Royal Birmingham Conservatoire reveals star-studded autumn season

A host of guest artists and exceptional students appear live in Birmingham this autumn as events at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire spring back into life from September.

First up is Pablo Held’s Buoyancy Band in the Eastside Jazz Club featuring Percy Pursglove, Kit Downes and Leif Burger on 12 September, while mezzo-soprano Hannah Morley kicks off the regular free Monday Lunchtime Music series on 23 September in the Recital Hall. 

Among the guest slots are boundary-pushing, Icelandic singer-songwriting star Ásgeir (29 Sep), folk music royalty Fairport Convention (20 Oct), stunning classical strings and African beats from Manchester Collective & Abel Selaocoe’s Sirocco (12 Nov) and Hans Zimmer’s ‘Interstellar’ soundtracks brought to life by the Mystery Ensemble (1 Nov). 

There are tie-ups with major arts partners in the city too.  Hayley Frances – poet in residence at Birmingham Children’s and Women’s Hospital – launches her debut collection ‘Administer the Laughing Gas’ in an experimental performance of meditative poems and sound, as part of Birmingham Literature Festival (6 Oct). And Supersonic Festival guests Bohren & Der Club of Gore (9 Nov) bring their hypnotic ‘doom jazz’ to the Midlands for the first time since 2012.

Other highlights include a week-long festival to welcome the Conservatoire’s brand new ‘Juliet’ organ (4-10 Nov), a whole season of French music from Early Music to jazz, beginning with a large-scale Berlioz rarity plus Beethoven’s mighty Fifth Symphony played by RBC Symphony Orchestra (25 Oct), and a week of salon-style concerts marking Fauré’s 150th anniversary (11-15 Nov).

There’s also a mini-residency by multi-award-winning composing genius and newly-appointed Master of the King’s Music Errollyn Wallen, who joins RBC’s Thallein Ensemble (19-22 Nov).

The Eastside Jazz Club hosts a multitude of visiting guests, from Sophia Domancich, James Owston and Miles Levin with Paul Dunmall (3 Oct), to the Patrick Cornelius Quartet (17 Oct), and Ronnie Scott’s Artistic Director James Pearson and leading jazz trumpeter Steve Fishwick (10 Oct).

Following the sell-out Bill Frisell gig in May, the second Stoney Lane Live at RBC is a double bill of Trish Clowes and Ross Stanley, and Sara Colman and Rebecca Nash (2 Oct, Recital Hall).  All of this plus regular slots from RBC’s flagship Jazz Orchestra and Salsa Orchestra – two fabulous ensembles packed with fresh talent, high spirits and cool sounds to fire up a weekday evening. 

Over at The Crescent, October sees the RBC Theatre Company perform contemporary drama and comedy – The Welkin by Lucy Kirkwood, Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill, and Dan Muirden’s The Things Good Men Do – while two of the greatest Shakespearian tragedies, Julius Caesar and Macbeth, follow in December.  

Full details and tickets can be found HERE.

Pictured: RBC Theatre Company. Photo credit: Jason Sheldon