Laugh off the winter blues with a night of comedy.
On the line-up is Daliso Chaponda, who came third in the eleventh series of Britain’s Got Talent in 2017. Daliso is the son of a Malawian politician who began his comedy career in Canada in 2001. He then moved to South Africa and eventually on to the UK, where he established himself on the club circuit and appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In addition to stand-up, Daliso is also a fiction writer. In 2002 he was a finalist in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest and in 2005 he was shortlisted for the P&E Award for online writing.
Daliso will be supported by Jonny Awsum, who also appeared on Britain’s Got Talent in 2017. He will be remembered for his crowd-pleasing set, performing a special feel-good brand of musical comedy – even roping in Ant and Dec to perform alongside him. Jonny made it all the way through to the live semi-finals and has since gone on to appear on the BBC Radio 2 Arts Show, has written three hit Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows and will be making his panto debut this Christmas!
Compere for the night will be Ian Smith, who is an award-winning comedian, actor and writer. Since starting at a young age, Ian has developed a reputation as an exciting, creative comic. Mixing conversational, energetic storytelling and observations with unique set pieces and an exceptional skill for improvisation – Ian is a regular at the biggest comedy clubs in the UK.
Wissam Boustany conductor
Matthew Barley cello
Bushra El-Turk – Mosaic
Dvořák – Cello Concerto in B minor
Amelia Clarkson – A Beacon of Hope (UK premiere performances)
Beethoven – Symphony No 7 in A major
Following PYP’s successful inaugural tour in April, we embark on a thrilling tour early in the New Year.
The brainchild of artistic director and principal conductor Wissam Boustany, PYP are a newly established training orchestra helping members arrive at a deeper inner understanding of themselves and the music they perform.
Award-winning composer Bushra El-Turk’s colourful Mosaic will be presented alongside a world premiere performance of Amelia Clarkson’s A Beacon of Hope, written especially for our January 2019 tour. The orchestra will be joined by renowned cellist Matthew Barley in a performance of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, with the concert being brought to a rousing conclusion by Beethoven’s effervescent and triumphant Symphony No 7 in A major.
Romance and Revelry
Duo Trobairitz
Faye Newton soprano
Hazel Brooks vielle
A programme featuring medieval songs from Spain, France Germany, England and Italy including love songs, philosophical musings and rumbustious dances. The concert opens the 2019 Birmingham Festival of Early Music.
Dunedin Consort
Rowan Pierce soprano
Matthew Brook bass
Handel Water Music selection
Handel Silete Venti HWV 242
Handel Apollo and Daphne
The Dunedin Consort performworks by Handel for Birmingham Festival of Early Music.
Re-live the greatest hits of the Fab Four, at our Beatles tribute night. Beatlemania are regarded as one of the UK’s leading Beatles tribute acts, playing to sell-out audiences throughout the world and regularly appearing on radio and television.
Covering classic hits including ‘She Loves You’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, ‘Help!’, ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Get Back’; Beatlemania dress in stage costumes to represent the different periods of their career – from the mop top years with their grey suits, to the late 60s “summer of love” era with the psychedelic Sergeant Pepper suits.
The Annual Basketball showdown with the University ofBirmingham Mens and Womens Basketball teams competing against local rivals WarwickUniversity. With entertainment from Bhangra, Performance Dance Squad and HipHop Society.
Doors open 3.30pm
Womens Match starts 4pm
Ex Cathedra Choir & Baroque Orchestra
Ex Cathedra Academy of Vocal Music
Jeffrey Skidmore conductor
Katie Trethewey soprano
Martha McLorinan alto
Samuel Boden tenor
Greg Skidmore bass
Bach Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? (BWV 8 – Dearest God, when will I die?)
Bach Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes (BWV 40 – For this the Son of God appeared)
Roth A time to be born and a time to die (world première)
Join Ex Cathedra for the launch of their 50th anniversary celebrations, and an exciting series of commissions that will renew our understanding of the Baroque repertoire. Ex Cathedra start with the theme of “beginnings & endings”, with a world première from their composer-in-residence Alec Roth, and with two witty and sublime cantatas by Bach.
Pre-concert talk, 6.15pm: Alec and Jeffrey introduce the programme with live examples.
15th October – Fantastic Symphony
Berlioz Overture, Les Francs-juges
Weber Clarinet Concerto No 2 in E flat major
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Michael Lloyd Conductor
Michael Webb Clarinet
From a French revolutionary, an overture to an unfinished opera about secret courts, and a celebrated symphony like no other before, with wild passions and a witches’ Sabbath.
Berlioz’s contemporary, Weber, wrote his brilliant concerto for a virtuoso, and it shows!
10th December – Russian Dance
Stravinsky Petrushka (1947 version)
Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (excerpts)
Michael Lloyd Conductor
Stravinsky combines colourful Russian folk tunes with the drama of a tale of love and jealousy among the puppets at the Shrovetide fair. Prokofiev takes his love story from Shakespeare’s most famous play, but the results are just as mesmerising.
Binchois Consort
Andrew Kirkman director
The Binchois Consort perform ‘Music for St Katherine’ for Birmingham Festival of Early Music, including music by Walter Frye and John Dunstaple.
Iain Ballamy saxophone
Jonathan Silk director
The University Jazz Orchestra collaborates with world-renowned saxophonist Iain Ballamy. Known for his distinct improvising voice and his unique compositional approach, Iain is a tour de force on the European Jazz circuit and we are incredibly excited to perform his music in this exciting collaboration. Playing arrangements of Iain's compositions penned by the incredible Malcolm Edmonstone, this promises to be a special evening of contemporary jazz performed by the incredible musicians in the Music Society’s Jazz Orchestra.
Programme includes:
John Woolrich Bricolage
Scott Wilson new work
Hailing from Canada, the Bozzini Quartet performs the world premiere of University of Birmingham, Canadian composer Dr Scott Wilson. The concert also includes a new work by John Woolrich as part of the University’s year-long string quartet project with the composer, and a work by Linda Smith.
Simon Carrington conductor
Jeffrey Douma conductor
Hailed as one of the best collegiate singing ensembles in the United States, Yale Glee Club performs alongside Birmingham University Singers in the Bramall as part of their 2019 UK tour.
Programme includes:
Byrd Emendemus in Melius
Paul Crabtree The Valley of Delight
Schumann Spanisches Liederspiel
Bob Chilcott Everyone sang
Bernstein, arr. Edgerton Somewhere
Daniele Rosina conductor
Sabrina Ko, Olivia Tait student conductors
Joshua Rapley cello
The Music Society’s Symphony Orchestra perform a programme of music by French composers, including ballet music by Dukas, and the Hungarian March from Berlioz’s epic retelling of the Faust story that captures the extremes of man’s ambition and folly. The Orchestra are joined by joint honours Languages and Music student, Joshua Rapley, for Saint Saëns 1872 Cello Concerto, with Joshua having won the Music Society Soloist Competition in the Autumn.
Saint-Saëns Cello concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33
Saint-Saëns Danse Macabre
Dukas Fanfare to La Péri
Berlioz Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust
Fauré Pavane, Op. 50
Featuring Toscana Strings
Julian Wilkins conductor
Nick Wearne organ
Whitacre Five Hebrew Love Songs
Beethoven Elegischer Gesang, Op. 118
Gibbons This Is The Record Of John
Ola Gjeilo Dark Night Of The Soul
Haydn Missa Brevis St Joannis De Deo, ‘Little Organ Mass’
Monteverdi Beatus Vir
The University Chorus welcome Toscana Strings, organist Nick Wearne, and a selection of student soloists for a programme focusing on musical interpretations of the gospel of St. John, from the 16th to 21st century.
Daniele Rosina conductor
The Unanswered Question, is a miniature described by Ives as a ‘cosmic drama’. A hauntingly beautiful chorale of strings represents ‘the silence of the Druids’, over which a solo trumpet proclaims an enigmatic phrase representing ‘the perennial question of existence’. The concert concludes with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, a work written at the height of the Stalinist purges of 1937. Shostakovich, emerging from a period of total musical banishment, called the symphony ‘a response to my critics’.
Ives The Unanswered Question
Respighi The Fountains of Rome
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
Darkside, The Pink Floyd Show brings the fine art of Floyd live to The Bramall, Birmingham as part of our ‘Which One’s Pink?’ tour.
Seven musicians will deliver a show with empathy and passion, performing tracks from Pink Floyd’s massive back-catalogue, from the early magical days of founder Syd Barrett through to later iconic albums, renowned for their complex structures, such as Dark Side of The Moon. The emphasis will be on replicating the experience and energy of Pink Floyd live on stage in the 70s, which many believe was Floyd at their very best. It certainly isn’t karaoke Floyd, so prepare to be rocked!
As would be expected, the show incorporates thoughtful and evocative lighting, powerful images and high-quality sound, complemented by the trademark circular screen.
In her debut concert hall performance, ‘The Symphony of You,’ Teri aims to ignite the souls of 420 wilfully listening participants with overtures of melodic delight expressed through her guitar and the presence of a Steinway grand piano. The depth of her vocal displayed through her original Afro soul songs and cover of Lemar’s ‘Justice’ and Sia’s ‘Bird Set Free’ will delight, captivate and liberate you.
Venue: Elgar Concert Hall, The Bramall
Pavel Kolesnikov piano
Brahms Intermezzo in E flatmajor Op.117 No.1
Intermezzo in B flat minor Op.117 No.2
Intermezzo in C sharp minor Op.117 No.3
Beethoven Piano Sonata No.4 in Eflat Op.7
Tchaikovsky Natha-Valse op.51/4
Polka peu dansante Op.51/2
Passé Lointain Op.72/17
Couperin Suite in A major
Pavanne in F sharp minor.
Russian pianist Pavel Kolesnikovjoins us to launch the 2019 Birmingham International Piano Festival.
