Gigs

Classical music from across the region...

BBC Symphony Orchestra Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Fri 17 June

Birmingham’s music and spoken-word scene is here celebrated in a special concert that sees the BBC Symphony Orchestra teaming up with talented local performers. Titled Beyond The Bricks Of Brum and bringing together more than 100 musicians, the one-off presentation features brandnew arrangements and compositions from Black Voices, Casey Bailey and Sanity, with contributions also coming from Agaama, TrueMendous, John Bernard and Jasmine Gardosi. The concert is conducted by the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s principal guest conductor, the Kyiv-born Dalia Stasevska (pictured).

Ex Cathedra: Summer Music By Candlelight

St Chad’s Church, Shrewsbury, Tues 14 June; St Peter’s Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton, Thurs 16 June; St Paul’s Church, Birmingham, Tues 21 & Wed 22 June

Jeffrey Skidmore (pictured) once again picks up the baton to conduct Birmingham’s highly rated early music ensemble, on this occasion in a concert that Ex Cathedra confidently predict will see people heading for home singing of summertime. The programmes for these annual gettogethers, presented by candlelight as dusk falls, move seamlessly from seasonal favourites to rare, rediscovered, contemporary and lighter repertoire.

Classical

Ludlow Choral Society: Seven Queens

Ludlow Assembly Rooms, South Shropshire, Sat 11 June

Ludlow Choral Society’s first full-length concert since 2019 features a programme which the ensemble originally intended to perform in 2020 under the title of Music For Six Queens. With the concert now taking place in mid-2022, it’s been renamed Seven Queens, to take into account this month’s celebrations of Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee. The programme comprises music by Purcell, Handel and Byrd.

CBSO: Handel’s Messiah

Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Wed 8 June

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus here gets its teeth into the challenge of performing Handel’s magnificent choral masterpiece for the very first time. A work which tells the story of Christ's Nativity, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension, the Messiah features the rousing Hallelujah Chorus and is one of classical music’s best-known works. Baroque specialist Richard Egarr is the conductor while Mary Bevan (pictured) showcases her skills as soprano.

Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra

The Abbey, Shrewsbury, Wed 22 June

One of the oldest amateur orchestras in the country here turns its attention to the challenge of performing two symphonies. Louise Farrenc’s First, dating from 1842, is an inventive work bringing together Romanticism and Classicism. Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, meanwhile - premiered in 1808 - features a variety of sounds which the later Romantics would view as emblematic of nature.