Powered by Google

Little Sister keep it together

Birmingham group Little Sister talk to Andy Coleman about an obsession with playing spoons.Read

Jazz diary: John Ruddock at Stratford

John Ruddick spends nearly all his time these days rehearsing and leading the Midlands Youth Jazz Orchestra, so rare is the occasion when we can hear him indulging his initial passion: just playing the trumpet.Read

Ex Cathedra - 40th anniversary at Birmingham Town Hall

It was a brilliantly simple idea that Ex Cathedra should seal its fortieth anniversary celebrations (“XLent” – geddit?) with works written for giganticRead

Daniel Barenboim/ Staatskapelle Berlin Symphony Hall

We mustn’t quibble. Daniel Barenboim’s innovative series juxtaposing Beethoven’s five piano concertos with Schoenberg may have been destined for London (Paris later this week), but Saturday’s single Birmingham concert was better than nothing.Read

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Hereford Cathedral

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is a mammoth work putting great demands on performers as it unfolds the momentous events of the Nativity.Read

CBSO/ Alpine Symphony at Symphony Hall

RICHARD Strauss’s monumental Alpine Symphony was magnificently performed.Read

Blowing hot and cool with Jan Garbarek

When the Jan Garbarek Group play live, the ice melts to reveal the fire beneath, says Peter Bacon.Read

Classical Music: Birmingham Contemporary Music Group at CBSO Centre

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group continues to serve up programme-pies to pull out plums and Monday’s concert, under the quiet, authoritative conducting of Oliver Knussen, was no exception.Read

Classical Review: Royal Shakespeare Company, New Music Concert at The Courtyard, Stratford-upon-Avon

Sunday evening saw a fascinating variety of creative responses to words and dramatic situations by six living composers.Read

Classical Review: Ian Bostridge, Antonio Pappano at Birmingham Town Hall

It all looked so mouthwatering on paper: master-tenor Ian Bostridge and master-accompanist Antonio Pappano performing a late, great masterpiece by Schubert. But for at least one listener it didn’t work.Read

AC/DC to headline Download Festival at Donington Park

Rock legends AC/DC have been confirmed as one of the headliners at this year’s Download Festival, taking place at Donington Park between June 11 and 13. Read

Review: CBSO/Brahms and Sibelius at the Symphony Hall

It seemed I was fated never to hear Laurence Jackson, CBSO concertmaster, perform the Brahms Concerto for Violin and Cello with either of his co-principal cello colleagues.Read

Review: Patricia Rozario and Mark Bebbington at Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham

In almost every respect, Birmingham Chamber Music Society’s brave experiment of giving a Sunday afternoon concert instead of its habitual Saturday night ones drawing a dwindling audience proved a huge success.Read

Jazz Diary: Atzmon nod to the Bird

“Bird with strings” – to the man in the street could conjure up visions of a marionette parrot.Read

Review: Elgar/Vaughan Williams, CBSO at Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Review: Elgar/Vaughan Williams, CBSO at Symphony Hall, BirminghamRead

Review: Fyfe Dangerfield, at the Glee Club, Birmingham

Fyfe Dangerfield, at the Glee Club, BirminghamRead

Review: Laurence Jackson/CBSO, at Symphony Hall, Birmingham

This was a reading of the utmost empathy, unforced and subtle, with Ulrich Heinen bringing a Bachian inwardness to Brahms' cello writing. Read

A Sunday treat from Birmingham Chamber Music Society

Birmingham Chamber Music Society plans a fresh way to attract a new audience. Christopher Morley reportsRead

Jazz Diary: Sunday delight in Stratford

Stratford Jazz is the little jazz club that just keeps going all year round. It might have had to cancel last week’s gig due to the weather but a jazz-free Sunday evening in Stratford-upon-Avon is a rare thing indeed.Read

Review: New Year in Vienna at the Symphony Hall

The day itself may have been long past but the CBSO’s New Year concerts last Saturday drew large audiences eager to wallow in the music of Vienna and Johann Strauss II in particular.Read