News Story
We're reflecting on Bringing the Light, a project that involved all who make up the CBSO, developed in collaboration with the CBSO Community Board - join us as we explore the journey to this special concert.
Satnam Rana presented Bringing the Light in December 2025, a live concert at Symphony Hall which featured a range of new commissions celebrating our choruses, our city and our natural environments.
A culmination of activity that began back in November 2024, the concert was devised by the CBSO Community Board and our fantastic partners in outdoor spaces and places; the result was an afternoon of music that encapsulated the breadth and depth of connection that the CBSO holds as Birmingham’s orchestra.
I honestly think [Bringing the Light was] one of the most extraordinary evenings I have spent at Symphony Hall with the CBSO in a long time. What a rare and humbling treat to experience new commissions from not one, or two but three female composers, I was blown away, each with such a unique and keen observation on contemporary life.
Audience member
As we reflect on a wonderful afternoon of music-making, we're also looking ahead to Friday 13 February, where we'll be taking part in the 2026 Birmingham Light Festival, partnering once again with the Canal & River Trust for a lantern walk along the canal accompanied by a canal boat beautifully decorated by light artist, Sophie Handy, and Crafting Community, with musicians from CBSO Youth Projects performing live on a narrowboat.
How did the project come about?
In November 2024, we held the first Bringing the Light event in collaboration with the CBSO Community Board, Canal & River Trust and Crafting Community. Together we brought light with handmade lanterns and music along the Birmingham canals, accompanied by Toby Kearney, Principal Percussion and Timpani, and Veronika Klirova, Principal Second Flute. The event culminated in a concert featuring musicians from across the city and CBSO musicians, welcoming audiences to the CBSO Centre.
In February 2025, CBSO Principal Harpist, Katherine Thomas, played aboard a Heritage Narrowboat 'Swift', which was commissioned with light artwork by Sophie Handy for the first Birmingham Festival of Light. Members of the public were invited to accompany the narrowboat and listen to the music as they followed the journey along the canal.
Image gallery
The making of December's concert
The afternoon of music and storytelling harnessed the full strength of the CBSO, the CBSO Chorus, CBSO Youth and Children’s Choruses, alongside presenter Satnam Rana, conductor Michael Seal and sitar soloist Akash Parekar. We welcomed people to join us for pre-concert lantern craft activities across the city in partnership with the Community Board, Canal & River Trust and Crafting Community, working next to waterways in local settings and spreading the word about the CBSO.
From involving all four of the CBSO Choruses and young musicians from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to commissioning three works that aimed to uplift, connect and inspire, the programme blended orchestral and choral brilliance, contemporary composition and global influences, promising an unforgettable celebration of togetherness and creativity.
This concert shines a light on Birmingham’s extraordinary diversity and creativity. ‘Bringing the Light’ will fill Symphony Hall with music that uplifts, connects and inspires – a true celebration of what makes this city so special. After a year that has been characterised by so much division and polarisation, this concert will do a great deal to remind us of what we as people all have in common – and the power of music as a force to unite us all.
At the CBSO, we’re passionate about creating experiences that feel both rooted in our home city and open to the world. This concert brings together voices from different traditions, faiths and generations to reflect the vibrancy of Birmingham today.
Emma Stenning, Chief Executive
Image gallery
The story behind the music
Aurora: Faith in Harmony - Roxanna Panufnik
Composer Roxanna Panufnik has worked with lyricist Jessica Duchen for nearly 10 years on Aurora: Faith in Harmony. The work responds to and celebrates festivals of light that appear within many faiths, including movements that reflect Christianity (Christmas), Islam (Milad un nabi), Hinduism, Janism, Sikhism, Judaism (Hannukah) and Buddhism (Gaden Ngamchoe), concluding with a movement inspired by the Northern Lights as a secular element to the work.
The piece celebrates the almost universal symbolism of light banishing darkness, perennial in winter festivals around the world. Jessica Duchen’s concept springs from my passionate belief in drawing together different spiritual traditions, highlighting common ground to help heal the divisions in our society. To ensure maximum accuracy and acceptance, we have consulted key advisers within the UK organizations of each faith and their respective devotional musicians, to ensure the authenticity of this festive work.
Roxanna Panufnik
Fun Fact:
Roxanna Panufnik's father, Andrzej Panufnik, was the Chief Conductor of the CBSO from 1957-59.
Homeland - Joan Armatrading
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading has written Homeland to honour the city of her youth, reflecting on her arrival to Birmingham from the Caribbean as a child.
Homeland is a piece that highlights the city of Birmingham and its people, reflecting their strong sense of community, resilience and warmth. It is a tribute to a place to which I am bonded, and one I will always hold with affection and pride. Through both words and music, the piece weaves together the sounds, energy, and rhythms of the city while reaching out into its vast surrounding countryside. This is Birmingham not simply as a backdrop, but as a living, breathing presence – an often-underrated landscape where industry and nature exist side by side in quiet beauty.
Joan Armatrading from Boosey & Hawkes
i was in the state of mind to stay - Cassie Kinoshi
Cassie Kinoshi's commission was performed by the CBSO Children's and Youth Choruses. It focuses on how nature can provide steadiness and comfort when living in the city.
The words, written by lydia luke, reflect the perspectives of young people for whom the city is home and was developed in workshops with the Southwark Playhouse Youth Company of ages 14-18. Their contributions emphasised how nature is not separate from city life but woven into it, and how these small yet powerful, significant moments and memories can offer solace in a fast and demanding environment.
Image gallery
Bringing the Light coverage
There was surely no better way to do so than giving a starring role to the CBSO Chorus, CBSO Youth Chorus and CBSO Children's Chorus. I don't believe there are any non-professional choirs in the country that give such consistently professional-quality performances as they do. It's no coincidence that nearly all the CBSO's finest concerts in recent years have featured one or more of these choirs and they are a great credit to their Chorus Master Julian Wilkins. The applause, whooping and hollering when they took their bows was well merited.
We are extremely grateful for the support of Frances and Barry Kirkham
who have made the commissioning of i was in the state of mind to stay and Aurora possible. Thank you also to The Leverhulme Trust and The Clive Richards Foundation, principal supporter of the CBSO’s work with young people.
