BEST OF BRITISH

Saturday 21 April 2007 at 7.00pm

Symphony Hall, Birmingham +44 (0)121-780 3333

James MacMillan  conductor
The Hilliard Ensemble  
CBSO Chorus  
City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus  

Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes 16' Listen
requires Real Player
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 4 34'
MacMillan: Quickening 48'

Tonight's all-British programme gives a great opportunity for Birmingham audiences to experience the work of a leading Scottish composer-conductor whose music is played all around the world to huge acclaim. As well as conducting seminal, dramatic masterpieces by two 20th-century greats, James MacMillan gives the first Birmingham performance of his choral work Quickening, premiered at the 1999 Proms. This evocative setting of poems by Michael Symmons Roberts on the subject of new life and childbirth features the vocal talents of the Hilliard Ensemble as well as the CBSO's own Choruses, in a haunting work of great emotional power.

Sounds Interesting pre-concert talk at 5.45pm
The Composer's Perspective -
James MacMillan
James MacMillan discusses his work Quickening, in conversation with Stephen Maddock.