More about BCMG

BCMG players - Photo: Adrian Burrows

BCMG was formed in 1987 from within the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and is established as one of Europe’s leading ensembles. Sir Simon Rattle is the Group’s Founding Patron and has conducted BCMG in the UK, on tour in Europe and America, and on several EMI recordings. The Group has strong relationships with its Artists-in-Association Oliver Knussen, John Woolrich and Peter Wiegold, who takes up his role from the 2008-09 season.  BCMG’s work has won several awards: in 2008 the Group’s NMC recording of Britten’s complete film music won a MIDEM award; in 2007 a BBC Prom concert given by the Group with Oliver Knussen was shortlisted for a South Bank Show Award; in 2005 BCMG won the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Audience Development for its Shropshire Tours programme. The Group has also won previous Royal Philharmonic Society, Prudential, Gramophone and PRS Millennial awards and in 2002 won The Arts Ball Outstanding Achievement Award. 

The core of BCMG's work is the performance of new music, and the Group has premiered over 100 new works by leading UK and overseas composers. Most have been commissioned with the help of a large number of individuals through BCMG’s ground-breaking Sound Investment scheme. The Group regularly tours nationally and internationally. In 2008 BCMG gave concerts with Thomas Adès at Carnegie Hall, New York, and in the previous season appeared with Adès in festivals in Cologne, Paris and London’s Barbican Centre. UK engagements include regular appearances at the Aldeburgh Festival and at the BBC Proms.  In April 2006, the Group toured the UK with New York-based jazz trumpeter, Dave Douglas, performing Blue Latitudes, a piece commissioned through BCMG’s Sound Investment scheme. Previous projects have included a European tour with Sir Simon Rattle in 2000; a tour of India in 2002 with Judith Weir and Indian storyteller Vayu Naidu; visits to the Berlin, Radio France Présences and Vienna’s Wien Modern Festivals, and to Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Portugal. During 2008-09 BCMG gives concerts with Oliver Knussen in Birmingham, Barcelona and Madrid, and with Martyn Brabbins, George Benjamin and Peter Wiegold; the season also sees the return of the Group’s successful INSIGHT events: a series of talks, open rehearsals, discussions and workshops aimed at giving a deeper engagement with contemporary classical music, including a public recording of Ligeti’s Piano Concerto for BBC Radio 3 Discovering Music; and in January, BCMG gives its third ground-breaking series of schools and family concerts, conducted by Peter Wiegold. 

BCMG is committed to engaging the widest possible range of people with its work, and runs extensive learning and audience-building programmes in pursuit of this aim. These include projects with young people in and out of school and with adults in a range of community settings, and free performance projects such as the Group’s popular Up Close Tours and Meet-the-Composer days. BCMG broadcasts often on BBC Radio, has made TV programmes for BBC and Independent Television, and CD recordings for EMI, Decca, Cantaloupe and NMC. The relationship with NMC is particularly strong, with CDs featuring the music of Philip Cashian, Stuart MacRae, Julian Anderson, Benjamin Britten, David Sawer, Simon Holt and Howard Skempton. During 2008-09 the Group will record music by Poul Ruders for the Da Capo label.