Birmingham Contemporary Music Group announces new events

Family-friendly event at the heart of programme.

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group is preparing to present two concerts on Saturday 10th June, Familes@4 and Celebrating Three Masters, both at the CBSO Centre.

Families with children aged 7+ are invited to get close to the BCMG musicians and listen to beautiful music in the Families@4 concert. A relaxed, hour-long, late-afternoon concert created especially for families, this June’s Families@4 explores Secret Theatre by composer Harrison Birtwistle.

Nancy Evans, Director of Learning and Participation at BCMG commented, “In Secret Theatre, the composer imagines the ensemble as a group of noisy voices on a stage, each instrument with its own voice and character trying to be heard above the general hubbub. In this June’s Families@4 concert we’ll ask children to imagine what the instruments are saying and what mood they think they are in. It’s an hour of playfully taking part a classic piece of contemporary music.”

Later in the evening BCMG concludes its 2016-17 concert season with Celebrating Three Masters, a concert featuring works by three established masters of contemporary music.

Oliver Knussen was awarded both the 2016 Ivor Novello Award for Classical Music and the Queen’s Medal for Music 2015, such is the regard in which he is held. BCMG perform his Songs Without Voices and Four Late Poems, and are joined by soprano Claire Booth to premiere a new vocal work by Colin Matthews, A Land of Rain and the UK premiere of Harrison Birtwistle dear dusty moth.

Finally, Birtwistle’s Secret Theatre brings a theatrical feel to the evening, as instruments jostle to be heard, moving across the concert platform to emphasise their interactions without words.

Tickets are available from the box office on 0121 780 3333 or online at bcmg.org.uk