An Epic New Season

I am thrilled to be able to share our 23-24 Season with you. A jam-packed programme of concerts which celebrate our wonderful musicians, choruses and youth ensembles, alongside a whole host of bright and brilliant soloists and conductors.

This Season is extra special to me, as I embark on my first full season as Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the CBSO. With 12 concerts across the year ranging fromVerdi’s Requiem to Elgar’s Enigma Variations,Madam Butterfly to my first everFamily Concert, I’m excited to share these amazing pieces with you!

We’ll be celebrating 50 years of the sensational CBSO Chorus, as well as 40 years of Simon Halsey at the helm. To mark these milestone occasions, the Season is filled with epic choral masterpieces including Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust– the first piece ever performed by the Chorus – plus, Jonathan Dove’s There Was a Child, Fauré’s Requiem, and the UK premiere of Vespers of the Blessed Earthby John Luther Adams (commissioned by the CBSO).

You may also catch a glimpse of an American theme weaving its way through the year including music by Gershwin, Caroline Shaw, Bernstein and John Williams, as well as a celebration of Rachmaninoff’s 150th anniversary.

For lovers of stage and screen, we’re not short on film favourites – including Christmas at the Movies, the music ofHans Zimmer and a screening of Amadeus complete with live orchestra. We’re also pleased to present another programme of music from the popular video game seriesFINAL FANTASY after its success in the 22-23 Season. While our popular classics series includes the much-loved Classic FM Hall of Fame, a night with The Rat Pack and a tribute to the late, great Burt Bacharach.

We welcome back old friends including Sakari Oramo, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Ray Chen, Benjamin Grosvenor, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Cristian Macelaru, and Ilan Volkov, as well as debuts from Maxim Emelyanychev, Oksana Lyniv, Tabita Berglund, Maria Dueñas and a wonderful Samoan tenor Pene Pati who I am thrilled to be introducing to the CBSO after working with him in Monaco. And for the CBSO super-fans, our players will be stepping into the spotlight with solo performances by Eugene Tzikindelean, Eduardo Vassallo, Christopher Yates, Adam Römer, Marie-Christine Zupancic, Oliver Janes and Katherine Thomas.

As always with the CBSO, this Season will be full of surprises, incredible music, human connection, and big smiles – and I can’t wait to see you all very soon!