bcmg concerts, workshops and events 2010/11

Concerts, Workshops and Events

www.bcmg.org.uk

2010

/11

2 Ticket line: 0121 767 4050

BCMG musicians

It’s hard to believe that Mark-Anthony Turnage’s soulful cello concerto Kai (an early BCMG commission) is 20 years old, let alone that its composer is 50. We celebrate these milestones twice over, fi rst with Oliver Knussen in November, then with Andris Nelsons (making his BCMG debut) in February alongside the CBSO. Simon Holt too has a long-standing association with the Group, and we unveil a new song cycle in a chamber concert with an additional focus on the talents of composer/pianist Rolf Hind.

Tansy Davies and Luke Bedford are two younger composers championed by BCMG in recent years. We showcase Tansy’s music alongside two other striking voices of the same generation, Rebecca Saunders and Enno Poppe from Germany; and in partnership with The Opera Group we present a major new opera by Luke in summer 2011. A younger voice still is that of Charlotte Bray, whose new violin concerto Alexandra Wood plays in November. Our clutch of new works includes two Sound Investment commissions: a cabaret of song settings by Dominic Muldowney and a new vocal work by Japanese composer Jo Kondo conducted by Oliver Knussen. Transformation is the theme of our Family Concerts this season, with a premiere from Birmingham-based Joe

Cutler, and director Tim Hopkins adding magic to an already magical programme conjured up by our Artist-in-Assocation John Woolrich. For young musicians there are a host of participatory projects linked to our concerts.

All we need now is you!

Stephen NewbouldBCMG Artistic Director

Internationally acclaimed and a proud ambassador for our home city, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group is established as one of Europe’s leading ensembles. Formed by musicians from the CBSO in 1987, we are devoted to the commissioning and performance of new music and have premiered over 130 new works by leading UK and overseas composers, giving more than 500 performances of those pieces. Most have been commissioned though the BCMG Sound Investment scheme (see page 15 for more details). We are committed to engaging the widest possible range of people with our work, and run extensive learning and audience-building programmes in pursuit of this aim (Learning programme information on page 14).

This brochure is available free of charge (on-request) in large-print, Braille, on audiocassette, CD or by email. Please contact Tim Rushby, Marketing Manager: [email protected] / 0121 616 2619 / BCMG, CBSO Centre, Berkley Street, Birmingham, B1 2LF

Introduction to our 2010/11 Season

About Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Stephen Newbould

Founding Patron: Sir Simon Rattle

Artists-in-Association: Oliver Knussen, Peter Wiegold, John Woolrich

Artistic Director: Stephen Newbould

Registered charity no: 1001474

Online: www.bcmg.org.uk 3

Concerts

A BCMG and Ikon collaboration; presented during ArtsFest Howard Skempton: September SongsSaturday 11 – Sunday 12 September 2010, 11am – 6pm, Ikon GallerySkempton selects artworks from Ikon’s exhibition This Could Happen To You and uses them as a visual backdrop for a sequence of musical performances. Page 4

Serenade for a SatelliteSaturday 9 October 2010, 9pm, Town HallA short late night concert as part of a weekend of events inspired by the wonders of the universe. Page 5

BCMG 2010/11 Season Launch ConcertSunday 10 October 2010, 7.30pm, CBSO Centre A concert featuring a premiere from Simon Holt plus music by Rolf Hind and Helmut Lachenmann, with soloist Sarah Leonard. Page 6

BEAST: States of PlaySaturday 16 & Sunday 17 October 2010, various times, CBSO CentreBEAST presents another weekend of electro-acoustic sound, using its spectacular multi-channel diffusion system. Page 7

Families@5Sunday 14 November 2010, 5pm,CBSO CentreA bite-sized interactive concert for young people and families that will explore music from the evening programme. Page 9

Mark-Anthony Turnage 50th Birthday ConcertSunday 14 November 2010, 8pm, CBSO CentreCelebrate Turnage’s 50th birthday in a concert conducted by Oliver Knussen, including a Turnage UK premiere and a new work from our Apprentice Composer in Residence. Page 8

BCMG conducted by Peter RundelSunday 5 December 2010, 3pm, CBSO CentreEnergy and rhythmic drive from two younger composers – Tansy Davies and Enno Poppe – and a different kind of intensity from Rebecca Saunders. Page 10

Andris Nelsons conducts BCMG & CBSOWednesday 2 February 2011, 7.30pm, Symphony HallUlrich Heinen performs Turnage’s cello concerto Kai under the baton of CBSO Music Director Andris Nelsons, as a prelude to Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. Page 12

BCMG Family ConcertsSunday 6 February 2011, 1.30pm & 3pm, CBSO CentreOur hour-long Family Concerts introduce young people to the exciting world of contemporary music. Page 13

BCMG conducted by Oliver KnussenSunday 13 March 2011, 7.30pm, CBSO CentreOur March 2011 concert capitalises on Oliver Knussen’s enthusiasm for composers from the US and Japan. Page 14

nOSTalgie: a cabaretSaturday 21 May 2011, 8pm, CBSO CentreA cabaret-style evening of political songs and new vocal settings under Dominic Muldowney’s brilliant direction. Page 16

BCMG and The Opera Group presentSeven Angelsco-produced with ROH2 and TramwayFriday 17 June 2011, 7.30pm & Saturday 18 June 2011, 2.30pm, CBSO CentreThe world premiere of Luke Bedford’s new opera. Inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost, Seven Angels interprets its themes for a modern audience facing the urgent challenges of climate change. Page 17

For information on how to support BCMG and the commissioning of new works turn to page 19.

Workshops

Music MazeA series of 8 creative, participatory workshops for 8 – 11 year olds that take place on Sundays throughout the year at CBSO Centre. The workshops link to music from BCMG’s concerts and are led by composer Liz Johnson and BCMG’s Learning Manager Nancy Evans. Young people are welcome whether they can play a musical instrument or not. Each workshop culminates in a performance for families. Children who attend the workshops receive one free and one adult concession ticket for the linked BCMG concert, where they have front row seats, specially designed children’s programmes and a special reception for children in the interval.

The Zigzag Ensemble A series of 8 workshops for 12 – 15 year olds that take place at the same time as Music Maze. Led by composer Sid Peacock, the workshops explore composing and improvising within an ensemble. Young people need to be able to play a musical instrument and read a little bit of music notation. Young people taking part receive free tickets for BCMG concerts.

These free Music Maze and Zigzag Ensemble workshops will be held on the following dates:Sunday 3 October 2010, 10am – 2.30pmSunday 7 November 2010, 10am – 2.30pmSunday 28 November 2010, 10am – 2.30pmSunday 16 January 2011, 10am – 2.30pmSunday 6 March 2011, 10am – 2.30pmSunday 10 April 2011, 10am – 2.30pmSunday 8 May 2011, 10am – 2.30pmSunday 5 June 2011, 10am – 2.30pmPages 7 – 17

Feel the BuzzComposing/improvising workshops for 14 – 18 year olds that take place over two days. These free workshops will be held on the following dates:Sunday 24 October & Sunday 31 October 2010, 10am – 4pm & 10am – 6pmSunday 27 March & Sunday 3 April 2011, 10am – 4pm & 10am – 6pmPages 5 & 15

For information about BCMG’s Learning and Participation programme turn to page 18.

BCMG Family Event

BCMG Family Event

BCMG Family Event

Season OverviewA complete look at Birmingham Contemporary Music Group’s activities in Birmingham during our 2010/11 season.

4 Ticket line: 0121 767 4050

Saturday 11 – Sunday 12 September 2010, 11am – 6pm, First and Second Floor Galleries, Ikon Gallery

For September Songs renowned British composer Howard Skempton selects artworks from Ikon’s exhibition This Could Happen To You and uses them as a visual backdrop for a sequence of musical performances by BCMG soloists and mezzo-soprano Loré Lixenberg. Taking place throughout Ikon, September Songs allows Skempton’s music to unfold across the gallery’s interconnecting rooms, giving rise to chance encounters.

Best known for his stripped-down, melodic compositions, Skempton presents music from the 1960s–1970s and newly written miniatures, such as his recent interludes for cello and guitar. The former will include `Pole which will be performed across the gallery, creating an ever-shifting sound backdrop, and For Strings (see right).

Sprinkled throughout the weekend will be a series of solos and duets including two new works for Loré Lixenberg, a setting of DH Lawrence’s Whales Weep Not! and a new piece setting defi nitions of words taken from the Penguin Dictionary of Music.

We invite members of the public to take part on Saturday 11 September in performances of For Strings, a piece whose score comprises three words – Waves / Shingle / Seagulls. We are looking for string players of any standard – those interested should contact BCMG on 0121 616 2616 or email [email protected]. Alternatively, turn up on the day with your instrument, arriving at Ikon in time for a 3pm briefi ng from the composer.

Visit www.ikon-gallery.co.uk or www.bcmg.org.uk nearer the time for a full schedule of the weekend, including family and participatory activities.

A Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Ikon collaboration; presented during ArtsFest

Howard Skempton: September SongsFeaturing BCMG soloists and mezzo-soprano Loré Lixenberg

To Find Out MoreFor the latest news, reviews, audio and video interviews with composers, conductors and musicians visit www.bcmg.org.uk.

To keep up-to-date with BCMG via email and/or post join our free mailing list. Email your name, address and/or email address to [email protected], sign up via the ‘join the mailing list’ section of the website, or write to Freepost RRAY-KLRC-LUES, BCMG, CBSO Centre, Berkley Street, Birmingham, B1 2LF.

Stay Connected

Join our network, fi nd other music fans and delight in speaking your mind. www.facebook.com/bcmgfans

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Gain insight into the world of composition, all at the click of a button. www.youtube.com/BCMGTV

1 picture = 1000 words apparently. We’ll do our best to bring you a whole novel. www.fl ickr.com/bcmgimages

Howard Skempton


Serenade for a SatellitePart of THSH’s Sounds of Space Weekend

Saturday 9 October 2010, 9pm, Town Hall

Conductor: Peter WiegoldProgrammeBruno Maderna: Serenata per un SatelliteParam Vir: Constellations (BCMG commission 2010)Peter Wiegold: Mysterium (BCMG commission 2010)

This short late night event follows a 7.30pm concert by the innovative Icebreaker ensemble, who will be performing a live arrangement of Brian Eno’s seminal album Apollo, alongside NASA footage. In it we revisit three highlights from our April 2010 Serenade for a Satellite concerts.

Peter Wiegold is renowned for his brilliant interpretation of Bruno Maderna’s Serenata per un Satellite, a minor classic of Italian 20th Century music, written to celebrate the launch of the ESRO 1B Boreas Satellite in 1969. Wiegold’s Mysterium – a piece that combines written and devised music with live improvisation and recordings from the fi rst Earth-orbiting artifi cial satellite, Sputnik – and Constellations, a collection of space-inspired movements by Param Vir – complete the programme.

Free admission

Feel the Buzz is a partnership project with Birmingham Music Service for 14 – 18 year olds. This autumn it will be led by composer and percussionist Jackie Walduck and BCMG musicians. There will be two days of workshops on Sunday 24 and Sunday 31 October culminating in a performance for friends and family on the evening of 31 October. Participants must be able to attend both workshops. BCMG welcomes musicians from all cultural traditions.

Feel the Buzz will give participants:• a fun environment to make music with other

young people• new ways to get started composing • new ways to develop your musical ideas• an opportunity to create music with and for

amazing professional musicians • ideas for GCSE/A level composing

Places must be booked in advance either through the BCMG website or by calling 0121 616 2616. Booking opens 3 weeks before each workshop.

Feel the BuzzComposing/improvising workshop for 14-18 year olds

Sunday 24 October 2010, 10am – 4pm, venue tbc,Sunday 31 October 2010, 10am – 6pm, macFree event

This concert is part of Sounds of Space, a weekend of music, talks and events inspired by the wonders of the universe taking place in Birmingham’s Town Hall and Symphony Hall. For full programme information please www.thsh.co.uk/soundsofspace.

6 Ticket line: 0121 767 4050

BCMG 2010/11Season Launch ConcertSunday 10 October 2010, 7.30pm, CBSO Centre

Piano: Rolf Hind *Soprano: Sarah Leonard +Conductor: Richard Baker #ProgrammeSimon Holt: Nigredo *Rolf Hind: City of Love *+Simon Holt: A Knot of Time +# (world premiere / commissioned by Faith Wilson)Rolf Hind: A jasmine petal, a single hair, seven mattresses, a pea *Helmut Lachenmann: Got Lost *+

The opening concert of our 2010/11 season has a double focus – a new work by Simon Holt, and the special talents of pianist Rolf Hind and soprano Sarah Leonard. It also features a work by the hugely infl uential German composer Helmut Lachenmann.

Rolf Hind opens proceedings with Simon Holt’s solo piano piece Nigredo, a work written specifi cally for him. Described by Olivier Messiaen as ‘a great pianist’, Hind is also a burgeoning composer. City of Love is one of a number of compositions by Hind inspired by his many trips to India and subsequent fascination

with Hindi culture and language. Written for piano, soprano and cello, it sets poetry in Braj Bhasa, a predecessor of modern Hindi. A jasmine petal, a single hair, seven mattresses, a pea for solo piano is a more recent piece and this will be just its second UK performance.

Simon Holt’s dramatic and often enigmatic music was fi rst performed by BCMG in 1990, the highly successful Lilith being one of our fi rst ever commissions. Twenty years on, we present another Holt premiere. A Knot of Time, conducted by Richard Baker, sets fi ve poems by Federico García Lorca – a hugely infl uential poet for the now Spain-based composer – and features Sarah Leonard, one of Britain’s most acclaimed sopranos.

Hind and Leonard complete the concert with Helmut Lachenmann’s Got Lost, written for them in 2008 – Lachenmann’s fi rst work for voice and piano. Got Lost sets texts drawn from Nietzsche’s poem Der Wanderer and a Portuguese poem by Fernando Pessoa. This extraordinary composer’s use of extended techniques – tapping and rustling on the wood of an instrument, clicks, hisses and yelps – creates sounds of extreme originality and rarefi ed beauty.

There will be a pre-concert talk with Simon Holt and Rolf Hind at 6.30pm, open to all ticket holders, lasting approx. 30 minutes.

Tickets: In advance: £14 full price / £8 conc / £5 under 16sOn the door: £16 full price / £10 conc / £6 under 16s

Richard Baker

Rolf Hind

Helmut Lachenmann

Sarah Leonard

Simon Holt


Music MazeCreative music workshop for 8–11 year olds

Sunday 3 October 2010, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventOctober’s Music Maze will feature the voice. Inspired by composer Simon Holt’s settings of the beautiful poetry of Federico García Lorca and composer Helmut Lachenmann’s experimental use of the voice, the young people will create music using the same poetry and explore the creative potential of their own voices.

Zigzag EnsembleCreative music-making for 12 – 15 year olds

Sunday 3 October 2010, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventExplore composing and improvising within an ensemble.


BEAST: States of PlaySaturday 16 October 2010: 6pm, 7.30pm & 9pm (each 1hour duration)Sunday 17 October 2010: 2pm (1hour 40mins duration), CBSO Centre

BEAST presents another weekend of electro-acoustic sound, using its spectacular multi-channel diffusion system. The weekend starts on Friday lunchtime in the Barber Concert Hall on the University of Birmingham campus, with a concert of classic works from the French tradition. On Saturday and Sunday events continue at the CBSO Centre, with concerts of recent music from Birmingham and around the world.

Tickets:Saturday: £14 full price / £8 conc / £5 under 16s / £4 studentsSunday: £7 full price / £5 conc / £3 under 16s & studentsTo reserve your tickets in advance for collection on the door, please contact BCMG on 0121 616 2616 or [email protected].

Birmingham Jazz has, over its thirty

years in existence built up an established

reputation as one of the UK’s most prolifi c

jazz promoters and producers. Birmingham

Jazz produces a year round programme of

live contemporary jazz in Birmingham based

around three strands; the Concert Series, the

Rush Hour Blues series and the Club Series.

For more information visit www.birminghamjazz.co.uk Tickets are available at Symphony Hall Box Office, 0121 767 4050 AND online at www.thsh.co.uk or via the Birmingham Jazz website.

Birmingham Jazz highlights at CBSO Centre include:

Vandermark 5 + AtomicSaturday 18 September, 8pmKen Vandermark, a favourite with UK

audiences, showcases his compositions

with his exciting live band. Performing

alongside Vandermark 5 will be Atomic,

a group from Scandinavia.

Kit Downes, Paul Rogers & Mark SandersTuesday 19 October, 8pmRecently nominated for a Mercury Music

Prize, Kit Downes is joined for this trio

performance by two accomplished free jazz

musicians drummer Mark Sanders and

unique bass player Paul Rogers. We are

delighted to host the fi rst performance of this

tour and highly recommend it.

Claire MartinFriday 5 November, 8pmThe CBSO Centre will be converted into a

great cabaret venue to present a singer of the

highest calibre. Claire Martin will perform

her own original material rather than jazz

standards in a fabulous cabaret setting.

Soweto Kinch QuartetSaturday 4 December, 8pmSoweto Kinch is a major international jazz

player brought up in Birmingham, who

has committed to staying in the city and

contributing to the local scene. His new

album – The New Emancipation (coming

out in the autumn) – draws inspiration from

19th Century Blues and Work Songs as well

as contemporary jazz and urban music.

8 Ticket line: 0121 767 4050

Sunday 14 November 2010, 8pm, CBSO Centre

Conductor: Oliver KnussenViolin: Alexandra Wood+Cello: Ulrich Heinen*ProgrammeMark-Anthony Turnage: Crying Out LoudMark-Anthony Turnage: Three for two (UK premiere)Mark-Anthony Turnage: Kai* (BCMG commission 1990)Charlotte Bray: Caught in Treetops+ (world premiere by BCMG/Sound and Music Apprentice Composer-in-Residence)Hans Werner Henze: Adagio Adagio Mark-Anthony Turnage: Dark Crossing

We are delighted to celebrate Mark-Anthony Turnage’s 50th birthday year in our 2010/11 season, in a concert conducted by Turnage’s former teacher Oliver Knussen, BCMG Artist-

in-Association and winner of this year’s Royal Philharmonic Society Conductor Award.

Twenty-one years have passed since Three Screaming Popes was premiered by Sir Simon Rattle and the CBSO, marking the happy beginning of Turnage’s four-year residency in Birmingham and laying the foundations of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group’s strong relationship with one of Britain’s foremost composers.

No piece symbolises this strong relationship better than Turnage’s Kai and it is fi tting that our birthday celebrations include what is one of our most successful commissions to-date. Kai was premiered by BCMG, Ulrich Heinen and Sir Simon Rattle in December 1990. This jazz-infl uenced cello concerto was written in memory of Kai Scheffl er (principle cellist of Frankfurt’s Ensemble Modern at his tragically early death) and features music from an aria entitled Sleep On from Turnage’s abandoned opera, Mingus.

Performed either side of Kai are three more Turnage works – all full of the jazz-infl uenced energy and rhythms that have fi lled his vivid sound world to date. Oliver Knussen conducted the premieres of both Crying Out Loud, a boisterous and extrovert Ensemble Modern commission from 2003, and Dark Crossing, written for the London Sinfonietta in 2000. Completing our Turnage snapshot, we give the UK premiere of Three for two, a piano quartet written for conductor Christophe Eschenbach’s 70th birthday in February this year.

Oliver Knussen, a long-standing supporter of Mark-Anthony Turnage, has also been a mentor for our Apprentice Composer-in-Residence, Charlotte Bray, whose new violin concerto is given its world premiere. Hans Werner Henze is represented by his short but typically intense and beautiful piano trio Adagio, adagio. That Henze was an important mentor for Turnage, and Bray a former pupil of his, adds a nice touch to the evening’s celebrations.

There will be a pre-concert talk at 7pm with Mark-Anthony Turnage and Charlotte Bray, open to all ticket holders, lasting approx. 30 minutes.

The BCMG/Sound and Music Apprentice Composer-in-Residence scheme is generously supported by The Leverhulme Trust.


Mark-Anthony Turnage 50th Birthday Concert

Oliver Knussen

Hans Werner Henze Charlotte Bray

Ulrich Heinen Alexandra Wood

Mark-Anthony Turnage


Families@5 conducted by Oliver Knussen

Sunday 14 November 2010, 5pm, CBSO Centre This bite-sized interactive concert for young people and families will explore the energetic and jazz-infl uenced music of composer Mark-Anthony Turnage as well as other pieces from the evening programme. Come early to take part in fun activities in the foyer. The concert will last about an hour.

Families@ is a series of BCMG concerts which explore one or two pieces from our evening concerts in an informal and relaxed way.

Tickets: £4 adult, free for under 16s (all children must be accompanied)

We are seeking your support with this event through the BCMG Foundation – please turn to page 19 if you want to help.


Sunday 7 November 2010, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventIn November’s Music Maze young people will write music for BCMG musicians inspired by Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Kai, which features the solo cello, and a new work for solo violin by composer Charlotte Bray. Thinking about the unique qualities of each instrument the children will create the music through graphic scores and expressive movement.


Sunday 7 November 2010, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventLed by composer Sid Peacock, the workshop explores composing and improvising within an ensemble. Young people need to be able to play a musical instrument and read a little bit of music notation. Young people taking part receive free tickets for BCMG concerts.


Ticket line: 0121 767 405010

Sunday 5 December 2010, 3pm CBSO Centre

Conductor: Peter RundelSaxophone: Simon Haram+Clarinet: Timothy Lines*ProgrammeEnno Poppe: Holz*Tansy Davies: Falling Angel (BCMG Sound Investment commission 2007) Enno Poppe: Salz Rebecca Saunders: a visible traceTansy Davies: Iris+

This high-octane mid-afternoon concert features works from two established younger composers – Tansy Davies and Enno Poppe.

In recent years Tansy Davies has established herself at the vanguard of the new wave of British composers, whilst Enno Poppe

has risen to become one of Germany’s most exciting young composers and conductor of Berlin-based Ensemble Mosaik. Both composers write hyperactive music, often with driving rhythms and an urban edge, characteristics relished by conductor Peter Rundel.

This Anglo-German programme is framed by two works with wind soloists. Timothy Lines opens proceedings with Poppe’s Holz (wood – as in timber), for solo clarinet and ensemble, and saxophonist Simon Haram joins BCMG for Davies’ powerful saxophone concerto Iris, which will bring the concert to a close. Poppe’s Salz (salt), features a Hammond organ and increases in volume and tempo throughout to create a piece loaded with tense energy. Falling Angel, a BCMG Sound Investment commission from 2007, is the other Davies piece in the programme. Davies, whose

music is informed by the worlds of both the classical avant-garde and experimental rock, found inspiration for this sometimes bright, sometimes dark piece in the texture of an Anselm Kiefer painting with the same title.

Contrasting with the high energy of Davies and Poppe is the hypnotic timbral piece a visible trace by the British-born, Berlin-based composer Rebecca Saunders. Saunders’ music is widely performed in Germany but rarely performed in the UK.


Please turn to page 19 to fi nd out how you can support new commissions through the Sound Investment scheme.

BCMG conducted by Peter Rundel

Rebecca Saunders

Enno Poppe Timothy Lines

Simon Haram Tansy Davies

Peter Rundel



Sunday 28 November 2010, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventThis Music Maze will be inspired by the highly percussive music of composers Tansy Davies and Enno Poppe, featured in the BCMG concert on Sunday 5 December. Expect a workshop full of exciting rhythms and strange urban sound worlds.


Sunday 28 November 2010, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventExplore composing and improvising within an ensemble.


Ticket line: 0121 767 405012

Wednesday 2 February 2011, 7.30pm, Symphony Hall

Conductor: Andris NelsonsCello: Ulrich Heinen*ProgrammeMark-Anthony Turnage: Kai* (BCMG commission 1990)Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9

For the second time in our 2010/11 season Birmingham Contemporary Music Group performs Turnage’s cello concerto Kai. This heartfelt requiem to a friend who died young, was originally composed for BCMG and our cellist Ulrich Heinen, who gave its world

premiere in 1990.Following Sir Simon Rattle’s invitation

to join CBSO as principal cellist, Ulrich co-founded BCMG in 1987. In 2011 he retires from the Orchestra, the perfect context for him to take centre stage in this joint CBSO/BCMG concert conducted by CBSO Music Director Andris Nelsons.

Kai will be performed before Mahler’s Ninth Symphony as part of the season’s Birmingham Mahler Cycle. Composed whilst Mahler was struggling with heart disease, stricken by the loss of a child and tormented by love for his young wife, his fi nal completed symphony is one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful compositions of the twentieth century and a defi ning work of its time.

Tickets: £9.50 – £39.50

For full concert price details and/or to book tickets for this concert visit www.cbso.co.uk/concerts, call the THSH Box Offi ce on 0121 780 3333. Book in person at Symphony Hall Box Offi ce, open from 10am – 6pm Monday to Saturday and 12pm – 4pm Sunday.

Free pre-concert talk with novelist, journalist and blogger Jessica Duchen – 6.15pm.

The Birmingham Mahler Cycle

Andris Nelsons conducts Turnage’s KaiBirmingham Contemporary Music Group and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Ulrich Heinen

Andris Nelsons

BCMG musicians performing in our Family Concerts


Sunday 6 February 2011, 1.30pm & 3pm, CBSO Centre

Conductor: Nicholas CollonDirector: Tim HopkinsProgrammeTansy Davies: Hinterland Gerald Barry: Triorchic Blues John Woolrich: After the Clock Ockegham, arr. Harrison Birtwistle: Ut Heremita Solus Bryn Harrison: In Nomine after William ByrdCouperin, arr. Thomas Adès: Les Barricades Mystérieuses Luciano Berio: DuettiJoe Cutler: new work(premiere – BCMG commission)Peter Maxwell Davies: Fantasia on a Ground and Two PavansThomas Adès: Cardiac Arrest

Transformation is a familiar part of everyone’s childhood. Just as the imaginative minds of children turn cardboard boxes into secret dens, pirate ships or space rockets, the playful minds of composers turn pavans into foxtrots and ancient melodies into blazing modern sounds.

Now in their fi fth year, our Family Concerts introduce young people to the exciting world of contemporary music. Programmed by BCMG

Artist-in-Association, John Woolrich, these hour-long concerts will interweave fi lm and theatre with the music to create fun, colourful and engaging concerts to ignite young imaginations.

Transformation is at the heart of this season’s Family Concerts. Composers often recycle old ideas, create new versions of music from the past or borrow from the music of other composers. This concert brings together ten short sparkling pieces by some of today’s top composers, all of which have been transformed in one way or another, as well as a brand new piece written especially for the occasion by Birmingham-based composer Joe Cutler.

Before and after the performances, there will be fun activities in the foyer for young people to get hands-on creating their own music and fi nding out more about the music featured in the concert. So please turn up early or stay afterwards and enjoy the whole BCMG Family Concerts experience.

Best suited to children aged 8-11. Performances will last around 1 hour.

Tickets: £6 adults / £4 under 16s / £16 group ticket (admits four people – the group must contain at least one adult and two children)

Family Music MazeCreative music workshop for 8–11 year olds

Sunday 16 January 2011, 10am – 2.30pm, Optima Hall. Free eventJanuary’s Music Maze will explore music from BCMG’s annual Family Concerts. The concert features many pieces of music that are ‘old’ pieces transformed into new ones. In a special Family Music Maze, participants will take ‘old’ pieces and turn them into new. For this Family Music Maze, we are moving down the road to St Thomas House, Lee Bank, in order to engage more local families in our work.


Sunday 16 January 2011, 10am – 2.30pm, St Thomas Children’s Centre. Free eventLed by composer Sid Peacock, the workshop explores composing and improvising within an ensemble. Young people need to be able to play a musical instrument and read a little bit of music notation. Young people taking part receive free tickets for BCMG concerts. Zigzag will be joining Music Maze in Lee Bank at St Thomas Children’s Centre.


BCMG Family Concerts

Ticket line: 0121 767 405014

BCMG conducted by Oliver KnussenSunday 13 March 2011, 7.30pm, CBSO Centre

Conductor: Oliver KnussenSoprano: Claire Booth*ProgrammeJo Kondo: StandingMorton Feldman: The Viola in My Life IIOliver Knussen: Requiem – Songs for Sue*Jo Kondo: new work* (world premiere / BCMG Sound Investment commission 2011)Stefan Wolpe: Chamber Piece No. 2Harrison Birtwistle: Silbury Air

Our March 2011 concert emphasises the unique perspective Oliver Knussen brings to BCMG. Knussen’s conducting and composing career has often taken him to the US and also to Japan, fuelling an interest in the composers living and working in those countries. He is a long-standing champion of the music of Jo Kondo, whose new Sound Investment commission for soprano and small ensemble is unveiled in this concert. Kondo’s music has been compared to the pointillism technique of painting developed by Georges Seurat. He pays great attention to the colour and sonority of individual notes and

instruments, with a particular interest in ‘hocket’ – passing the notes of a melody between different instruments.

In 2006 BCMG and Claire Booth gave the UK premiere of Knussen’s Requiem – Songs for Sue, a memorial piece for his wife Sue Knussen, which sets poetry by Rilke, Emily Dickinson, Machado and WH Auden. The following year we took it to the Aldeburgh Festival and the BBC Proms.

Complementing these recent works are a group of pieces from mid-sixties to late-seventies. The American Morton Feldman’s The Viola in My Life II is one of a series of four compositions written in 1970/71. Feldman’s quiet, slowly unfolding music has a kinship with Jo Kondo, whose second piece in this cosmopolitan programme, Standing, is a work for three instruments from different families. Harrison Birtwistle’s classic ensemble piece Silbury Air and one of Stefan Wolpe’s fi nal pieces, Chamber Piece No. 2 – composed between 1966-68, complete the programme.

There will be a pre-concert talk at 6.30pm with Jo Kondo, open to all ticket holders, lasting approx. 30 minutes.


Please turn to page 19 to fi nd out how you can support new commissions through the Sound Investment scheme.


Sunday 6 March 2011, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventMarch‘s Music Maze will explore different approaches to creating music as demonstrated by composers Jo Kondo, Harrison Birtwistle and Morton Feldman in BCMG’s concert on Sunday 13 March. We will explore the medieval composing technique of ‘hocketing’ (passing a melody between different musicians), using different pulses simultaneously and using simple melodic patterns to create large spans of music.


Sunday 6 March 2011, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventExplore composing and improvising within an ensemble.


Jo Kondo

Oliver Knussen Harrison Birtwistle

Claire Booth Stefan Wolpe

Morton Feldman


BOX OFFICE 0121 780 3333 www.thsh.co.uk

FRIDAY 11 MARCH 2011, 7.30PM, SYMPHONY HALL

ADÈS CONDUCTS ADÈS AND REICHLondon Sinfonietta

Thomas Adès conductor Tal Rosner video artist Nicolas Hodges piano Synergy Vocals

Thomas Adès In Seven Days 30’

Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians 56’

‘...a dazzling fantasy of colour and semi-abstraction...[the work] could hardly be more

alluring. The music was just as dazzling as the visual. One left the hall lost in a kaleidoscope

of colour, touched by an exquisitely decorative experience.’ The Sunday Times

£5 - 30*

For more information on all the concerts in the 2010/11 Birmingham International Concert Season please visit www.thsh.co.uk/bics-2010-11

Supported by * £2 fee per transaction will be charged on all bookings except purchases made in person at Town Hall or Symphony Hall Box Office.

In Seven Days © Tal Rosner. The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with Nicolas Hodges conducted by Thomas Adès. Stockholm Konserthus, 2009.

Feel the BuzzComposing/improvising workshop for 14-18 year olds

Sunday 27 March & Sunday 3 April 2011, 10am – 4pm & 10am – 6pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventFeel the Buzz is a partnership project with Birmingham Music Service for 14 – 18 year olds. In the past it has been led by composer Duncan Chapman, David Horne, Jackie Walduck and Peter Wiegold alongside BCMG musicians. There will be two days of workshops on Sunday 27 March and Sunday 3 April culminating in a performance for friends and family on the evening of April 3. Participants must be able to attend both workshops. BCMG welcomes musicians from all cultural traditions.

Feel the Buzz will give participants:• a fun environment to make music with

other young people• new ways to get started composing • new ways to develop your musical ideas• amazing professional musicians to create

music with • ideas for GCSE/A level composing



Sunday 10 April 2011, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventExplore composing and improvising within an ensemble.



Sunday 10 April 2011, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventApril‘s Music Maze will feature a new piece of music specially written for Music Maze by BCMG’s Learning Trainee Jeremy Clay. Some parts of the music will be written by Jeremy and some will be devised in the workshop with the young people. This workshop is not linked to a BCMG Season Concert.

Ticket line: 0121 767 405016

Saturday 21 May 2011, 8pm, CBSO CentreThis concert will fi nish approx. 10.30pm

Musical Director: Dominic MuldowneyDirector: Di TrevisSingers: Mary Carewe / male singer tbcProgramme Hanns Eisler: Suite No 2 for ensembleDominic Muldowney: Stop all the Clocks (WH Auden)*Uffi ngton (John Betjeman)*Hanns Eisler: Abortion is Illegal (Bertolt Brecht)+Friedrich Holländer: Sex-Appeal (Marcellus Schiffer)Kurt Weill: Nanna’s Lied (Bertolt Brecht)+Colin Matthews: Blue Peacock (premiere of new arrangement) Dominic Muldowney: Underneath the abject willow (WH Auden)*Hanns Eisler: Suite No 3 for ensembleJohn Woolrich: Four Flowers (premiere of new arrangement)Dominic Muldowney: Adlestrop (Edward Thomas)*Stefan Wolpe: Hitler (English word: Philip Mayers)+Friedrich Holländer: Oh just supposeMicha Spoliansky: Life’s a Swindle (Marcellus Schiffer)Hanns Eisler: The Stimulating Effect of Cash (Bertolt Brecht)+Dominic Muldowney: Foxtrot (WH Auden)*Early Sun on Beaulieu Water (John Betjeman)*At Last the Secret is Out (WH Auden)*

* world premiere / BCMG Sound Investment commission 2011

+ premiere of new arrangement by Dominic Muldowney

BCMG presents an evening of political songs and new vocal settings, under the brilliant direction of Dominic Muldowney.

This cabaret-style concert features the world premiere of Dominic Muldowney’s Sound Investment commission – a series of settings of John Betjeman, WH Auden and Edward Thomas – alongside political songs from pre-war Berlin by Kurt Weill (famous for The Threepenny Opera) and more recently by John Woolrich and Colin Matthews, plus ensemble suites by Hanns Eisler.

Former Head of Music at the National Theatre, the multi-faceted Muldowney recently produced an extraordinary War Oratorio for Channel 4 television, using theatre-trained voices, rather than classically-trained singers, as soloists. For this cabaret Muldowney will similarly work with actor-singers, a particular interest of his, imbuing the programme with an extra immediacy and sense of theatre.

Our cabaret singers will include Mary

Carewe, whose versatility ranges from musical theatre showstoppers and cabaret songs to classical contemporary music. In 1999 she performed with BCMG in Bernstein’s Wonderful Town, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and she also appears on BCMG’s award-winning disc of Benjamin Britten’s fi lm music.

This concert will tour to other UK venues following its premiere in Birmingham. Please visit www.bcmg.org.uk for full details.

Tickets:In advance: £14 full price / £8 conc / £5 under 16sOn the door: £16 full price / £10 conc / £6 under 16s

Please turn to page 19 to fi nd out how you can support new commissions through the Sound Investment scheme and support this concert through the BCMG Foundation.

nOSTalgie: a cabaret


Sunday 8 May 2011, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventOn Saturday 21 May BCMG will give a cabaret evening of songs. In May’s Music Maze the young people will create their own collection of songs – some with messages and some settings of favourite children’s poems. These will be presented to parents and families at the end of the workshop in a cabaret style performance.


Sunday 8 May 2011, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventExplore composing and improvising within an ensemble.


Hanns Eisler

Dominic Muldowney Mary Carewe

Kurt Weill

Colin Matthews John Woolrich


Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and The Opera Group present

Seven Angelsco-produced with ROH2 and TramwayFriday 17 June 2011, 7.30pm & Saturday 18 June 2011, 2.30pmCBSO Centre

Music: Luke BedfordWords: Glyn MaxwellMusic Director: Nicholas CollonDirector: John FulljamesDesigner: Tadasu Takamine

Seven angels have fallen through space and time for so long, they have forgotten why. Coming to rest on a desert landscape, they imagine the creation of a legendary garden that once fl ourished there and its destruction from greed and neglect.

Inspired by Paradise Lost, Seven Angels interprets the themes of John Milton’s masterpiece for a modern audience facing up

to the urgent challenges of a changing climate, ever-depleting resources and the potentially apocalyptic consequences.

Featuring seven singers and a live chamber orchestra, Luke Bedford’s music is dark but seductive, tense but lyrical, and integrates both solo voices and choral textures. The opera’s post-apocalyptic landscape is realised by Japanese visual artist Tadasu Takamine.

Seven Angels is the fi rst collaboration between Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and The Opera Group.

This is the long-awaited fi rst opera from Luke Bedford one of the UK’s leading young composers. Luke’s Or Voit Tout en Aventure (2007) was hailed by The Guardian as ‘one of the most outstanding pieces by any young composer I've ever experienced – music of brooding expressive intensity and charged with that indefi nable quality that makes a piece sound as if it was written out of sheer necessity.’

Seven Angels is co-commissioned by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and The Opera Group with funds generously

provided by the John Feeney Charitable Trust. The opera was developed with the support of a Jerwood Opera Fellowship at Aldeburgh Music and the Columbia Foundation Fund of the Capital Community Foundation.

Seven Angels will tour nationally to several venues following its premiere in Birmingham. Please visit www.bcmg.org.uk for full details.

There will be a pre-concert talk on Friday 17 June at 6.30pm with Luke Bedford and Glyn Maxwell, open to all ticket holders, lasting approx. 30 minutes.

Tickets:In advance: £14 full price / £8 conc / £5 under 16sOn the door: £16 full price / £10 conc / £6 under 16s

If you would like to support us with this production, please turn to page 19 to fi nd out more. Thank you to all those individuals supporting the opera so far.


Sunday 5 June 2011, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventJune’s Music Maze will take its starting point from Seven Angels, a new opera inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost by composer Luke Bedford to be premiered on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 June at CBSO Centre. In the workshop we will create our own opera(!!) with singing, music and theatre and will explore environmental themes.


Sunday 5 June 2011, 10am – 2.30pm, CBSO Centre. Free eventExplore composing and improvising within an ensemble.


With thanks:

Ticket line: 0121 767 405018

BCMG Learning and ParticipationBCMG is passionate about involving people of all ages in the performance and creation of new music. At the heart of the learning programme are six strands:

• Young people and non-professionals as composers

• Young people and non-professionals as performers of contemporary classical music

• Commissioning music for young and non-professional musicians

• Young people as active listeners• Deepening the understanding of

the music BCMG performs• Research and development

Projects take place in schools, in higher education, in the community and in our home the CBSO Centre, and are run by BCMG musicians, workshop leaders, composers and conductors of the highest calibre. The programme has an excellent

reputation for innovative projects which often blur the edges between learning and professional music-making. BCMG is committed to nurturing refl ective practice, and to forming long-term partnerships locally, nationally and internationally.

We now have a full programme of out-of-school hours composing and creative music-making workshops throughout the year for young people encompassing Music Maze (8-11 year olds), the Zigzag Ensemble (12-15 year olds) and Feel the Buzz (14-18 year olds) throughout the season.

In February 2011 we present our annual series of Schools and Family Concerts at CBSO Centre. This year’s concerts will feature rewritings and transformations of ‘old’ music by many of today’s leading composers. As in previous years the music will be presented engagingly alongside fi lm and theatrical elements. Running alongside these concerts will be a series of primary school workshops, Schools Concerts Plus for Year 5 involving around 250 children from primary schools throughout Birmingham.

Also part of our schools programme is Sequenza for secondary schools. This project gives GCSE, AS or A level students an amazing opportunity to write new music for the virtuosic BCMG musicians. The fi rst of these will take place in Autumn 2010 at Turves Green Girls’ School led by BCMG Apprentice Composer-in-

Residence Charlotte Bray and BCMG violinist Alexandra Wood, inspired by Charlotte’s new work to be premiered in November 2010.

During the season there will be two Families@ performances; one in November 2010 and one in the spring of 2011. These short interactive performances take place late afternoon on the day of a regular BCMG concert. One or two carefully chosen pieces from the evening concert are explored in an informal, relaxed environment accompanied by cake and juice!

We continue to build our relationship with University of Birmingham as Ensemble-in-Association and with Birmingham Conservatoire providing student composer workshops, composer and player seminars, performance opportunities and coaching. We are also developing links with the Royal Academy of Music.

BCMG Family FriendlyBCMG welcomes people of all ages to all its concerts. For our youngest audience members we offer specially designed programmes, front row seats and an interval reception of free juice and biscuits. All young people involved in BCMG projects are offered free tickets. For more information about these projects and ways to become involved please

contact Nancy Evans, Learning Manager or Naomi Wellings, Learning Co-ordinator on 0121 616 2616 or email [email protected] or [email protected].


Sound InvestmentJoin the family of Sound Investors and share the thrill of bringing a new piece of music into the world!

Sound Investment is a friendly scheme open to everyone. As a Sound Investor you can:• Support the creation of new music• Attend rehearsals and premieres• Meet composers and performers• Have your name listed in a new

work’s score

The amount of money we need to raise for each new piece is divided into Sound Units of £150. We have a range of easy-to-pay methods available, including online payments and direct debit instalments from £15 per month.

Thank you to the Sound Investors who are helping BCMG with forthcoming commissions by :

Richard Baker

Jo Kondo

Dom

inicM

uldowney

Silvina Milstein

David Lang

Benedict Mason

Param Vir

Harrison Birtwistle

Colin Matthews

BCMG Foundation Building the future of musicThe BCMG Foundation exists to help us realise our vision for the future. During the 2010-11 season, the BCMG Foundation needs your help with: • Families@: bite-size concerts for

young people• An evening of cabaret songs directed

by Dominic Muldowney • The national tour of Seven Angels: a new

opera by Luke Bedford co-commissioned by BCMG and The Opera Group

• Insight Events: a programme of talks, open rehearsals, discussions and workshop sessions designed to take audiences deep into the unendingly varied world of contemporary music

Foundation members are invited to special events with our artists and performers during the year. Your donation can start from £250 per year.

Thank you to the BCMG Foundation members currently supporting our work:

Core Supporters: Anonymous, John Christophers, The Holst Foundation, Maurice and Sheila Millward, Stephen SaltaireProject Supporters: Kiaran Asthana, Alan Cook, Anne P Fletcher, Bernard Samuels

Remembering BCMG’s work in your Will is a special way to enable music to fl ourish in the future. It will give future generations the chance to create and enjoy the most exciting contemporary music of their time.

Leaving a legacy to BCMG won’t cost you

anything right now. Any size of gift will make a valuable contribution to BCMG’s work, from helping to subsidise a local school’s participation in our workshops, to commissioning a new piece from one of contemporary music’s fi nest composers. BCMG is a registered charity, no. 1001474.

How To Support Us

To fi nd out more about how you can support BCMG, please contact Gwendolyn Tietze on 0121 616 2616 or email [email protected].

If we love music, there is no greater cause than ensuring its future. Sir Simon Rattle, BCMG Founding Patron

For every £1 of core public subsidy we receive, we need to raise another £1from private sources to help us deliver our ambitious programme.

Leaving a Legacy

BCMG, CBSO Centre, Berkley Street, Birmingham, B1 2LF

Parking: There is metered parking on all streets around CBSO Centre, which is free after 6pm and on Sundays. There are also car parks at Brindleyplace and Mailbox, both within 5 minutes walk of the Centre.

Facilities for disabled people:CBSO Centre is equipped with adapted toilet facilities, key signposting in Braille and the hall is fi tted with an infra-red amplifi cation system. Limited free parking can be arranged on request. Disabled patrons are permitted to bring one companion to BCMG concerts at CBSO Centre free of charge. For further access details please contact BCMG: 0121 616 2616 / [email protected] www.bcmg.org.uk

How To Find Us

Tennant St

Hagley Road West

Gas S

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Berkley S

t

A4

54

0

Bridge S

t

Edmund St

New Street

Holloway Head

Commercial St

Holliday St

Granville St

BCMG

Queensway

Paradise Circus

Suffolk S

treet Queensw

ay

Colmore Row

New Street

Snow Hill

Symphony Hall

Town Hall

Central

Library

Bull Ring

Mailbox

Brindleyplace

A4

54

0

Ring Road

Ring Roadto M5 & M6

Five WaysIsland

Broad Street

Sheepcote S

tPhotographs: Adrian Burrows, Maurice Foxall, Martin Elliott, Henrik Jordan, Sven Arnstein, Betty Freeman, Chris Christodoulou, Julian Deghy, Brian Voce, Ben Ealovega, Nina Subin, James Carpenter, Betty Freeman, Philip Gatward, Barbara Monk Feldman, Mr/Ms Stone

Front Cover Image: Stuart WhippsIllustrations: Gunnlaug Moen HemberyWith thanks: Peter Deeg (www. hanns-eisler.net)Kurt Weill image courtesy of the Weill-Lenya Research Center, Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, New York.

Concept and design by D8www.weared8.com

Many of our projects would not be possible without the generous support of our organisational partners, statutory funders, and grants from charitable trust and foundations.Our particular thanks for supporting BCMG in 2010-11 goes to:

The Barber TrustCity of Birmingham Orchestral Endowment Fund

Pricing and DiscountsTicket prices – please see individual concert pages. It’s cheaper to book in advance!Box Offi ce: Symphony Hall Box Offi ce, Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2EATicket line: 0121 767 4050On-line: www.bcmg.org.uk On door tickets can be purchased at CBSO Centre on concert nights subject to availability. Credit card payments are accepted. All seating is unreserved.

£4 tickets can be purchased (subject to availability) at CBSO Centre on concert nights by Birmingham Conservatoire and University of Birmingham music students. Valid student ID will be asked for prior to purchase.

Concession tickets are available to over 65s, passport to leisure holders, wheelchair users and disabled patrons, Benefi t* recipients.*Qualifying benefi ts are Income Support, Pension Tax Credit and Disability Tax Credit

Acknowledgments

bcmg concerts, workshops and events 2010/11

Documents

performance of new music

bcmg debut

new vocal work

major new opera

new song cycle

clutch of new works

early bcmg commission

bcmg sound investment