.Lauren RicoMonday - Thursday 6pm – 12 am ETFriday 6pm - 9pm & 10pm - 12am ET Lauren Rico has worked at radio stations in Tampa; Charlotte; Washington, D.C.; Austin and New York City. She spent over seven years as a host on Classical 24, a nationally syndicated classical music service. Over the last several years, Lauren has delved into broadcast production, hosting and producing 5 seasons of Minnesota Opera radio broadcasts as well as the Gracie Award-winning documentary series 'Instrumental Women.” A longtime student of the French horn, Lauren holds a master's degree from George Mason University.Martin Goldsmith Saturdays 12pm-6pm ET & Sundays 12pm-6pm ETFormer host of the nationally syndicated Performance Today, Martin sees classical music as 'an exciting and moving expression of what's best about humanity.' He’s author of The Inextinguishable Symphony about his parents' experience in an all-Jewish orchestra in Nazi Germany and The Beatles Come to America. Martin’s newest book, which follows his grandfather’s and uncle’s voyage on the infamous Jewish refugee ship St. Louis and their unhappy odyssey through a series of French concentration camps to their murder at Auschwitz, is called.Preston Trombly Monday – Friday 12pm - 6pm ET Preston Trombly offers his Sirius/XM listeners the same enthusiasm and commitment he brings to his music and art. For several years he worked as a composer and performer (Guggenheim Fellow, NEA and NYSCA commissions).
Symphony Hall is a concert hall located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts.Designed by McKim, Mead and White, it was built in 1900 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which continues to make the hall its home.The hall was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1999 and is a pending Boston Landmark.It was then noted that 'Symphony Hall remains, acoustically, among the.
His art has been featured in galleries and museums in the New York City/Tri-State area. Preston's Sonata No. 5 received The National Arts Club award for best art work in Mixed Media in 2010. He is a frequent speaker on music and the visual arts around the country.Robert Aubry Davis Mondays 12am - 6am ETSaturdays 8am - 12pm ETSundays 6am - 12pm ET Native Washingtonian Robert Aubry Davis is a nationally recognized producer and host for radio and TV.
His Radman Productions has released several CD compilations, and he's the TV host of WETA Public Television’s Emmy-winning Around Town.Vincent CarusoFriday 9 pm - 10 pm (Classics on Film)Saturday 7 pm to 12am (Weekend Pops Part 1)Sunday 12 am - 2 am (Weekend Pops Part 2)Sunday 2 am - 3 am (Classics on Film Repeat)Vincent has been relating classical music to everyday life for Satellite Radio listeners as well as commercial and public radio audiences for over 20 years. It all started when he was a boy and built a crystal radio that let him speak out of his family’s kitchen radio.
He’s also narrated audio books and recorded voiceovers for a variety of commercial and industrial clients. When he is not researching for his shows, he’s enjoying his family, nature, the water, the wonders of music, and lots of books.John Clare Mondays - Fridays 6am - 12pm ETJohn Nasukaluk Clare is comfortable behind a microphone, streaming video or playing violin. A former broadcaster for NPR, John has previously worked with Voice of America, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation and stations in Texas, Kansas, Nevada, California, and Pennsylvania. In 2005, Clare earned the Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP for radio broadcasting, citing his work on 20/20 Hearing. Having performed with famed tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli, John has worked with the Mozart Festival Texas, Mid Texas Symphony, Nevada Chamber Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, Abilene Philharmonic and Wichita Symphony Orchestra. An avid chamber music lover, John founded the Las Vegas Chamber Music Society in 2004.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall, BirminghamShort nameCBSOFormer nameCity of Birmingham OrchestraFounded1920Concert hallMusic directorWebsiteThe City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra ( CBSO) is a British orchestra based in, England. It is the resident orchestra at, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its administrative and rehearsal base is at the nearby, where it also presents chamber concerts by members of the orchestra and guest performers.Each year the orchestra performs more than 130 concerts to audiences totalling over 200,000 people. Another 72,000 people each year take part in its learning, participation and outreach events, and 750 local musicians are engaged in its six choirs and the.The CBSO's current Music Director is the Lithuanian conductor, who took up her initial three year appointment in September 2016 at the age of 29. Is the orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor and is Associate Conductor. The CBSO's current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock.
The performing at in 1845The earliest orchestral concerts known to have taken place in Birmingham were those organised by at the in 1740, and more than 20 separate orchestras are recorded as having existed in the city between that date and the foundation of what is now the CBSO in 1920. These orchestras often owed their origins to Birmingham's internationally significant tradition of, that give birth to works such as 's and 's, and in 1834 saw the building, one of Europe's earliest large-scale concert halls.
Birmingham's most notable early orchestra was the, which formed as a group of 25 musicians in 1768 but by 1834 had grown into an orchestra of 147. Under and between 1849 and 1909 it included some of the leading instrumentalists of its day from across Britain and Europe, but remained an ad hoc grouping that assembled to play only at the three-yearly festivals. The town's first permanently established orchestra of locally based professional musicians was, which was founded in 1856 and held annual concert seasons between 1873 and 1897. This was eclipsed as the city's leading orchestra at the end of the 19th century by, which put on similar series of concerts between 1897 and 1909. Whose 1919 proposal led to the foundation of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1920.Stockley and Halford established regular orchestral concerts as an expected feature of life in Birmingham which by the late 19th century supported a substantial pool of high quality locally based professional musicians. Between 1905 and 1920 this demand was met by a number of competing enterprises.
Halford's players reformed in 1906 as the self-governing, which continued to perform until 1918 under notable conductors including, and Halford himself. Presented an annual season of promenade concerts at the in New Street from 1905 to 1914 with a 70-strong orchestra made up largely of Birmingham-based musicians. And both ran separate orchestras in their own names presenting annual series of concerts between 1916 and 1920; and conducted and promoted his own between 1917 and 1919.From 1916 onwards, a group of influential local figures began to pursue the idea of a single, permanent, municipally funded orchestra, in keeping with the tradition established in Birmingham under, that envisaged cities as having responsibility as a body for their citizens' civic, social and cultural welfare. Leading members of this campaign included, who was from 1916 to 1918;, composer and Professor of Music at the; and, a leading Birmingham-based music critic, who had written as early as 1913 that the system of financial guarantees from wealthy patrons that had supported Birmingham's orchestras through the 19th century had become discredited. The group's first plan was to support Beecham's New Birmingham Orchestra, but this enterprise was wound up after the government requisitioned the Town Hall for the issue of First World War ration books, depriving it of its primary concert venue. A few weeks after the end of the war Bantock revived the idea and on 17 March 1919 he submitted a proposal to for an orchestra of 70 musicians to be engaged annually from October to May, at an estimated annual cost of £8,500 and with projected annual revenue of £6,000. The city council agreed to support the proposal with an annual grant of £1,250 for an experimental period of five years, the first time that public funds had been used to support an orchestra anywhere in Great Britain.
Early years under Matthews. The new orchestra's management committee met for the first time on 19 June 1919 and named itself the City of Birmingham Orchestra or CBO, probably to emphasise its civic status, though it also made clear that the CBO would be a self-governing musical body, not a municipal orchestra along the lines of those commonly found in seaside resorts. During its early years the orchestra was sometimes referred to as the Birmingham City Orchestra, or commonly just the 'City Orchestra'.
Was considered to be the most suitable candidate for the Principal Conductor role, but he was pre-occupied with his own acute financial problems and had not forgiven the city for its failure to support his earlier. As a result, a shortlist of four candidates was drawn up from the numerous applications for the post, though the initial one-year contract came to limit the choice to local applicants. The eventual appointee was, who had been running his own orchestra in the city since 1916 and had strong support from local music critics on the selection panel. Was appointed as Assistant Conductor. Programme for the first symphony concert, conducted by on 10 November 1920Matthews' plan was to hold eight Saturday concerts and six Wednesday concerts each year at, with a series of 38 concerts of more popular programmes at cheaper venues on Sundays, continuing the tradition of Sunday popular classics established by his own orchestra over the previous five years. The orchestra first rehearsed at 9.30am on 4 September 1920, in the band room at the 's Steelhouse Lane station.
The CBO's first concert was given under Matthews' baton as part of the Sunday series at the on 5 September 1920, with the first piece of music performed being 's Saul. After two months of preparing the orchestra with the popular concerts, the inaugural concert of the Symphony Concerts series was given at the Town Hall on 10 November 1920, with conducting a concert of his own works, including with as the soloist. The first season continued with a remarkable series of programmes, including conducting his own, conducting ’s, conducting ’s, conducting ’ and conducting his own. Portrait of in 1923 byThe CBO committee had two candidates in mind to replace Matthews:. For a while the committee explored the possibility of appointing both as joint conductors, but were convinced by that this idea was unworkable.
Boult had recently replaced as the conductor of the – possibly calculating that there might shortly be a vacancy with the City Orchestra – and in March 1924 he was announced in the press as the CBO's new Director and Conductor. At the age of 35 he already had a substantial international musical reputation, having studied at the under, conducted the world premier of 's at the age of 25, and worked for a period as chief conductor of 's. The urbane, Oxford-educated Boult was also comfortable dealing with influential local citizens, ensuring the orchestra retained the financial support it needed to continue. His tenure at the CBO would mark the start of a 'golden period' for the orchestra that would see it rise to national prominence, outshining the struggling London orchestras and establishing Boult himself as a major figure of British musical life.Boult brought a wider vision for the orchestra's future, building on Matthews' foundations but expanding beyond them. Some of the leading conductors in Europe were brought in to guest conduct, including,. Boult introduced lunchtime concerts at the Town Hall, inaugurated lectures about forthcoming music on the Thursdays before symphony concerts, invited students from the to attend open rehearsals, and introduced free concerts for children during school hours.
The orchestra made its first commercial recording in 1925. A more unusual experiment took place later the same year, when ' was performed at the Town Hall with as soloist, but with his part played not with him present but as a pre-recorded. A particular concern of Boult's was to reduce the effect of the summer break when, as with London's and Manchester's, the CBO's musicians spent the summer working at seaside resorts and often picked up bad habits freelancing for pier orchestras.
The committee felt unable at that time to meet Boult's desire to offer players permanent year-round contracts, but Boult tried to lessen the length of the break by initiating performances at throughout the Midlands. And building up the orchestra's diary of out-of-town concerts.The immediate impact of Boult's arrival was conveyed by the Birmingham Post reviewing his first season: 'The strongest impression is of a very great gain in note accuracy, a much improved ensemble, and a high standard of playing from the string group. The advance made within a single season is so considerable as to be remarkable.'
The orchestra also moved into more adventurous repertoire, for example performing 's less than a year after its composition, while the composer was little-known in England. The CBO's performance of 's in 1926 was only the third performance of any Mahler symphony given in Britain, and that of was only the second time it had been performed in England. Both were followed shortly afterwards by performances by orchestras in London and marked the start of the gradual increase in interest in Mahler's work in Britain.By 1926 the orchestra's finances had improved, helped by the City Council's decision in 1924 to allow to be used rent-free for the Symphony concerts and in 1925 to double the CBO's grant to £2,500 annually. Less positive was the collapse in October 1925 of the Town Hall's ceiling, leading the orchestra to move its concerts temporarily to on. Expenditure on repairing the Town Hall put back prospects of the new concert hall that Boult had been promised, and the reconfiguration of the hall from one gallery to two – engineered by London-based architect without consulting any local musicians – created acoustic problems that would dog the orchestra until its move to six decades later: the wrote that 'everything sounded strange' and complained of acoustic dead spots in the ground floor and lower gallery.One aspect of Boult's time at the CBO was the development of an important relationship with the recently established. The CBO's concert at Birmingham Town Hall on 7 October 1924 was the first orchestral concert anywhere in the world to be transmitted as an, and in 1924 and early 1925 the CBO was used to perform four 'International Symphony Concerts' at in London, supplementing the BBC's own 'Wireless Players' to form the 'Wireless Symphony Orchestra', the forerunner of the. In 1927 the relationship became more problematic as the BBC stopped broadcasting CBO concerts as a result of national dispute with the, and in 1928 upgraded the orchestra at its Birmingham station, luring sixteen of the CBO's most important players away with full-time contracts.
In May 1929 the BBC went a stage further, when the retirement of its Music Director saw Boult offered the role as his replacement. Boult was happy in Birmingham and had planned to stay at least another ten years, but was encouraged to accept the BBC role. He resisted 's pressure to take up the BBC post immediately and agreed instead to perform a further final season with the CBO. He later said he regretted leaving Birmingham, which provided the only time in his career he was able to fully control his own programmes.
Consolidation under Heward. Four conductors were shortlisted to succeed Boult and were given trial concerts –, and – but Boult later described how 'Heward very easily won the palm'.
Heward had studied conducting under Boult at the, where had described him as 'the kind of phenomenon that appears once in a generation'. He came to Birmingham from a highly successful period as Music Director of the and Conductor of the, where he had raised the standards of the orchestra's playing to the extent that they were invited to England perform at the Empire Exhibition in 1925. Despite this, his appointment was a gamble for the CBO committee, as he was still largely unknown to English audiences.Heward soon gained the respect of the orchestra's players and the Birmingham audience for his formidable musicianship. His score-reading ability was exceptional and he was able to instantly diagnose problems in rehearsal - the CBO's flautist remarked that he had 'never known a conductor who was so much respected by his players.' He was also known for his honesty and integrity, sometimes restarting a public performance he felt to be substandard halfway through, saying 'I'm sorry, we can do better than that.'
His programming in Birmingham was bold: 28 of the 41 pieces played in his first season were Birmingham premieres, and the orchestra became particularly known for its interpretations of, and modern British composers. The orchestra under Heward also began to attract front-rank soloists: and performed in 1931; played 's in 1933;, performed in 1934; and in 1936; and in 1938 played one of his own Piano Concertos.Assistant Conductor followed Boult to the in 1931. His eventual replacement, had started his 55-year-long association with the orchestra as Boult's secretary and musical amanuensis in 1924, and had first conducted the orchestra in 1930 in where he was organist at parish church. Heward was reluctant to talk to audiences and didn't enjoy performing for schoolchildren so Gray took over children's concerts in 1931 and was appointed Deputy Conductor in 1932.The Symphony concerts under Heward drew excellent attendances, but audiences continued to drop for concerts of popular classics as competition from radio and the cinema for leisure time activity increased. Relief from the resulting financial pressure came through a series of arrangements with the BBC. In 1930 the broadcaster agreed to reduce its Birmingham orchestra to an octet – with the redundant musicians being auditioned by the CBO – in return for the CBO performing 13 studio concerts each season: an important step towards permanent year-round contracts for the CBO's players. In 1934 and agreed to establish the playing 2-3 concerts a week, with Heward as conductor and 35 of its musicians shared with the CBO on 12-month contracts.
The stability this brought meant that Heward could build on the achievements of the previous 15 years and by the late 1930s the CBO was playing to a standard comparable to the orchestras of major cities of continental Europe.By 1939, the CBO's finances were looking sound and its future bright. The outbreak of, however, saw the BBC disband its Midland Orchestra and lay off its musicians, many of whom were also leading players with the CBO. Was commandeered for the war effort and the CBO cancelled all of its engagements, giving Heward six months notice of termination.
Although the orchestra started performing again at the in October as the 'City of Birmingham (Emergency) Orchestra' and was able to reinstate Heward on a series of temporary contracts, it had lost many of its prewar players, and would be composed only of part-time musicians for much of the war. Compounding the difficulties was Heward's illness. He had contracted during his period in South Africa and was already missing concerts with illness by 1934.
Aggravated by overwork, smoking and heavy drinking, his condition deteriorated and he spent six months in a sanatorium from September 1939 to May 1940. He gave his first performance for over a year on 20 October 1940, but regularly had to cancel engagements after that, with most of the CBO's concerts during the period being conducted.
On Boxing Day 1942 Heward was offered the post of Conductor of the in, tendering his resignation with effect from the end of the season, but he did not live to see out his contract, dying at his home in May 1943. Post-war doldrums By 1944, the wartime orchestra numbered only 62 musicians, all of whom were part-time and most of whom were employees of local munitions factories. Weekly concerts took place after only a single rehearsal and different players often performed from concert to concert. In an attempt to provide some stability the committee introduced permanent year-round contracts for musicians from May 1944, funded by the city council's education committee in return for 50 days of educational work from the orchestra per year. Was initially favoured to replace Heward as Principal Conductor after 12 different applicants were given trial concerts over the summer of 1943, but the orchestra eventually announced the appointment on a one-year contract of, the conductor of the. Weldon was flamboyant and charismatic with a love of fast cars and he cut a glamorous figure on the podium.
Initial critical and public reaction was very positive and in June 1944 he was confirmed as Music Director. He broadened the orchestra's reach by introducing modestly-priced summer seasons of promenade concerts from 1945, and from 1950 introduced industrial concerts aimed at the city's manufacturing workforce, alongside annual seasons in,. In January 1948 the orchestra was officially renamed the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at Weldon's personal request.Weldon's success in rebuilding the orchestra after the ravages of war was limited, however: he recruited over 40 new musicians during his tenure but by 1951 had only succeeded in increasing the playing strength to 73.
Year-round contracts demanded a heavy workload – during the 1945–46 season the orchestra played 260 concerts as well as undertaking educational work in the city's schools – meaning that most concerts were rehearsed only on the day of a performance. Audiences were also unpredictable, and Weldon was criticised for programming too much lightweight repertoire. The era saw some performances of new compositions including major works composed by the orchestra's oboist, and September 1946 brought to Birmingham to conduct his own, but Weldon repeated popular works multiple times, often twice or more within the same season. In 1946 criticised the orchestra for over-performance of ' Fantasia on ', with the orchestra responding by performing the work in a further concert, backwards.
The music critic of the was sacked in 1945 for writing that other music journalists in the city were covering up the orchestra's low standards, but by 1948 critics were writing openly of the orchestra's decline. An anti-Weldon lobby formed among Birmingham's musical establishment and unsubstantiated rumours circulated that he was conducting an affair with Gipps. George Jonas, who would later head the CBSO's council of management and started attending CBSO concerts in 1951, later recalled of the period: 'a pretty awful sound they made, it was a poor orchestra.' With attendance at CBSO concerts averaging only 60% of capacity, the Birmingham Post ran a series of articles in 1949 arguing for a new approach.
By the next year, the orchestra had a deficit of £5,000. In 1951, the incoming executive chairman of the CBSO committee approached to take over as the orchestra's new chief conductor, letting Weldon know that his contract would not be renewed. Was furious at Weldon's treatment and immediately appointed him Associate Conductor of the, but the committee considered the move a 'change to a conductor of a higher calibre' and Weldon's replacement was viewed by the CBSO's players as a forward looking one. Schwarz had a well-established career as an operatic conductor in pre-war Germany, but his role as Music Director of the Jewish Cultural Organisation in Berlin led to him being interned by the Nazis in, from where he was rescued in 1945. He was highly respected among musicians and had rebuilt the after World War II.
Adrian Boult wrote to him commending Birmingham as having 'the nicest people' and assuring him he would enjoy the city, with Schwarz later concluding 'He was absolutely right! I found that Birmingham was alive - a city with people who work.' From the start, Schwarz's programming was radically different to Weldon's, reflecting a Central European repertoire alongside many unfamiliar British works. He reserved an entire day per week for rehearsals, which, despite resistance from conservative orchestral players, quickly began to bear fruit, and the orchestra began to attract front-rank soloists again.
However, fewer concerts, more rehearsal time and falling attendance led to a worsening financial crisis with a deficit of £20,000 in 1952, and for a period it was suggested the CBSO should merge with the Bournemouth orchestra, performing in Birmingham during the winter and Bournemouth in the summer. When this proposal collapsed, the committee planned instead to reduce the orchestra to a six-month operation, until the incoming Labour council agreed to write off the accumulated deficit in May 1952 with an interest-free loan. At this time the CBSO was by far the smallest of Britain's regional orchestras, but an increase in private donations allowed it to expand the playing staff in 1953, and an administrative reorganisation and further increase in support from the city council began to place it on a firmer financial footing. The orchestra made its first television appearance in 1954 and in 1955 visited the Netherlands on its first overseas tour.
Most significant were the performances in 1955 and 1956 of the first of a series of new works commissioned for the orchestra by the – 's and 's – though reviews of the nationally broadcast premiere of the second still brought criticism from the for the orchestra's 'shaky playing'. Schwarz himself later recalled of his period in charge of the CBSO: 'the orchestra did gradually improve, but some of the playing was still not ideal'. Panufnik and the return of Boult. The orchestra's home since 1991The CBSO began to gain greater international renown after became chief conductor in 1980. Under him, the orchestra increased its recording profile and became one of the leading ensembles in Europe, and gained a name for its interpretations of late and 20th century works, especially those of.
During this period, the orchestra moved from to a new home venue, inside Birmingham's. The nearby, a converted factory, houses management offices, rehearsal facilities, and is a concert venue in its own right, for more intimate performances. The CBSO Youth Orchestra has been affiliated with the CBSO since 2004.Rattle was named music director of the CBSO in 1990. That same year, the post of Radcliffe Composer in Association was created, with filling the role. In 1995 became Fairbairn Composer in Association, followed in 2001 by.Following Rattle's departure, became chief conductor in 1998, and music director in 1999. His CBSO work included the Floof!
Festival of contemporary music. He also championed the music of in concerts and recordings. In 2001, the players rejected a contract that would have stopped extra payments for broadcasts and recordings, in the context of financial crisis at the CBSO. In addition, other controversy arose from the CBSO's demands from the Arts Council for a greater share of the Council's stabilisation fund, because of its reputation compared to other British orchestras. In 2008, Oramo stood down as music director and took the title of principal guest conductor for the 2008–2009 season.In October 2007, the CBSO named as its next music director after Oramo, effective with the 2008–2009 season. Nelsons' initial contract was for 3 years. The appointment was unusual in that Nelsons had not conducted the CBSO publicly prior to his appointment, but only in a private concert and in a recording session.
In July 2009, the orchestra extended Nelsons' contract for another 3 years, through the 2013–2014 season. In August 2012, the CBSO announced the further extension of Nelsons' contract formally through the 2014–2015 season, and then for subsequent seasons on the basis of an annual rolling renewal. In October 2013, the CBSO announced the conclusion of Nelsons' tenure as music director after the conclusion of the 2014–2015 season.