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Viennese Masters with Mackerras
Wed 4 Mar 2009 Symphony Hall
Still leading a vigorous musical life well into his eighties, Sir Charles Mackerras is a living legend, and in tonight’s programme he brings his wealth of experience to three of his favourite composers. Our first contribution to the Haydn bicentenary celebrations comes in the smiling form of one of the composer’s ‘Paris’ symphonies, while a distinguished pianist joins Sir Charles for one of Mozart’s most delectable piano concertos. Beethoven’s energetic Seventh completes a splendidly cheerful programme.
Sir Charles Mackerras- conductor Imogen Cooper - piano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Haydn: Symphony No. 85 (La Reine) 21’ Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 K.482 33’ Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 36’
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Celebrity Piano Recital: Peter Donohoe
Thu 5 Mar 2009 Town Hall
Peter Donohoe’s performances are a dazzling fusion of passion, virtuosity and intellectual rigour. His recital ranges from the majesty of Bach to the superhuman demands of Liszt’s B minor Sonata. Before that come magical works by Brahms reflecting the mature wisdom of the composer’s old age and the untamed ardour of his youth. *BBC music magazine’s editor, Oliver Condy, explains why he has recommended tonight’s concert:* _"The indefatigable Peter Donohoe launches into a brave programme here - Busoni’s technically astounding transcription of one of Bach’s great organ works sits next to Liszt’s greatest piece for the piano - the colossal Sonata. And as Donohoe is one of the most skilled musicians in this repertoire, the evening’s music-making should be full of plenty of memorable pyrotechnics…” "BBC Music Magazine":http://www.bbcmusicmagazine.com *6.15pm pre-concert talk* Tickets £5-£20
*Brahms* Six Pieces, Op 118 20’ *Brahms* Sonata No 3 in F minor, Op 5 28’ *Bach-Busoni* Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, BWV564 15’ *Liszt* Sonata in B minor 27’
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Centre Stage CBSO Players
Fri 6 Mar 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
CBSO Players Schubert: String Quartet in G, D.887
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Viennese Masters with Mackerras
Sat 7 Mar 2009 Symphony Hall
Still leading a vigorous musical life well into his eighties, Sir Charles Mackerras is a living legend, and in tonight’s programme he brings his wealth of experience to three of his favourite composers. Our first contribution to the Haydn bicentenary celebrations comes in the smiling form of one of the composer’s ‘Paris’ symphonies, while a distinguished pianist joins Sir Charles for one of Mozart’s most delectable piano concertos. Beethoven’s energetic Seventh completes a splendidly cheerful programme.
Sir Charles Mackerras- conductor Imogen Cooper - piano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Haydn: Symphony No. 85 (La Reine) 21’ Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 K.482 33’ Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 36’
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Centre Stage A Pepys Portrait
Sun 8 Mar 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
A Pepys Portrait on period instruments CBSO Baroque Ensemble & Emily van Evera (soprano) Including music by Purcell, Locke and Mattheis
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Britten Sinfonia at Lunch - March 2009
Thu 12 Mar 2009 Town Hall
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Schubert’s Great
Tue 17 Mar 2009 Symphony Hall
Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmila - Overture Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 schubert: Symphony No. 9 (The Great) Always a favourite with CBSO audiences and players, the distinguished conductor Walter Weller returns for one of the greatest musical masterworks from his native Vienna, Schubert’s last completed symphony. Though never performed in the composer’s lifetime, it has since become one of his most frequently-performed works;Tchaikovsky’s equally well-known concerto also nearly never saw the light of day, its dedicatee denouncing it as ‘poorly composed and unplayable’. Well, pianists and audiences since 1874 have tended to disagree!
Walter Weller -conductor Sergey Kuznetsov -piano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmila - Overture Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 Schubert: Symphony No. 9 (The Great)
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Centre Stage CBSO Players
Wed 18 Mar 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
CBSO Players Mozart: String Quintet in C, K.515
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Verdi's Requiem
Fri 20 Mar 2009 Symphony Hall
The Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House take up residence at Symphony Hall for two nights, with a glittering line-up of soloists and their Music Director, Antonio Pappano. _“ Everything Pappano conducts has highoctane energy, and that quality radiates off the podium as strongly as it does on it”_ *Daily Telegraph* Verdi’s Requiem is one of the greatest choral masterpieces of all time, and often described as an opera in all but name. Charged with passion, terrifying force, tenderness and consolation, this music comes straight from the composer’s heart. His sumptuous and dramatic choral writing gives us the chance to hear one of the world’s great opera choruses in full voice, in what promises to be a searing performance of this great score. *Classic FM’s Anne-Marie Minhall says of tonight’s recommended concert:* _The first of two performances in Symphony Hall for the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under Antonio Pappano. It’s seven years since the London-born Italian-American conductor became the music director at Covent Garden. Then 42, he was also the youngest to hold the post and since taking over the musical reins, he’s been acclaimed both by the public and critics alike. Pappano even had a premonition he’d be in the top job at Covent Garden as he read the former music director Sir Georg Solti’s autobiography._ *6.15pm pre-concert talk* Tickets £5-£50 _please note there is no interval_
*The Royal Opera Chorus* *The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House* *Antonio Pappano* conductor *Barbara Frittoli* soprano *Olga Borodina* mezzo-soprano *Piotr Beczala* tenor *Ildar Abdrazakov* bass
*Verdi* Requiem 90’
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Britten's War Requiem
Sat 21 Mar 2009 Symphony Hall
The War requiem is one of Britten’s most powerful works, born out of his fiercely held pacifism. Composed at the height of the Cold War, it spoke directly to a nation living under the threat of nuclear war. The work mixes powerful settings of the poems of Wilfred Owen, describing the horrors of war, with the words of the Requiem mass, and ultimately offers the hope of reconciliation. No tenor is more associated with Britten’s music at the moment than Ian Bostridge, heard here alongside the warm baritone of Simon Keenlyside and leading young soprano Emma Bell. *BBC music magazine’s editor, Oliver Condy, explains why he has recommended tonight’s concert:* _"This unsettling work is a powerful anti-war oratorio, written for the re-consecration of nearby Coventry Cathedral in 1962. Bringing this searing piece to life are three of the most gifted British singers alive today accompanied by Covent Garden’s orchestra - an ensemble currently at the height of its powers. This will be a highly emotional, haunting concert - full of drama and pathos.”_ "BBC Music Magazine":http://www.bbcmusicmagazine.com *5.45pm pre-concert talk* Tickets £5-£50
*The Royal Opera Chorus* *The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House* *Antonio Pappano* conductor *Emma Bell* soprano *Ian Bostridge* tenor *Simon Keenlyside* baritone *Tiffin Boys’ Choir*
*Britten* War Requiem 90’
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Orchestra of the Swan: Essential Mahler
Wed 25 Mar 2009 Town Hall
*Debussy* _arr Schoenberg_ L'aprés midi d'un faune *Berlioz* _arr Mathews_ Nuit d’été *Mahler* _arr Stein_ Symphony No 4
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Haydn’s Surprise
Sat 28 Mar 2009 Town Hall
Following an electrifying CBSO debut last season, Manze celebrates two of this year’s anniversary composers, in the Town Hall where so much of their music was heard in the Triennial Festivals and which Mendelssohn famously visited on a number of occasions. His Reformation Symphony combines Protestant and Catholic themes in a superbly fresh manner, while Haydn’s music is always full of surprises! We are joined by a well loved pianist for major works by both composers.
Andrew Manze -conductor Angela Hewitt - piano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Haydn: Symphony No. 94 (Surprise) 20' Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 20' Haydn: Piano Sonata No. 52 in E flat 17' Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 (Reformation) 33'
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Tokyo Quartet with cellist David Watkin
Sun 29 Mar 2009 Town Hall
Schubert’s String Quintet is one of the jewels in the crown of the chamber music repertoire. Its warm-hearted melodies and the rare beauty of its slow movement have made it one of the most popular Desert Island Discs for countless music-lovers. The incomparable Tokyo Quartet is celebrated for its ravishing refinement of tone and ensemble. They perform Schubert’s masterpiece alongside Haydn’s much-loved Emperor Quartet and the fresh innocence of Mendelssohn’s early Quartet in A minor. Tickets £5-£20
*Haydn* String Quartet in C, Op 76, No 3, Emperor 25’ *Mendelssohn* String Quartet in A minor, Op 13 30’ *Schubert* String Quintet in C, D956 55’
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British Classics
Wed 1 Apr 2009 Symphony Hall
Springtime in England; and what better way to celebrate it than with this delightfully tuneful programme? Some of these pieces are classics, others are the kind of melodies you’re always humming but can’t put a name to; either way, they’ll come up fresh as a daisy under John Wilson’s sparkling baton. A fine British string player joins him for an afternoon of pure melodious pleasure. 1.15pm- Pre Concert Talk- John Wilson’s Light Programme Conductor John Wilson talks to Christopher Morley of The Birmingham Post about this concert of tuneful British rarities.
John Wilson - conductor Lawrence Power - viola City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Holst: The Perfect Fool - ballet music 13’ Delius: On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring 4’ Walton: Viola Concerto 25’ Sullivan: Overture di Ballo 11’ German: Romeo and Juliet - Nocturne 5’ Farnon: Westminster Waltz 3’ Ketèlbey: Sanctuary of the Heart 4’ Elgar: Chanson de nuit 4’ Coates: The Three Men Suite 15’
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Centre Stage The Leo Quartet
Fri 3 Apr 2009 Book through our ticket office for CBSO Centre
The Leo Quartet Schubert: Quartet No. 7 in D Shostakovich: Quartet No. 2
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Friday Night Classics: Chaplin’s Circus
Fri 3 Apr 2009 Symphony Hall
Conductor, composer and entertainer Carl Davis is world famous for his new scores for classic silent movies; tonight he presents two of Charlie Chaplin’s greatest silent comedies, accompanied live by the CBSO with music that mirrors every action, gesture and emotion on the screen. The Circus was the most successful silent film of all time, and finds Chaplin’s Little Tramp stumbling into a hilarious new profession. And as for The Cure - well, one critic wrote that “in terms of sheer belly-laughs, it may well be the funniest movie Chaplin ever made”. Decide for yourself as Symphony Hall transforms into a giant cinema. One thing’s for sure though - silent movies have never sounded better!
Carl Davis - conductor City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Davis: The Cure 23’ Chaplin: The Circus 72’
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Singalong with the CBSO: Mozart's Requiem
Sun 5 Apr 2009 Symphony Hall
Join the CBSO with its world-renowned chorus director, Simon Halsey, and young professional soloists to sing Mozart’s Requiem, which he was famously still working upon at his untimely death. If you enjoy singing, the unique experience of performing such a powerful work in Birmingham’s magnificent Symphony Hall, with over 1000 singers, is surely not to be missed.
Simon Halsey - conductor City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Please Note: Tickets for this event cannot be purchased online. Please contact the venue Box Office to purchase tickets.
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Evening Organ Concert - Thierry Escaich
Tue 7 Apr 2009 Symphony Hall
*Dupre* Le Monde dans l'attente du Sauveur *Brahms* Herzlich tut mir erfreuen *Brahms* Herzliebster Jesu *Brahms* Prélude et fugue en sol mineur *Mendelssohn* Récitatif et final de la Sonate n°1 en fa mineur *Mendelssohn* Prélude et fugue improvisé en style romantique sur un thème donné *Franck* Pièce héroïque *Escaich* III Poèmes pour orgue 1) Eaux natales 2) le Masque 3) vers l'espérance *Alain* Litanies *Alain* Improvisation libre sur un thème donné
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Good Friday St Matthew Passion
Fri 10 Apr 2009 Symphony Hall
Ex Cathedra’s trailblazing performances and critically acclaimed recordings have put them at the forefront of the international early music movement. So we can expect them to bring searching new insights to this season’s traditional Good Friday performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. It is the largest, most elaborate and most affecting of all Bach’s works, telling the story of the last days of Christ in music of great dignity and emotional intensity. Tickets £5-£37.50
*Ex Cathedra Soloists, Choir & Baroque Orchestra* *Jeffrey Skidmore* conductor *Nicholas Mulroy* _Evangelist_ *Eamonn Dougan* _Christus_
*J S Bach* St matthew Passion 180’
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Birmingham Choral Union: Handel Messiah
Sat 11 Apr 2009 Town Hall
