Exploring 'Brummie sound' with the CBSO

This month, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) performs two concerts, in Birmingham and London, in celebration of Grime music. We are honoured to be joined on stage by 17 of our city’s defining Grime artists, with their tracks thrillingly orchestrated by Phil Meadows, who will also conduct the concerts. I can’t wait.

When I arrived in Birmingham – two years ago now – I didn’t really know the city at all, let alone have much sense of its extraordinary music cultures. I spent a lot of time meeting people in the music business, many of whom had grown up here, and had invested huge amounts of heart and soul into building their communities. One such meeting was with Ammo Talwar, CEO of Punch, the music development company behind Birmingham's BASS music and arts festival. I learned from him the incredible history of Punch Records, once a record store in Perry Barr, now the UK’s leading creative development agency for young musicians from diverse backgrounds, especially those working outside of the mainstream.

It was Punch’s captivating documentary, Legacy 0121, that opened my eyes to the world of Grime, its distinctly Brummie sound, its relentless determination to represent the stories of our city, and its remarkably orchestral undertone. I was hooked.

Tom Spurgin, CBSO’s creative director of learning and engagement, was way ahead of me. A long-time fan of the genre, he had always dreamed of a concert that celebrated Grime artists, offering the true orchestral scope that their music organically lends itself to.

Together we approached Ammo about a symphonic concert of Legacy 0121, and LEGACY was born.

For me, this week is a perfect example of what it means for us to be Birmingham’s orchestra. A symphonic ensemble which is, as I write, rehearsing for this evening’s concert of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, a mere 48 hours ahead of LEGACY making its premiere performance. I remain constantly astounded at what our players can achieve. On the first occasion a classical masterpiece, performed with heartfelt emotional depth, swiftly followed by a genuinely exploratory step; a new collaboration, entirely inspired by our city, that we hope will shift our relationship with audiences who don’t yet know that the orchestra might be for them. 

As our season continues (we’ll be announcing our 2025-26 programme in early May), you’ll notice more collaborations that speak to the cultural breadth of our home region as we work alongside the Birmingham Jazz and Blues Festival, with the Orchestra Qawwali Project and present nights of Bollywood music. These are the concerts that weave us into the super-diverse fabric of our city, that keep us moving forward, and that make for us ever more meaningful connections to the people who live and work here.

And we’re talking to audiences as we go, via our ‘Listening Project’: a major piece of research to better understand the place of music in the lives of our West Midlands communities. It’s a vital conversation, held with people who love and know the orchestra well, and with those who don’t yet come. We will listen, and we will respond, because our job is to make music that matters to people, whether they encounter us on the world’s greatest concert platforms, or on the street where they live. 

I truly believe that the orchestra of the future needs both to celebrate and promote the remarkable western classical canon, and take the adventurous steps into the unknown.

Mahler and Grime, that’s the orchestra that I love.