The CBSO Youth Orchestra in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England is a youth orchestra for young people aged between 13 and 26 years old, managed by the

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall, Birmingham in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its adminis ...

(CBSO). The orchestra is based at

CBSO Centre The CBSO Centre is the administrative home and rehearsal centre of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Choruses ( City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus and City of ...

but performs at

Symphony Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall is a 2,262-seat concert venue in Birmingham, England. It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 12 June 1991, although it had been in use since 15 April 1991. It is home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and hos ...

, and at the

Birmingham Town Hall Birmingham Town Hall is a concert hall and venue for popular assemblies opened in 1834 and situated in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The hall underwent a major renovation between 2002 and 2007. It no ...

, amongst other venues. Membership is drawn from the entire

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

region.

History

The orchestra was founded in October 2004 as the successor to the Midland Youth Orchestra, an independent youth orchestra established by the then

CBSO The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall, Birmingham in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its adminis ...

general manager Blyth Major and which operated from 1956 until being wound up in response to falling membership in summer 2004. The orchestra recruits young orchestral musicians in the 13-21 age range and performs two concerts annually under the direction of the CBSO's Music Director or one of the CBSO's regular guest conductors. These have included

Kazuki Yamada Kazuki Yamada (山田和樹; born 26 January 1979) is a Japanese conductor. Biography Yamada was born in Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture. He studied music, with a focus on percussion, at the Tokyo University of the Arts, where his conducting teach ...

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Sakari Oramo Sakari Markus Oramo, (born 26 October 1965) is a Finnish conductor. He is chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Biography and career Born in Helsinki, Oramo is the son of two music academics who taught at the Sibelius Academy, Ilk ...

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Jac van Steen Jac van Steen (born 1956 in Eindhoven) is a Dutch conductor. He studied music theory, as well as orchestral and choral conducting, at the . In the Netherlands, van Steen was conductor and music director of the Nijmegen Bach Choir from 1986 to 199 ...

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Martyn Brabbins Martyn Charles Brabbins (born 13 August 1959) is a British conductor. Biography The fourth of five children in his family, he learned to play the euphonium, and then the trombone during his youth at Towcester Studio Brass Band. He later studi ...

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and Mike Seal. Soloists have included

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, Alina Pogostkina,

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, Christine Rice,

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, Guy Johnston,

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, Chloë Hanslip,

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, Peter Donohoe, and Lore Lixenberg. In line with CBSO programming policy, the Youth Orchestra has a policy of performing music that is outside of the standard repertoire, and often more ambitious than that usually associated with youth orchestras. This has included

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Alpine Symphony ''An Alpine Symphony'' (''Eine Alpensinfonie''), Op. 64, is a tone poem for large orchestra written by German composer Richard Strauss which premiered in 1915. It is one of Strauss's largest non-operatic works; the score calls for about 12 ...

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded ...

's Eleventh Symphony,

John Foulds John Herbert Foulds (; 2 November 1880 – 25 April 1939) was an English cellist and composer of classical music. He was largely self-taught as a composer, and belongs among the figures of the English Musical Renaissance. A successful composer ...

' ''Le Cabaret'',

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's Fifth and Seventh Symphony,

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's Alhambra Fantasy, Ligeti's ''Concert Romanesc'',

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's Violin Concerto,

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

's ''Pulcinella'',

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's Seven Early Songs, and

Jörg Widmann Jörg Widmann (; born 19 June 1973) is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2023, Widmann was the third most performed living contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of ...

's ''Con brio''. In February 2007 it gave the world premiere of ''Streamlines'' by

Tansy Davies Tansy Davies (born 29 May 1973, Bristol) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. She won the BBC Young Composers' Competition in 1996 and has written works for ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orc ...

, a work commissioned by the Feeney Trust specifically for the CBSO Youth Orchestra. Subsequent commissions have included ''Più Mosso'' by

Luke Bedford Luke Bedford (born 25 April 1978) is a British composer. He studied composition with Edwin Roxburgh and Simon Bainbridge at the Royal College of Music, and won the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 2000. This was followed by post-graduate study with Si ...

(premiered October 2009) and ''Leckey'' by Ben Foskett (premiered October 2011). A new work by

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was performed by the CBSO Youth Orchestra in the 2013–2014 season, and they also gave

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's Passchendaele its UK premiere in November 2014. In September 2007 the CBSO Youth Orchestra launched a subsidiary chamber orchestra, the CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy, which performs annually under Mike Seal at

. Former members of the CBSO Youth Orchestra include David Taylor, Ben Gernon, Jamie Phillips and

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CBSO Youth Chorus

The CBSO Youth Chorus, based in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

is a youth choir which performs alone, or in association with the

. The CBSO Youth Chorus was formed in 1994 with the aim of providing the CBSO with a chorus for the many pieces of symphonic music that require young people's voices. Open to girls in school years 9 to 13, it is now established as one of the country's leading youth choruses, performing independently as well as with the CBSO and many other prestigious orchestras and choirs.CBSO Youth Chorus - City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
The choir is based at the

. The choir toured Sweden in May 2007, performing in two concerts in the Gothenburg Concert Hall. The Chorus Director is

Simon Halsey Simon Halsey, CBE (born 8 March 1958) is an English choral conductor. He is the chorus director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus (CBSO Chorus), a position he has held since 1983, and has been chorus director of the London Symphony Choru ...

and the conductor is Julian Wilkins.

CBSO Young Voices

The CBSO Young Voices was a choir for young people, based in

. It was one of the members of the family of CBSO Choruses. Formed in 1999 as a partnership between the CBSO and Birmingham Music Service, Young Voices was based at the

, just off Broad Street. The chorus performed in many venues, including

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

, Symphony Hall, The

Wales Millennium Centre Wales Millennium Centre () is Wales' national arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on ...

, and

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

. The choir was disbanded in the mid-2010s.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://cbso.co.uk/take-part/young-people/youth-orchestra, name=CBSO Youth Orchestra page
The website of the former Midland Youth Orchestra
Musical groups established in 2004 English youth orchestras Orchestras in Birmingham, West Midlands 2004 establishments in England City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

History

CBSO Youth Chorus

CBSO Young Voices

See also

References

External links