is an event not to be missed, featuring world class solos from some of the world’s most celebrated brass instrumentalists. History is built into the very walls of Town Hall, Birmingham, and when City Organist Thomas Trotter plays the organ there, that heritage springs vibrantly to life.
TOWN HALL SYMPHONY HALL PRESENTS BIRMINGHAM CLASSICAL: SIR SIMON RATTLE & LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – BERG & BEETHOVEN
Birmingham is the city that discovered Sir Simon Rattle, and 40 years on from his debut as principal conductor of the CBSO, it’s always a red letter day when he returns to the hall that he had built, in the city that’s still his true musical home. Today – thrillingly – he pairs Beethoven’s most explosive symphony with the lush, emotionally-supercharged music of Alban Berg. It’ll never sound better than it does here in Symphony Hall.
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BOOK BY PHONE: 0121 780 3333
Wed 15
8:30PM Bottega
REED BASS FREE EVENT
Fri 17
5PM
JAZZLINES FREE GIGS: NIFECO COSTA FREE EVENT
Sat 18
ICC Hall 5
ReedBass is one of the most versatile and charismatic musicians to come out of the city in recent years. Musician and singer from Guinea-Bissau, now based in the UK has formed the band “Babock Djazz”, bringing together local musicians with origins from around the globe. Nifeco brings beautiful melodies, a sweet voice and an infectuous Latin groove.
7:30PM Symphony Hall
MOSCOW CITY BALLET: SWAN LAKE
7PM
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYPHONY ORCHESTRA PRESENT MAHLER’S SYMPHONY OF A THOUSAND SOLD OUT
Symphony Hall
Moscow City Ballet visits Birmingham with the stunning Swan Lake, presented in classic Russian style with full orchestra.
“Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound,” said Mahler. Exaggeration? Not when you hear it performed in Symphony Hall and not when Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla is conducting.
Tue 21
7:30PM Town Hall
JUDY COLLINS LIMITED AVAILABILITY
6:15PM Town Hall
TOWN HALL SYMPHONY HALL PRESENTS BIRMINGHAM CLASSICAL: PRE-CONCERT CONVERSATION WITH GUITARIST MILOŠ KARADAGLIĆ FREE EVENT
Judy Collins has inspired audiences with sublime vocals, boldly vulnerable songwriting, personal life triumphs, and a firm commitment to social activism.
Discover more as guests from the Birmingham Classical 2019/2020 season discuss their lives, programme and influences at these free Pre- and PostConcert Conversations.
7:30PM Town Hall
TOWN HALL SYMPHONY HALL PRESENTS BIRMINGHAM CLASSICAL: MILOŠ KARADAGLIĆ IN RECITAL
BBC Music Magazine put it best: Milos Karadaglić is “classical music’s guitar hero”, an artist whose style, subtlety and sheer charisma put him in a class of his own.
Wed 22
7:30PM Symphony Hall
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM ORCHESTRA PRESENT YAMADA: BRAHMS AND SCHUMANN
The CBSO’s principal guest conductor Kazuki Yamada has found the perfect pairing: the brilliant, big-hearted symphony that Brahms’s friend Schumann wrote in homage to his wife Clara, the love of both composer’s lives.
Fri 24
8:30PM Jam House
INDIGO FREE EVENT
5PM
JAZZLINES FREE GIGS: ISQ FREE EVENT
ICC Hall 5
With roots in gospel, classical and reggae music, Manchester born singer, songwriter and composer INDIGO, is a gifted and versatile musician. This quartet takes the conventional jazz line-up as a mere starting point. ISQ are Irene Serra on vocals, Richard Sadler on double bass, Chris Nickolls on drums and Naadia Sherriff on piano.
8PM
Symphony Hall
THE MILK CARTON KIDS
The Milk Carton Kids return to the UK and Europe for the first time since the 2018 release of their Grammy®-nominated album All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do. The new project marks the first time that acoustic duo Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale have brought a band into the studio with them.
BOOK ONLINE: thsh.co.uk
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ABSOLUTELY INESCAPABLE Sir Simon Rattle discusses Beethoven and Berg
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“The theme of roots and origins runs right through this season”, says the London Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director Sir Simon Rattle. “It’s a journey we began together in 2018, exploring everything from the influence of European folk to jazz in American music, and even looking back to the music of the past and its connecion to composers today.” Beethoven 250 is one of the big projects of the year. In the words of Sir Simon Rattle, Beethoven is ‘absolutely inescapable’. Who can claim not to recognise the stirring chorus of ‘Ode to Joy’ or the melancholy second movement of his Symphony No 7, which has amassed a substantial number of references in popular culture? As the LSO joins the world-wide celebrations, Rattle explains the intent to find new ways to programme his music. “I wanted to think what makes a conversation with Beethoven, but also what can stand up to the power of the music. We’ve chosen to put it alongside Alban Berg, one of the great figures of the early-20th century – they marry very well together. Berg, in the relatively few pieces he wrote, has the same emotional directness and apocalyptic power as Beethoven, and there is a similar kind of intense sadness, which was one of Beethoven’s great gifts particularly in his slow music. I have a good feeling about how these pieces will work together.”
“Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is an explosion of rhythm and dance – Wagner called it ‘the apotheosis of dance’ – there’s a kind of fierceness and joy which is unlike any other piece. It’s one of a kind. The second movement is an extraordinary, long procession. It was so popular even during his lifetime that it would be put in the middle of other pieces, just because people wanted to hear it. It is a universe all of its own and one of the most profound movements Beethoven wrote.” The Seventh Symphony is coupled with Berg’s Seven Early Songs. “His early songs are a look back on all of the most romantic elements of the 19th century. But he does so with his own specific voice.It make a fantastic contrast with Beethoven.” Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra perform as part of the Birmingham Classical 2019/2020 Season at Symphony Hall on Tuesday 14 January. Last few remaining tickets are available at thsh.co.uk
Photo ©Mark Allen
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Sat 25
1:30PM ICC Hall 5
NOTEBENDERS – SAX IN THE CITY FREE EVENT
2:30PM Symphony Hall & 7:30PM
ANTON & ERIN
Sun 26
4PM
Symphony Hall
EX CATHEDRA PRESENT BEETHOVEN, MISSA SOLEMNIS
Mon 27
1PM
Town Hall
LUNCHTIME ORGAN CONCERT – THOMAS TROTTER
Tue 28
7:30PM Symphony Hall
The Notebenders Big Band returns for another Sax in the City performance, breaking down barriers with their fun and uplifting sound. Anton & Erin, the nation’s favourite ballroom stars are back with their brand-new show for 2020 as they DANCE THOSE MAGICAL MOVIES. How wonderful, in our 50th year to join forces with the CBSO as they celebrate their Centenary, and an outstanding team of soloists to mark Beethoven’s 250th birthday and realise his WISH, that this music should come ‘from the heart that it may go to the heart’. History is built into the very walls of Town Hall, Birmingham, and when City Organist Thomas Trotter plays the organ there, that heritage springs vibrantly to life.
TOWN HALL SYMPHONY HALL PRESENTS BIRMINGHAM CLASSICAL: ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE LILLE
Under the inspirational Alexandre Bloch, the Orchestre National de Lille brings an unmistakably Gallic style, as well as a chance to hear 2018 Leeds Piano Competition winner Eric Lu in Beethoven’s most poetic - and personal - concerto.
Wed 29
2:15PM Symphony Hall
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PRESENT MIRGA’S BEETHOVEN
In the year that the CBSO turns 100, Ludwig van Beethoven turns 250, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla has picked out two of Beethoven’s fastest, funniest and most thrilling symphonies. 7:30PM Symphony Hall
TOWN HALL SYMPHONY HALL PRESENTS BIRMINGHAM CLASSICAL: NOA WILDSCHUT IN RECITAL
The Dutch violinist Noa Wildschut is only 18 years old, but she’s already one of the most engaging violinists of her generation.
9:25PM Symphony Hall
TOWN HALL SYMPHONY HALL PRESENTS BIRMINGHAM CLASSICAL: POST-CONCERT CONVERSATION WITH VIOLINIST NOA WILDSCHUT FREE EVENT
Discover more as guests from the Birmingham Classical 2019/2020 season discuss their lives, programme and influences at these free Pre- and PostConcert Conversations.
Thu 30
7:30PM Symphony Hall
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PRESENT MIRGA’S BEETHOVEN
In the year that the CBSO turns 100, Ludwig van Beethoven turns 250, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla has picked out two of Beethoven’s fastest, funniest and most thrilling symphonies.
Fri 31
8PM
Town Hall
ED BYRNE: IF I’M HONEST...
8PM
Town Hall
THE CLASSIC ROCK SHOW 2020 LIMITED AVAILABILITY
COMING SOON
Join Ed Byrne as he takes a long hard look at himself and tries to decide if he has any traits that are worth passing on to his children. The Classic Rock Show returns to the UK in early 2020 with an amazing new live production celebrating the very best of the best of Classic Rock.
A NIGHT AT THE SYMPHONY HALL WITH THE ROYAL AIR FORCE AND FRIENDS Mon 30 March 2020, 7:30pm Join the Royal Air Force as it embarks on its exciting journey into the next century.