BCMG nominated for prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for Millennium Point performance.
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group has been nominated for a prestigious RPS Music Award for its 2014 mass participation performance Crowd Out.
Crowd Out was performed at Millennium Point last June by a crowd of 1000 Birmingham residents. Anyone, regardless of musical experience, could perform, with the performers singing, yelling, talking, shouting and whispering their way through the performance.
Crowd Out was composed by Pulitzer Prize-winning American Composer David Lang, produced by BCMG and directed by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus Director Simon Halsey.
The idea for the piece first came to David Lang during a match at Arsenal FC’s old Highbury stadium, when he listened to the sound of the football supporting crowd in full voice. He first began discussing his idea with BCMG in 2008, and it took a full five years for Crowd Out to become a reality.
BCMG recruited performers from across the city, including local choirs and musical groups, and they came together to perform the piece in the glass atrium at Millenniun Point on June 8 2014.
The work has now been recognised by the Royal Philharmonic Society in their annual Music Awards.
The Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, presented in association with BBC Radio 3, are the highest recognition for live classical music and musical excellence in the United Kingdom.
Winners will be announced at the RPS Music Awards ceremony on Tuesday 5 May, with a special RPS Music Awards programme broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Monday 11th May at 7.30pm.