Overview
Birmingham
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City in West Midlands, Eng., with splendid mus. tradition. Fest. was held there triennially, with occasional breaks, from 1768 to 1912. Costa cond., 1849–82; Mendelssohn's Elijah f.p. 1846 and Gounod's Rédemption 1882. Richter became cond. 1885. Byrd's Mass in 5 parts was revived 1900. Most significant fest. f.ps. were of Elgar works: The Dream of Gerontius (1900), The Apostles (1903), The Kingdom (1906), The Music Makers (1912). Sibelius cond. f.p. in England of his 4th sym., 1912. CBSO was founded 1920 with Appleby Matthews as cond. (though first concert cond. Elgar). Conds. since then have been Boult 1924–30; Heward 1930–43; Weldon 1943–51; Schwarz 1951–7; Panufnik 1957–9; Rignold 1960–8; Frémaux 1969–78; Rattle 1980–98, Sakari Oramo from 1998. New concert‐hall, Symphony Hall, opened 1991. At univ., Peyton Chair of Mus. was founded 1905 with Elgar as first prof. Succeeded by Bantock (1908), other incumbents being V. Hely‐Hutchinson, J. A. Westrup, A. Lewis, I. Keys, and C. Timms. New Elgar Chair, S. Banfield from 1993.
