One of Birmingham's most exciting chamber orchestras.
Music Director's Blog
Conductors usually have pretty strong views how they wish music to go. If you're interested in my opinions on such matters you might like to visit my blog.
It is my belief that classical music should be made accessible to everyone, everywhere. This should not be by means of ‘dumbing down’ or repackaging as is the case with some radio stations and artists - our audiences deserve better than this. Rather, I believe we should aim to perform as faithfully to the scores as we can and make accessible to audiences the highest quality performances possible.
Classical music should excite and stimulate, not relax or make one’s baby more intelligent (although if it does, so much the better!). This is not ‘background’ music - there are many other genres of music perfectly suited for that purpose.
In forming this orchestra I wanted to bring some of the excitement that I have felt when listening to the Classical repertoire as performed in a dynamic and exciting way (more often than not by period instrument or period-inspired chamber orchestras). You will not find claims of ‘authenticity’ - after all who can truly know how these pieces sounded when they were first performed? We also use the latest editions of scores to ensure audiences get the freshest scholarly views on the music.
What I did not anticipate was just how amazingly this group of players would play together from day one of our formation. Each concert is performed on the back of just two rehearsals as the players are busy students or professionals - music or otherwise.
Our aim will continue to be to provide audiences with the highest quality performances and to continue to attract the best musicians in the region. I hope you enjoy the listening as much as we do the playing!
Peter Marks
Music Director
