Young Russian musicians to perform in Birmingham.
Birmingham will be playing host to some of Russia’s most talented young musicians next month when 47 children from Volgograd arrive in the city. They are visiting the West Midlands to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Coventry and Stalingrad becoming twin cities , the first recorded twinning arrangement in the world.
Volgograd Children’s Symphony Orchestra, with members aged between 10 – 16 years of age, will be performing at the CBSO Centre, Berkeley Street, on Saturday 5th April along with CBSO Young Voices Choir and Birmingham Schools’ Flute Sinfonia.
Over 100 talented young people from both cities will be showing off their musical skills in the building that is home to the world famous City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Carol Brown, co-organiser of the five day visit, said: “I am really looking forward to the performance in Birmingham. I can’t believe that all our initial conversations, planning and fundraising ventures has finally resulted in the children travelling by coach from Volgograd, which is a distance of over 4,000 kilometres. Birmingham is my second home and I am looking forward to showing them around.”
Yuri Ilynov, co-organiser and Artistic Director of the Orchestra is as excited as the children about visiting Birmingham again. He said: “This is my second visit and we are all looking forward to arriving in the city. The CBSO are one of the top symphony orchestras in the world and we are all thrilled to be performing in their home city and headquarters.”
Stephen Maddock, Chief Executive of the CBSO, commented: “We are delighted to welcome the Children’s Symphony Orchestra to the CBSO. This is an ideal opportunity to promote music to and for young people and demonstrates to the wider community the skills and expertise of our young people.”
The concert will feature new music especially composed for the visit to the UK and music composed to celebrate the end of the Battle of Stalingrad that has been recently re-discovered.
Volgograd Children’s Symphony Orchestra will also be performing at Coventry Cathedral on Friday 4 April at 7pm.