The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is delighted to announce that Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla will take up the role of Associate Artist from December 2023. Currently Principal Guest Conductor, Mirga was Music Director of the CBSO from 2016-2022. This exciting new position will see her returning regularly to Birmingham, in a continuation of her acclaimed relationship with the orchestra and choruses.

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla quotes Daniel Barenboim who said some years ago: “Music can lift our feelings and imagination to undreamed spheres.” She adds “I am incredibly grateful to have experienced so many times together with CBSO how true this is - and I am so happy that we are going to discover and share many more of those undreamed spheres.”

Next month, Mirga presents a programme which showcases her signature creative voice: a personal tour of the music of Eastern Europe, taking audiences on a journey from Georgia to the Baltic. Presenting works by Čiurlionis, Loboda, Kakhidze and Weinberg, Mirga places a host of CBSO musicians in the spotlight as soloists - clarinettist Oliver Janes, flautist Marie-Christine Zupancic and violist Adam Römer – as well as her own sister, pianist Onuté Gražinytė (From Mirga with Love, Wednesday 6 December).

Mirga’s Associate Artist role sits alongside Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor Kazuki Yamada, Associate Conductor Michael Seal, and Assistant Conductors Rita Castro Blanco and Charlotte Corderoy.

Emma Stenning, Chief Executive of the CBSO, says: “I am thrilled to formalise our continuing relationship with Mirga through this exciting new role, ever strengthening her incredible bond with the musicians of the CBSO. As Associate Artist, we look forward to her regular return to the orchestra, bringing her intense musicality and creative flair to performances for our audiences both here in Birmingham, and further afield.”