As war ravaged Europe, Carl Nielsen responded with a Fourth Symphony whose thundering drums represent a struggle for the future of life itself.

“Gloriously entertaining” is how one critic described the playing of the young American violinist Benjamin Beilman – and he went down a storm with CBSO …

There’s only one John Wilson – and CBSO regulars don’t need telling that there isn’t a conductor alive who can handle British light music with more elegance, …

Alpesh Chauhan needs no introduction to audiences in Birmingham – and nor does Felix Mendelssohn.

Some music was just born to be played in Symphony Hall – and however well you know (and love) Tchaikovsky’s great ballets Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, …

They called him “the Russian Mendelssohn” – but if you don’t know the music of Alexander Glazunov, try and imagine Rachmaninov, but with a smile on his face! …

On 10 November 1920 Sir Edward Elgar conducted the City of Birmingham Orchestra in its first symphonic concert – and the future CBSO took its first steps on the …

On 5 September 1920, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra gave its very first concert. It was a gamble: in unprecedented times, a city recovering from war …