Birmingham, known as a city of a thousand trades, is now establishing itself more as a city of
a thousand sounds. From unique collaborations to funky festivals there is no end to the aural
pleasure from Birmingham bands and musicians.
The amps will be turned up this Autumn by Marketing Birmingham, who is launching a new
arts campaign ‘Feel The Heat’, which will help showcase the city’s bands, musicians, musical events and venues.
Some of Birmingham’s favourite bands and musicians have releases and gigs planned for the
next few months. Formed whilst at school in Handsworth, Steel Pulse head to Carling
Academy’s stage on 6 September. Enrique Plá, drummer with the Grammy winning Cuban
band Irakere, will be joining Birmingham jazz legend Andy Hamilton and the Blue Notes
on 6 September. Ocean Colour Scene release their new single Go To Sea Boyz in October
and with their only gig in the city, The Twang will be at the Carling Academy on 25th
October.
Catch the world premiere of a new work by Guillemots frontman, Birmingham-born Fyfe
Dangerfield, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) on 11th October
at The Town Hall. After a £35m refurbishment, the 1,000 seat Town Hall will open in October
with a spectacular two week festival “Celebrating the Past, Pioneering the Future.” Ex
Cathedra will be celebrating Birmingham’s great choral tradition with past masterpieces and
pioneering the future with a new commission from John Joubert. City Organist Thomas
Trotter will be showing off the 6,000 newly refurbished pipes of the 1834 Town Hall organ
with a world premiere from renowned composer Paul Patterson.
Production company Punch join forces with some of the finest national and local live bands in
The Best of British Urban on 12 October with Four Kornerz, Terri Walker, Natalie Williams,
TY, Seven, Sacha Brookes & E Double D. Avant-garde champions Capsule will be presenting live performances from Pram and Modified Toy Orchestra, pioneers of Birmingham’s experimental music scene.
On a different note, one diva and one tenor direct, from Arena di Verona, will perform La
Traviata with more than 200 Birmingham singers and the CBSO as part of the Birmingham
Opera Company‘s performance at the NIA on 25th and 26th October. The company is
celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
As the busiest theatre in the UK outside of London’s West End, Birmingham Hippodrome
regularly welcomes up to 500,000 people a year and is the Midlands base of the Welsh
National Opera (WNO). WNO are Europe's busiest touring opera company and the largest
provider of touring opera in the UK, their Autumn programme includes three separate
performances. Verdi's Il trovatore is supremely melodic, vigorously paced and is filled with
arias and vocal ensembles of thrilling power. 20th – 23rd November. A World premier tour of a
new WNO production, The Sacrifice will take place on 21st November. This compelling and
timeless story of a ruler's ultimate sacrifice to safeguard the future of his war torn, faction-ridden country. Composed and conducted by one of the world's greatest living composers, James MacMillan, The Sacrifice is directed by Katie Mitchell, with a libretto by the awardwinning poet Michael Symmons Roberts, inspired by the heightened mythical world of The Mabinogion: a collection of ancient Welsh folktales. From 22nd – 24th November a new production of Cinderella (La Cenerentola) is created by WNO and the Barcelona-based Comediants, one of Europe's most inventive theatre producers.
The national final of the Global Battle of The Bands, the world’s biggest live music
competition for bands of all genres, will be held at the Town Hall on Sunday 28th October with
bands competing for overall first prize of a world tour and $100,000.
Hailed as ‘the UK’s most diverse music festival and conference’ Gigbeth will storm into the
Irish quarter of the city from 1 – 3 November. Last year 300 musicians played 72 hours of
music in 18 venues to more than 3,000 music lovers. This year looks to be colossal in it’s
offering of a platform for all genres of music in indie, jazz, soul and gospel, hip hop, folk,
drum & bass, Bhangra and classical music. MR Hudson And The Library, Soweto Kinch, Nizlopi, Achanak and many more artists have already been confirmed.
In December the mac will host collaboration between sampad, Birmingham Jazz and
Mercury Music Prize nominated pianist and composer Zoe Rahman on 6th December who
will present a new project featuring unique interpretations of Bengali music. The 150th
celebrations for Elgar continue with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
(CBSO) performance of The Enigma, 13th – 16th December.
Marketing Birmingham Chief Executive Neil Rami said: “Research from the national tourism
agency Visit Britain has shown that 23 million Brits have already taken in a concert or festival
while on holiday in the UK, so with the scale, breadth and quality of the music scene in
Birmingham there’s no excuse not to tune into Birmingham this Autumn.”
Ends
For further information and visuals, please contact Tracey Saunders, Head of PR & Corporate
Affairs, Marketing Birmingham on 0121 202 5002 or email us.
Notes to editors
• BBC Big Band, Black Voices, Soweto Kinch, Orchestra of the Swan, Ex Cathedra and
Thomas Trotter have been announced as the first Associate Artists of Town Hall. All
feature prominently in the Re-opening Festival and all will enjoy a special relationship
with Town Hall, collaborating on programming, education work, new audience
initiatives and commissions.
• Andy Hamilton residency information at http://www.bearwoodjazz.co.uk.
• http://www.birmingham-academy.co.uk/
• More information on the new Town Hall at http://www.thsh.co.uk
• http://www.birminghamopera.org.uk
• http://www.wno.org.uk
• http://www.gigbeth.com
• http://www.birminghamjazz.co.uk
• http://www.ex-cathedra.org
Did you know?
• 2008 will be the 30th anniversary of Duran Duran forming.
• Big Bear Music has been an independent record label for forty years and organises
the Birmingham International Jazz Festival and the UK’s only British Jazz Awards
every July.
• Occupying the site of the former Rank Ballroom, Carling Academy was originally the
Hummingbird and re-opened in late 2000 with early gigs by Richard Ashcroft and
locals Ocean Colour Scene.
• Ocean Colour Scene's latest album Live Acoustic was recorded live at The Jam House,
set in St Paul’s Square, and prints of the original cover artwork can be bought at St
Paul’s Gallery – the largest modern and contemporary art gallery outside London.
• Europe's busiest exhibition venue just keeps on rocking. Since it opened in 1976 the
NEC has been the Midlands' very own Wembley Arena. Keane, Razorlight, and Take
That are just some of the sell-out concerts.
• Since opening in 1992 the Jug of Ale in Moseley has seen a who’s who of UK and
international acts making their Birmingham debut. Kasabian, Maximo Park and The
Editors have all played here.
• Dep studios in Digbeth was home to UB40 who have always stayed close to their
hometown roots and recorded the majority of their 20+ studio albums there.
• The Old Library in the Custard Factory was the photo shoot location for The Twang’s
NME cover who also filmed the video for ‘Either Way’ in their hometown.
Download Birmingham_Beatbox_en (.pdf 47.12 KB)
+ Permalink