The musical event of the year at the University of Birmingham, The Summer Festival of Music 2009, will include a diverse series of concerts performed by talented musicians at the University, on campus and around the city.
The musical event of the year at the University of Birmingham, The Summer Festival of Music 2009, will include a diverse series of concerts performed by talented musicians at the University, on campus and around the city.
The festival begins on 12th June at 7pm with the New Music Ensemble concert. Held in the Elgar Concert Room at the University this free concert will feature contemporary compositions by both established and up-and-coming composers, and the programme will include works by current University of Birmingham Music students.
This year the Wind Band will be joined by the Saxophone Ensemble, the newest group to be performing in the festival. The lively sounds of these two ensembles can be enjoyed at Brindley Place on Saturday June 13th at 3pm.
On Tuesday 16th June at 7.30pm the Summer Festival Symphony Orchestra will return to St Nicholas’ Church, Kings Norton to perform a work by the winner of this year’s student Composition Competition. This will be followed by performances by the winners of the Concerto Competition.
This year’s Early Music Concert will be held in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts on 17th June at 2.30pm. University music students will transport the audience back to centuries past with an afternoon of Baroque and Renaissance music performed on period instruments.
In conjunction with the Chamber Music Society, players from all areas of the University come together on the 18th June to perform Chamber Music for wind quintet, string quartet and other small ensembles from a variety of composers. This free concert will be held at 1.10pm in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.
The smooth sounds of the Jazz Orchestra can be heard on the 18th June at 7.30pm in the Deb Hall in the Guild of Students on the University campus. They will perform a selection of Jazz, Swing and Big Band classics.
The festival ends with performances from the Chamber Orchestra and Choir in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts on Friday 19th June at 1.10pm. This year the Orchestra will perform Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.
Also part of this year’s summer festival is the festival opera. Students from the University will perform Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. Baron von Eisenstein is a man fond of a party, so when his friend and partner in crime, Dr Falke, suggests he postpones his eight day jail term for just one more night in favour of Prince Orlofsky’s ball, Eisenstein cannot resist. He does not know that Falke is planning revenge for a previous drunken misadventure when he was abandoned by Eisenstein to wander the streets of Vienna dressed as a bat. Eisenstein’s wife, her maid and even the chief of police all end up tangled in Falke’s deception, and a champagne fuelled night of mischief and mistaken identities ensues.
Die Fledermaus will be performed at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Edgbaston Park Road, on Saturday 13th June at 7:00pm, Sunday 14th June at 2:00pm, and Monday 15th June at 7:00pm. Tickets are priced at £13, £9 (concessions), £5 (students)
More details and all tickets are available from the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham, 0121 414 7333, or the festival website – sites.google.com/site/summerfestival2009
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Notes to Editors
The University of Birmingham's Summer Festival of Music was established in 1988. It is self-financing and run entirely by students.
For further information
Kate Chapple, Press Officer, University of Birmingham, tel 0121 414 2772 or 07789 921164.
