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Birmingham International Concert Season 2008/09: John Quinn takes an early look at next year. (JQ)

The city of Birmingham has established itself very firmly as a leading venue for classical concerts in the UK. The fact that, in Symphony Hall, the city possesses one of Europe’s finest modern concert halls has made it a magnet for the worlds leading orchestras, conductors and soloists and now, in addition, the refurbished Town Hall is available as a second important concert venue.

The prospectus for the 2008/9 International Concert Season is packed full of mouth-watering prospects for the concert-going public of the West Midlands and what follows can only be a selective survey of some of the highlights. Events are in Symphony Hall unless otherwise stated.

The season gets off to a hugely exciting start. Not only is Mahler’s Third Symphony on the programme for the very first concert but also the orchestra playing it is to be the virtuoso Budapest Festival Orchestra under their founding conductor, Ivan Fischer (October 7). There’s more Mahler a few weeks later when the London Philharmonic and their charismatic Principal Conductor, Vladimir Jurowski perform the Adagio from the Tenth Symphony. In a way it’s a pity that they’ll be offering offer just this movement rather than the full work in one of its highly respected performing versions. However, that leaves room for a substantial second half  - Act II of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, no less. (10 December)

Another important date in the calendar follows soon after when Sir Simon Rattle returns to his old stomping ground to direct the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in a programme that includes two of Schumann’s symphonies, the First and the Third. We can expect Rattle and his period instrument colleagues to have some interesting perspectives on these standard repertoire scores. (December 19)

If your taste leans towards the monumental then Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder should be right up your street. Live performances of this fascinating and often very beautiful work are infrequent – I last heard it live in this same hall probably fifteen years ago when Rattle conducted a superb CBSO performance which featured John Mitchinson and the late Rita Hunter as the lead soloists. This time we’ll hear the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus under their Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen. The cast of soloists includes Stig Andersen, Monica Groop and Soile Isokoski (27 February 2009)

A tradition in Birmingham is a performance on Good Friday afternoon of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. This year the performance will be given by that expert group, Ex Cathedra, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore. The Evangelist is to be Nicholas Mulroy, who takes the role also on the recently released and much-acclaimed recording by the Dunedin Consort. (10 April, 14.00)

Prior to that Jeffrey Skidmore and Ex Cathedra will be performing another choral masterpiece as part of their fortieth anniversary celebrations. Anticipating very slightly the bicentenary of Mendelssohn’s birth (in 2009), they’re to sing his Elijah in Birmingham Town Hall, the very hall in which it was first performed, on 18 October 2008. They’ll be joined by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and an excellent team of soloists including Carolyn Sampson, Mark Padmore and, as Elijah himself, James Rutherford. 

So far I’ve focused on large-scale concerts but there is an abundance of solo recitals as well. With so many big names on the roster the only fair treatment is chronological, so here goes. John Williams gives a guitar recital, which is sure to be a big draw (6 November). Just as appealing is the appearance of Murray Perahia (31 January). In both cases the programmes are yet to be announced. We know what Peter Donohoe will play in his Town Hall recital. He offers Brahms, Bach-Busoni and the Liszt Sonata (5 March). In a weekend celebrating Bach, under the title ‘Bach – a Beautiful Mind’ Thomas Trotter (organ) plays the six Trio Sonatas (29 May); Angela Hewitt offers the Goldberg Variations (30 May in Town Hall) and Natalie Clein (cello) and Alina Ibragimova (violin) offer respectively two of the Cello Suites and two of the Violin Partitas (31 May, also Town Hall).

And finally, to coin a phrase, the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House take over Symphony Hall for two nights in March. Actually, there’s no opera; instead they present two concert works on a huge scale. First up is the Verdi Requiem (20 March) with a stellar line up of soloists, including Barbara Frittoli (soprano) and Olga Borodina. The very next night they’ll be performing Britten’s War Requiem and the chance to hear Ian Bostridge and Simon Keenlyside is not to be missed.

I’ve only scratched the surface of this enticing season in this notice. Music lovers in Birmingham and the surrounding area will be able to gorge themselves on a rich and varied musical menu – and details of the CBSO season are yet to be announced! For further information visit www.thsh.co.uk

John Quinn

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