Business News
City orchestra looks to fund American dream
By John Lamb
by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). The orchestra has received
A
invitations to perform at the greatest concert venues across America, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, Carnegie Hall in New York and the John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC. And the CBSO is offering hospitality packages at the concerts for Midlands businesses seeking to build transatlantic trade. This would be the CBSO’s first
major tour of the USA for 20 years. Led by music director Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla, the tour is scheduled to take place from 11 October to 28 October, 2020. Mirga’s appointment in 2016
generated global excitement, especially in the US with the New York Times declaring: “When it comes to discovering conducting talent, few ensembles boast a track record like that of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in England.” She has become the
first female conductor to sign with the premier classical music record label Deutsche Grammophon. Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the 20-
year-old cellist sensation who played at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, is due to perform Elgar’s Cello Concerto on the tour.
campaign to raise funding for a major centenary tour of the US is being launched
Sheku grew up in the Midlands
and has built a strong relationship with the CBSO and Mirga since he shot to fame after winning the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year competition in 2016. The violinist for the tour is scheduled to be Gidon Kremer, who was artist in residence at the CBSO in 2018-19 and appears on the orchestra’s award-winning debut Deutsche Grammophon recording with Mirga. In addition to touring the USA
the CBSO will be celebrating its centenary with special concerts at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, prestigious performances at leading concert venues across Europe, and a project to commission 40 new pieces of music from some of the boldest composers of today. CBSO chief executive Stephen Maddock said: “Touring right across the USA is a huge undertaking: almost 250 orchestral musicians and chorus members will be travelling from Birmingham, along with several tonnes of cargo. “We have already secured 90 per
cent of the £1.5m cost of the tour through commercial income and an exceptionally generous £250,000 donation.
“Our VIP hospitality packages
will enable Midlands businesses to harness this one-off opportunity to build transatlantic trade in major cities across America while also generating the final funds needed to enable the tour to go ahead. Packages can be tailored flexibly depending on needs – we look forward to discussing everyone’s requirements.”
Royal sensation: Sheku Kanneh-Mason
To discuss supporting the CBSO’s touring plans or its wider work in Birmingham, contact Simon Fairclough, director of development at
sfairclough@cbso.co.uk
No barriers to music school
The CBSO will also be working with the Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust to open the Shireland CBSO School in Sandwell – believed to be the first non-selective, non-fee-paying school in the world to be established in partnership with an orchestra. The school will draw students of all backgrounds from across
Sandwell – one of the most deprived local authority areas in England – providing equality of access to a rounded academic secondary education with a strong musical focus. It will open for Year 7 and Year 12 pupils in 2021, growing to a maximum capacity of 870 students aged 11-18 by 2025. The school will be the first in Britain to be established in
collaboration with an orchestra and marks a radical new approach to music education, innovatively addressing the much-publicised decline in the position of the creative arts in many schools. Stephen Maddock, chief executive of CBSO, says: “We are
delighted and hugely excited to be able to move ahead with our plans for this new specialist music school. The CBSO has a long tradition of innovation in music education and community work – we were the first British symphony orchestra to present concerts for young people and the first to establish a specialist education department and to build a community facility – all of which have allowed us to make a real musical impact on young people and the wider community in the West Midlands. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our 100th
anniversary next year than by launching a nurturing school which will help create the musicians of the future.”
Full flow: Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla is all action conducting the CBSO
October 2019 CHAMBERLINK 35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
