Celebrating the CBSO

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The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is one of the world’s most respected orchestras. We caught up with its CEO Emma Stenning, who made the move from Toronto in 2023, to chat about plans for the orchestra as well as some of her favourite and not-so-favourite bits of Brum

Emma came to the CBSO from Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre where she landed after spending a decade as chief executive of the historic Bristol Old Vic. She was also head of theatre at Arts Council England and cultural programme advisor at the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games as well as executive director of Battersea Arts Centre among other roles.  Now she has bold ambitions for the CBSO.

She says her vision is to connect with people who live here: “Classical repertoire will always be at the heart of what we do, however today’s Birmingham is immensely multicultural and young. We need to be bold enough to explore what to become. We need to be adventurous and brave enough to find something distinctive and step into new kinds of music.”

In April, the orchestra is putting on a concert in partnership with Punch Records titled Legacy which is surely the CBSO’s first foray into grime. Emma adds: “The musicians love the breadth. They’ll be playing Beethoven No9 at Symphony Hall one day and film music for a Halloween event the next.”

NUTS BUT FUN

Last summer the orchestra brought musical magic to the city by popping up and performing 27 free concerts in places like Birmingham Botanical Gardens, the library and New Street station among others. Emma says: “It was sort of nuts but the best fun ever. I would arrive at the office and it was like mission control. A string quartet would be off to play in a café, brass in the park. It was magic.”

Emma describes her role as CEO as a curious one. She says: “Internally my job is to care for the company. Do we have enough money and resources? There’s a strategic side too, so what we play and where as well as pushing us to think about the future.” She adds: “Externally, I represent the company and talk to partners and collaborate with cultural colleagues such as the ballet and internationally, represent the CBSO on the world stage. We’re in Europe in May, Japan in July. We take the city’s name with us.”

COMPLETELY MAGICAL

Just as Emma joined the orchestra, so did chief conductor and artistic advisor Kazuki Yamada who she works closely with and describes as ‘completely magical’ and who shares her love for the CBSO. Kazuki says: “It is a great orchestra with a very special connection, almost like telepathy. They have the ability to know in advance everything I want them to do. For me, it’s exciting just to think about how much fun it is to make music with them.”

Emma’s first impressions of Birmingham were positive. “I love being in the city. There’s a vibrancy and a happiness and so many different cultures. I found it welcoming.” Emma’s top foodie haunt is the unassuming Indian Racer. She says: “It’s my favourite restaurant. I take everyone. It’s in the back of a pub and such an improbable looking place. You go through a curtain and there it is. I absolutely love it.” The only issue with the city for Emma, and one we agree with, is the public transport provisions after dark. She says: “Public transport needs improving to stop the 9.30pm transit out of the city. It’s terrible for the night time economy. The mayor could sort it.”

VIOLIN BY ZOOM

It’ll surprise you to learn that Emma isn’t very musical but thought she’d have a stab at the violin during lockdown. She says: “I made various attempts as a child. I reached grade 2 on the piano. I spent my time dancing – ballet and tap.” She adds: “During lockdown in Toronto an oddly shaped package arrived from a friend which turned out to be a violin. I started a weekly Zoom class – poor neighbours! I got to a point where I could play Amazing Grace. It was really enjoyable.”

Emma headed up the Soulpepper Theatre throughout the pandemic so worked a lot from the kitchen table. A salary subsidy scheme kept the theatre’s staff employed. She says: “It was the opposite of the furlough scheme. Here people were paid not to work and in Canada the salary subsidy paid people to stay employed. We did all sorts – radio plays, sorting out the archive, sign language lessons.”

Emma says Birmingham is like Toronto in some ways, but she’s not looking back. She’s looking ahead to a packed programme for the rest of 2025 and ensuring that the CBSO continues to thrive. She says: “It has an incredible history, and I feel a profound responsibility.”

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra CBSO

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In a new feature we look at what makes us proud to be Brummies. This month it’s the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

When you make a shortlist of the great orchestras of the world, the CBSO will be right up there at the top. Renowned for its ability to search out relatively unknown musicians and turn them into superstars, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is woven into the fabric of Brum life. It’s an institution which carries the name of Birmingham with pride around the world, while here at home it touches the lives of thousands of Brummies every year. Not just in its varied programme of concerts at Symphony Hall and the CBSO Centre in Berkley Street, but at many different levels – some of which may truly surprise you! In fact ‘surprising’ is a perfect adjective to describe the CBSO.

ORIENT SUCCESS

It’s most famous of course for its wonderful musicians and musical directors. The CBSO is where the likes of a young Sir Simon Rattle cut his musical teeth and waved his baton with distinction. Current musical director Andris Nelsons was a relative unknown when plucked from his native Latvia seven years ago. Now he is one of the most sought-after conductors on the international scene and is a regular guest at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera New York. Under his director, the CBSO was named the best orchestra in Japan following its recent tour to the Far East. The CBSO’s most public face is as resident orchestra and chorus at Birmingham Symphony Hall. But its working home in Berkley Street is where most days of the week you’ll find its auditorium and studios bussing with auditions, educational schemes and concerts and workshops. Importantly, it’s also the hub for the continually expanding outreach projects with the local and business communities.

PIED PIPER

In any given year this Pied Piper of culture will interact with up to 35,000 schoolchildren and young people in the region in dozens of different initiatives. All have the same core aim – to bring as many of Birmingham’s young people as possible into contact with music and instruments at as early an age as possible. But we’re not talking serious classical stuff here – the last initiative for example saw the CBSO and legal firm DBS Law working in partnership to present a road safety message through music to more than 2,000 schoolchildren. The message was successfully delivered, the kids saw music in an exciting new light – and they had fun, too! “Partnerships with business are becoming ever more important to the orchestra as we look to widen our role in the community at a time when traditional support through grants and subsidies are continually being cut,” says communications manager Ruth Green. “The CBSO brings so much to Birmingham both here in the city and on the international stage. We are recognised as being worldclass and we are very proud of that. We think it is very important we give as much back to the city and community as possible and we work very hard to do that. One of the key areas is to bring youth into contact with music as much as possible and make it accessible to those who otherwise might never have the chance. That’s where working closely with business helps us to deliver.”

FREE INSTRUMENTS

Banking giant, Deutsche Bank, is one of the orchestra’s key players as a sole supporter for work with the schools. Their financial backing allows the CBSO to send its musicians out to the schools to give concerts and hold masterclasses, workshops and ensembles. Discussions are ongoing with other major business supporters to widen still further the reach and depth of the CBSO’s youth programmes. There are plans to launch a project which aims to transform the lives of young people and their communities through music-making. This will see the CBSO select a school within a deprived community and give the children free instruments with a planned programme of musical education and development, leading to a coherent school orchestra. A radical project is also being discussed to bring children with extreme disabilities in touch with music. “Life has never been busier here than it is now. The CBSO is an exciting place to be as we move forward,” says Ruth Green. Reflecting the sense of endeavor and confidence, the CBSO Centre is also about to get a £1.5million pound makeover thanks to grants from the Arts Council and the Garfield Weston Foundation. This will see upgraded performance facilities with state-of-the-art acoustics and new seating and lighting as well as a contemporary makeover for the building’s interior and exterior.

FIVE FACTS ABOUT THE CBSO

  1. The CBSO was founded in 1920 and its inaugural concert was conducted by Sir Edward Elgar
  2. The orchestra performs around 130 concerts a year, regionally, nationally and internationally
  3. Its wide-reaching programme covers everything from Beethoven to Bollywood
  4. The CBSO also includes the CBSO Youth Orchestra, Chorus, Children’s and Youth Choruses, SO Vocal in Sellyoak, Handsworth Community Choir and the CBSO Young Voices
  5. As well as teaming up with some of the world’s leading musical artists, it has performed with unlikely personalities such as TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh and Great British Bake Off presenter Sue Perkins.

Mark Kermode

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The film critic has teamed up with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to perform a series of concerts dedicated to the movies. He tells us about what’s in his “celluloid jukebox”, and the scores which mean so much to him 

Mark Kermode considers himself to be a very lucky man. He watches films and talks about them for a living, plays in a band, and, as he approaches his 50th birthday, is remarkably contented. “I hope to do this until I drop off my perch. Even when I am watching the latest Keith Lemon film, I still have to pinch myself to be sure I am not dreaming that this is my job,” he says.

The film critic, who is a regular on BBC TV and radio, feels he is “getting away with it”, but nonetheless, his latest project is surely a step further up the lucky scale. Kermode, along with his long-term friend, musician Robert Ziegler, has managed to assemble an 80-piece orchestra to play his favourite film scores. Kermode will curate ‘Film Music Live’, a series of four concerts performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). “Robert Zeigler and I go back a long way. I first met him at a festival, where I was introducing Hitchcock’s ‘The Lodger’, and he was conducting a live orchestra. We fell into a conversation about film music and realised we had a great deal in common. He’s not only a great musician but he can talk about music in a way which brings people in,” Kermode explains.

Zeigler and Kermode, along with concert producer Tommy Pearson, began to forge the idea of creating a concert dedicated to film scores. It wasn’t meant to be a selection of the most famous films, but a highly personalised collection, with Kermode’s and Ziegler’s ideas at the forefront. “I think it was all of our ideas. We had been talking about it for years, and it just needed someone to make it happen,” says Kermode. “When it was suggested I do it, I was flattered.”

THE LIST

Kermode and Zeigler spent several weeks exchanging emails and batting suggestions back and forth, until they came up with a list to perform (see box-out). The list reflects Kermode’s passion for both film and music, but it is far from a list of blockbusters. “I had this idea that my soundtracks weren’t as well known as they should be, and in some cases the films aren’t as well known, either.”

Those who know of Kermode’s reviews won’t be surprised to find that his favourite film, The Exorcist, is included. Another inclusion is the Planet of the Apes, as  Kermode believes “everything you need to know about politics, you can find out from watching Planet of the Apes.”

Others are films which he believes have been overlooked, but which also have soundtracks he loves to listen to. The David Lynch film Twin Peaks is a case in point. “Many people say they haven’t seen David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, and the reason they haven’t is because the film critics all slated it and so they didn’t go to watch it. But the ethereal score for the film has kept interest in it alive, and the film has become something of a cult classic.”

ORCHESTRA

At the time of writing, Kermode and the CBSO still haven’t stood together in the same room, and so the exact structure of the evening hasn’t been finalised. Special guests are being lined up and Jeremy Irons has just been announced for the Birmingham concert. Kermode is excited about the concerts, describing CBSO as “a fantastic orchestra”.

Kermode was recently in Memphis, Tennessee, recording an album at Sun Studios with his skiffle band The Dodge Brothers. The film critic plays double bass and harmonica, so some might be expecting him to join in the performance. However, he assures us the CBSO will be in charge of the music. “Anyone who heard me having a bash at the theme from Midnight Cowboy on the chromatic harmonica will be delighted to know that I won’t be playing.”

THE WORST FILM EVER MADE?

Mark Kermode has been reviewing films for over 25 years and has written about them extensively for newspapers, magazines and academic journals. But has he ever fancied having a crack at actually making one?
“I have no desire to make films, or to be in films, I only want to watch them,” he replies. “I have seen films being made and I have nothing but respect for those who make them. Film critics shouldn’t make films. They should stick to what they do best, which is reviewing films. I couldn’t make a film as good as the very worst one I have ever seen.” And what is this film? “Over-sexed Rugsuckers from Mars.” Ah say no more…

THE MUSIC

Film Music Live will be performed four times across the UK, and comes to Birmingham Symphony Hall on July 9. The actor Jeremy Irons (pictured) will be the special guest on the night. For those who like set-lists, here are some of the scores to be included on the night:

Planet of the Apes (Goldsmith)
The Exorcist (Oldfield)
North By Northwest (Hermann)
Taxi Driver (Hermann)
The Devils (Davies)
There Will Be Blood (Greenwood)
Mary Poppins Overture (Sherman & Sherman)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Badalamenti)
Silent Running (Schikele)