Sound Investment 25th Anniversary Concert

Launched in 1991, BCMG’s Sound Investment commissioning scheme celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2016/17. Sound Investment has raised over £350,000 enabling the premiere of nearly 75 new works by the world’s leading composers.

Here we celebrate the scheme’s achievements with a programme that would not exist without it. At its centre, we present the latest Sound Investment commission, a tragicomedy for soprano and ensemble by rising Spanish star Francisco Coll. Recent and new works by Zoë Martlew and Richard Baker ensure that three of the evening’s five works belong to 2016 – as it should be.

Former BCMG Music Director and one of the stellar composer/conductors of his generation, Thomas Adès has championed Coll’s music in recent years. We’re delighted to welcome him back to Birmingham to direct this anniversary programme, which includes the revival of two past Sound Investment commissions. The scheme enabled the substantial revision of Simon Holt’s arresting and otherworldly Capriccio Spettrale in 2009. Bursting with an energy typical of his music, Gerald Barry’s Wiener Blut is one of the scheme’s greatest successes to date.