Orchestra takes audiences into a new world - with a deep-dive into the origins of one of classical music’s most iconic pieces
Dvořák’s 9th symphony ‘From The New World’ is one of the best-known pieces from the symphonic repertoire. This Saturday (February 15), the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) will be joined on stage at Town Hall Birmingham by Black Voices. Together they will explore the origins and historic context of Dvořák’s 9th Symphony, hoping to offer insight and further understanding into the music and poetry that inspired the symphony’s creation.
In between each movement of the symphony, conducted by CBSO Music Director Kazuki Yamada, Linton Stephens will be guiding audiences through the significance of African American Spirituals in the context of the work, with performances from the incredible female a cappella quintet, Black Voices.
Tom Spurgin, Creative Director – Learning & Engagement, CBSO comments: “We're always excited to explore collaborations that bring people closer to incredible music. Saturday’s concert follows immediately after our Friday performance of the ‘New World’ symphony at Symphony Hall, offering the audience deeper insight into the origins of this well-known piece, and bringing to the fore the amazing work of Harry Burleigh. Audiences are in for a real treat, hearing the Dvořák and spirituals performed by the CBSO and the extraordinary Black Voices."
The concert has been generously supported by the Dunard Fund.
For more information and tickets for Saturday’s concert, visit cbso.co.uk/events/cbso-explores-the-new-world-symphony
About the CBSO
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is an internationally celebrated symphony orchestra, at home in Birmingham. A family of 90 incredible musicians, led by Music Director Kazuki Yamada, proud to make exciting musical experiences that matter to the people of Birmingham, the West Midlands and beyond.
Resident at Symphony Hall, the orchestra’s musicians perform over 150 concerts each year in Birmingham, the UK and around the world, with music that ranges from classics to contemporary, soundtracks to symphonies, and everything in between. With a far-reaching community and education programme, a ground-breaking partnership with Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, and a family of choruses and youth ensembles, it is involved in every aspect of music-making in the Midlands – and has been for more than 100 years.
This longstanding tradition started with the orchestra’s very first symphonic concert in 1920 – conducted by Sir Edward Elgar. Ever since then, through war, recessions, social change and civic renewal, the CBSO has been proudly ‘Birmingham’s orchestra’. Under principal conductors including Adrian Boult, George Weldon, Andrzej Panufnik and Louis Frémaux, the CBSO won an artistic reputation that spread far beyond the Midlands. But it was when it discovered the young British conductor Simon Rattle in 1980 that the CBSO became internationally famous – and showed how the arts can help give a new sense of direction to a whole city.
Rattle’s successors, Sakari Oramo, Andris Nelsons and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, helped cement that global reputation and continued to build on the CBSO’s tradition of flying the flag for Birmingham.
In April 2023, Emma Stenning was appointed Chief Executive and Kazuki Yamada took up the post of Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor, and in May 2024 became Music Director. Under their dynamic leadership, the orchestra continues to celebrate the joy of music and of Birmingham through creating unmissable and unforgettable musical experiences for all.
The CBSO is supported by its principal funders Arts Council England, Birmingham City Council and SCC.
