Concerts
Next concerts
Sunday 31 October 2010 - Symphony Hall
Vassily Sinaisky conductor
Katarina Karnéus mezzo
Wagner Tannhäuser - overture
Mahler Rückert Lieder
Shostakovich Symphony No.11 "The Year 1905"
Sunday 27 February 2011 - Symphony Hall
John Wilson conductor
Leon McCawley piano
Debussy Prélude à l'après-midi
d'un faune
Gershwin Concerto in F
Vaughan Williams Symphony No.6
Previous concerts
Sunday 25 July 2010 - Town Hall
CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy
Michael Seal conductor
Loré Lixenberg mezzo
Milhaud La creation du monde
Berio Folk Songs
Jörg Widmann Con brio (Birmingham premiere)
Beethoven Symphony No.8
Read the Birmingham Press review
Read the Birmingham Post review.
Sunday 21 February 2010 - Symphony Hall
Michael Seal conductor
Andreas Brantelid cello
Foulds April - England
Elgar Cello Concerto
Walton Symphony No.1
Read the Birmingham Post review
This concert was recorded by BBC Radio 3 and broadcast on Tuesday 18 May 2010.
Sunday 1 November 2009 - Symphony Hall
Thomas Søndergård conductor
Martin Roscoe piano
Luke Bedford Più Mosso (world premiere)
Dohnányi Variations on a Nursery Tune
Prokofiev Symphony No.5
Supported by the Britten-Pears Foundation, the PRS Foundation, and the Bernarr Rainbow Trust, in memory of Dr Nigel Fortune.
Read the Birmingham Post review
Sunday 26 July 2009 - Town Hall
CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy
Michael Seal conductor
Chloe Hanslip violin
Julian Anderson Alhambra Fantasy
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2
Rameau Les Boreades - Suite
Ibert Divertissement
Encore: Shchedrin orch. Seal Humoreske (world premiere)
Read the Birmingham Post review.
Sunday 22 February 2009 - Symphony Hall
Andris Nelsons conductor
Christine Rice mezzo
Ravel Daphnis et Chloé - Suite 2
Ravel Shéhérazade
Mussorgsky - Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition
Read the Birmingham Post review.
Friday 31 October 2008 - Symphony Hall
Jac van Steen conductor
Mahler Symphony No.7
Saturday 11 October 2008 - Symphony Hall
CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy
Michael Seal conductor
Ligeti Concert Românesc
Saturday 9 August 2008 - Worcester Cathedral
Sunday 10 August 2008 - Birmingham Town Hall
CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy
Michael Seal conductor
Morgan Szymanski guitar
Part Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Ligeti Concert Românesc
Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez
Beethoven Symphony No.7
Read the Birmingham Post review
Sunday 17 February 2008 - Symphony Hall
Martyn Brabbins conductor
Guy Johnston cello
Britten Four Sea Interludes (from Peter Grimes)
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1
Bartók Concerto for Orchestra
Sunday 28 October 2007 - Symphony Hall
Michael Seal conductor
Alexander Melnikov piano
Bernstein Divertimento
Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Nielsen Symphony No.4 (The Inextinguishable)
Read the Birmingham Post review
Saturday 1 September 2007 - CBSO Centre
CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy
Michael Seal conductor
Mathias Summer Dances
Shchedrin Carmen Suite
Hindemith Kleine Kammermusik Op.24 No.2
Beethoven Symphony No.4
Read the Birmingham Post review
Sunday 18 February 2007 - Symphony Hall
Paul Daniel conductor
Tasmin Little violin
Walton Spitfire Prelude and Fugue
Korngold Violin Concerto
Tansy Davies Streamlines (world premiere - Feeney Trust
commission)
Tchaikovsky Symphony No.2 (Little Russian)
Read the Birmingham Post review
Sunday 29 October 2006 - Warwick Arts Centre
Sakari Oramo* & Anthony Bradbury conductors
MYO 50th Anniversary Concert / IgorFest
Stravinsky Greeting Prelude
Stravinsky Symphony in E flat
Stravinsky Four Norwegian Moods*
Stravinsky Firebird Suite (1911)*
Read the Birmingham Post review
Read the classicalsource.com review
Sunday 19 February 2006 - Symphony Hall
Sakari Oramo* & Michael Seal conductors
Alison Balsom trumpet
Britten Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
Arutiunian Trumpet Concerto
Elgar Enigma Variations*
Encore: Foulds Overture, Le Cabaret*
Read the Birmingham Post review.
Sunday 30 October 2005 - Warwick Arts Centre
Paul Daniel conductor
Joanna MacGregor piano
Adams The Chairman Dances
Bartók Piano Concerto No.3
Tchaikovsky Symphony No.6 (Pathétique)
Read the Birmingham Post review.
Saturday 19 February 2005 - Adrian Boult Hall
Garry Walker conductor
Peter Donohoe piano
Shostakovich Festive Overture
Maxwell Davies Five Klee Pictures
Liszt Piano Concerto No.2
Shostakovich Symphony No.6
Review
The Birmingham Post - Monday 21 February 2005
David Hart
As the woman in the next seat put it, 'Shut your eyes and you'd never know it was a youth orchestra'.
Well actually you would, because the CBSO Youth Orchestra absolutely bristles with energy, enthusiasm and - yes, youthfulness.
This reborn and revitalized version of the former Midland Youth Orchestra is much more than 92 youngsters eager to impress, but a top-notch, professional sounding and wonderfully disciplined band. To achieve the terrific playing we heard, after just a half-term week of coaching and rehearsals, was nothing short of a miracle.
It helped that the programme had been so wisely chosen.
Shostakovich's Festive Overture got things off to an electrifying start, with thrilling brass fanfares spot on and swirling main theme so precisely executed. To conclude, the same composer's Symphony No.6 offered even greater opportunities for individual and ensemble display, especially in the extended Largo, where glowing horns, impeccably focused strings and woodwind players articulating as one gave constant listening pleasure. All the important solos for flute, oboes, cor anglais, trumpet - even piccolo - were fearlessly and adroitly handled.
An early work by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Five Klee Pictures, from his groundbreaking days at Cirencester Grammar School, also provided a perfect choice for these young musicians- dry, witty and gently iconoclastic.
In Liszt 's Second Piano Concerto - glorious Peter Donohoe perfectly judging when to dominate and when to blend in with the musical 'furniture' - balance between soloist and orchestra was so carefully observed as to be virtually faultless. For conductor Garry Walker, who made such persuasive sense of structural and instrumental detail throughout the evening, and the players themselves, it was a triumph.
Cheers all round at the end, and deservedly so.
Sunday 31 October 2004 - Adrian Boult Hall
INAUGURAL CONCERT
Sakari Oramo conductor *
Anthony Bradbury conductor #
Eduardo Vassallo cello
Khachaturian Spartacus - excerpts #
Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations #
Sibelius Symphony No.2 *
Review
The Birmingham Post - Tuesday 2 November 2004
Christopher Morley
The birth of an amazing new addition to the CBSO extended family was witnessed by a sell-out audience filling the Adrian Boult Hall on Sunday, and rarely can so many smiles have radiated such immense pleasure.
Put quite simply, the CBSO Youth Orchestra, less than a week after meeting for the first time, is already performing to a standard which would be the envy of many professional groups. With an age range of 13 to 21, these young players have spent much of half-term in intensive rehearsals, with about one third of the parent orchestra involved in coaching and preparation.
The result was a mature, positive sound right from the beginning of a suite from Khachaturian’s Spartacus, with a rich, deep string tone, generously bowed. Brass were resonant and controlled, and the principal oboe, taking the first ever CBSOYO solo with aplomb, was the harbinger of an exciting and shapely woodwind section; percussion were crisp and rhythmic.
Eduardo Vassallo was the elegant cello soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, empathetically accompanied by these youngsters who have learned so well how to listen.
The enthusiastic and enthusing Anthony Bradbury conducted the first half of the concert, but it was a real special moment when Sakari Oramo took over for Sibelius’ difficult Second Symphony. This was a swift, searing reading, and how masterfully did these young musicians rise to its challenges!