Find articles | Katherine Dixson

Clearly Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla has found her feet with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and isn't afraid to be a bit experimental.

Kazuki Yamada combines Japanese deference with full control of his players to lead he CBSO to fine performances of Beethoven and Sibelius, with a relatively laid back performance of the Elgar Cello concerto.

Considering tonight's performance celebrated interpretations of a single Shakespeare play, it presented remarkably varied music. 

Being the resident band in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Orchestra of the Swan is having a busy time of it right now, in the lead-up to Shakespeare400. 

Tonight's concert was listed under the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's "Indulge" series, and it was indeed an occasion for feeling well and truly spoilt.

An evening of fine music-making in Birmingham thanks to the CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy and Michael Seal. 

The highlight of the Dresden Philharmonic's evening in Birmingham was Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, with Arabella Steinbacher's performance a joy to experience. 

Exuberant enthusiasm from the CBSO Youth Orchestra in a mighty programme of Lutosławski, Prokofiev and Mahler. 

Mark-Anthony Turnage's Passchendaele, his WWI-themed piece, received its UK première this evening, in a concert given by the CBSO Youth Orchestra. 

A life affirming Beethoven 6th and a muscular 7th launch Andris Nelsons' final season at the helm of the CBSO.

This was the first time I've been to a concert with a 10:30 kick-off, but then this was the first of its kind. Nor did the inaugural Sport Prom turn out to be merely a game of two halves...

There’s nothing like a bit of Mozart to help you unwind… and this was far more than a bit of Mozart, as part of the CBSO’s “Relax and Revitalise” series. 

There’s more to Brazil than nuts and football, as our reviewer discovered in an evening devoted to Brazilian Baroque, presented by Ex Cathedra. 

Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields were at Birmingham's Symphony Hall for a concert of Bach, Brahms and Beethoven. Orchestra and leader displayed a lovely rapport.

Maxim Vengerov and the Polish Chamber Orchestra's concert at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, turned out to be a concert of three halves, thanks to the substantial encores of Saint-Saëns.

It may have been the autumn equinox, but this evening spring came to a balmy Birmingham, meteorologically and musically. Symphony Hall was abuzz in anticipation of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in the piece’s centenary year, but the concert – and the 2013/14 season – was launched with Wagner’s Tannhäuser overture.

As Proms debuts go, this would be difficult to beat. The newly formed National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) were fresh – literally, certainly no sign of fatigue – from an intensive two-week training residency followed by a tour which included the tall order of taking Tchaikovsky to Russia.

No surprise to find a Verdi programme at the Proms in his bicentenary year, but what was unusual was the focus on sacred music, given his antipathy towards the church as demonstrated in his more prolific output, his operas.

A concert like this could have three possible outcomes: one, frustration at catching just a glimpse of a multitude of operas without the benefit of character or plot development or the embellishment of sumptuous costumes or stage sets; two, inspiration to delve further into the world of opera, nudged by tantalising hints of dramatic tension and a world of emotions; or three, sheer escapism into a

Tonight’s was an historic performance, so first, a few dates. On 14th November 1940, Luftwaffe bombing raids destroyed much of the medieval centre of Coventry, including most of its cathedral. On 30th May 1962, Benjamin Britten’s specially-commissioned War Requiem was premièred by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Sir Basil Spence’s newly consecrated cathedral.

What a lovely way to round off a weekend, with some feel-good favourites from one of the world’s finest early music ensembles. Currently in their silver jubilee season, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra actually began to emerge a couple of years earlier than their official 1987 launch.

It wasn’t only Mitsuko Uchida’s hands that were agile. Her arrival on stage was accompanied by the deepest bow imaginable, bending from the waist until she resembled a tuning fork. Such Japanese formality was paired with a warm, glowing smile and a real connection with players and audience alike.

David Curtis displayed his usual deceptively effortless ease on the podium. Perhaps this felt like a handy warm-up for the marathon that he would run, hard on the heels of this concert, in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Orchestra of the Swan’s home territory.

As part of Birmingham’s International Concert Season, there’s a series of lunchtime performances from rising stars, entitled “Bright Futures”.

No wonder Jayson Gillham looked pleased to be back on stage at Birmingham Town Hall. It must have brought back some happy memories, as it was here that he won first prize in the 2011 Brant International Piano Competition. In the intervening couple of years, he’s built up an inspiring CV.

Judging by this evening’s performance, the future of music-making in Birmingham is in safe hands. Following an intensive half-term week’s training, including sectional coaching by musicians from the parent orchestra, 100 eager and accomplished 14- to 21-year-olds brought the Symphony Hall stage to life.

What better antidote to the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping than a sackful of festive concertos? With Birmingham’s famous German market in full swing right outside the Town Hall, inside was also packed with concertgoers of all ages eager to hear celebrated violinist Nicola Benedetti.

I was in two minds whether to opt for this concert, as I’d have another one to review the following day, but from the first note it was clearly the right decision.

Anyone looking for an evening of calm, reflective music would find they’d come to the wrong concert. It was rather like being granted a masterclass in how to represent the infinite nuances suggested by the performance direction “fortissimo”.

Here’s a choir that need never worry about attracting younger members. It runs its own school, with around 300 children, and from the age of ten the most musically gifted boys are channelled into the choir.

This concert exploded into life with Weber’s overture from Euryanthe. Guest conductor Walter Weller displayed economy of movement but set the orchestra off at a cracking pace, creating an upbeat mood that was sustained throughout the evening.

If you’ve never been to a grand-scale choral work at the Royal Albert Hall, I’d urge you to do so at the earliest opportunity. This wasn’t my first visit to the Proms, and I’ve experienced oratorios, requiems and passions galore in other places, but to hear hundreds of accomplished singers filling this vast circular space was new territory for me. The hall seemed made for the occasion.

Frequent concertgoers in our modern age will be all too aware of the irritation factor of mobile phones going off during performance. The King’s Singers, however, make a feature of the phenomenon and take it to another level. This world-class ensemble delighted a packed Hereford Cathedral, the closing concert of their 2011/12 season coinciding with the Three Choirs Festival.

This was a fine demonstration of the fact that the Three Choirs Festival is not just about singing. Nor is it confined to the cathedral, as this morning’s recital took place in the elegance of Hereford’s Shirehall.

After weeks of foul weather, this was more like it. Proper sunshine for a summer festival. Around Hereford Cathedral, watched over by a statue of Elgar draped in a fresh laurel wreath, Three Choirs Festival-goers enjoyed the warmth before venturing inside for equally sunny music. Even the yellow flowers framing the stage carried through the theme, setting off the golden centre-stage harp.

Here’s a pertinent fact for a classical music website: in 1991, when the wonderful World Wide Web was poised to ensnare anyone with computer access, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall opened its doors to the concert-going public for the first time. It quickly won critical acclaim with artists from across the globe and it’s known as one of the best anywhere.

How’s this for an original way of displaying one’s celebratory Union Flag? Strapped to the top of one’s contrabassoon! Apart from the absence of the National Anthem and horseracing, this concert gave us the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend in a nutshell, encompassing the solemnity and sovereignty of all four of Handel’s Coronation Anthems, the exuberance of the Music for the Royal Firework

In advance of a nationwide spate of celebration concerts, here was an all-British programme that didn’t so much as mention the Jubilee or the Olympics. And a great job the CBSO made of it, under guest conductor Andrew Manze. His expressive hands not only encouraged beautiful music, but they were a joy to watch too.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve sung Handel’s Messiah, always in the context of a large choral society or the massed voices of a ‘come and sing’. So it was a special treat to let someone else do the work, and an interesting contrast to have this familiar oratorio delivered by a smaller ensemble.

If you love Bach – and who doesn’t? – Birmingham was the place to be this weekend, for a delicious series of concerts, lectures and discoveries at the Town Hall and Symphony Hall under the heading ‘Bach: A Beautiful Mind’.

Outside, it was as cold as Narnia. But as a lone flute piped the haunting opening phrases of Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, we were transported to the warmth of a dreamy afternoon. We were off on a journey around European folk-tales and legends at the end of the 19th century.

Two firsts for the price of one. The anticipated Piano Concerto no. 2 by Brahms was replaced by no. 1, as it suited French pianist Hélène Grimaud’s recording commitments with Deutsche Grammophon.