Get ready for a city-wide takeover of classical music this August. ‘CBSO in the City’ returns for its third year, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s musicians performing for free to thousands of residents across Birmingham—everywhere from libraries and museums to gardens, cafés and New Street station.
You can catch CBSO pop up in unexpected spaces from Thursday, August 27 to Monday, August 31, with the chance even to conduct the orchestra if you attend their performances at the Bullring shopping centre. The performances also form part of a free three-day festival, Birmingham Weekender, which sees the city filled with colourful installations and exhilarating performances.
“CBSO in the City is one of my favourite moments in the year,” said Kazuki Yamada, Music Director at the CBSO. “Having the chance to surprise people with music, to see how it brings happiness and joy, is so uplifting for all of us… We just want to give a gift of music to everyone who lives, works or visits here. I can’t wait to play on the tram again, and to bring the full orchestra to the Bullring.
This year’s CBSO in the City highlights include:
- CBSO and CBSO Chorus take over the concourse at New Street Station on Friday afternoon
- The full orchestra performs in the heart of the city centre at Bullring
- Saxophonist and CBSO Collaborative Artist Jess Gillam leads a mass “come and play” clarinet and saxophone event with over 60 participants in Brindleyplace
- A wind ensemble performs in Birmingham Botanical Gardens
- CBSO in the City makes its Solihull debut, with a brass group performing at the Beach in Theatre Square in Touchwood Shopping Centre
- Music Director Kazuki Yamada will make his much-anticipated return to the CBSO tram on the West Midlands Metro
- A string quartet plays in The Exchange’s Banking Hall café alongside the University of Birmingham’s breathtaking Helios installation by British artist Luke Jerram
- A string quartet performance in ‘EVERY THING MUST GO’, a new exhibition by Joe Lycett at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
- family-friendly performances across the week in Birmingham Library
- Infinite Opera, Grand Union & the CBSO present ‘Open for Business’, an ambitious community operatic performance unfolding across nine venues in Digbeth
All public performances are free (except for admission fees for some venues) and, throughout the week, everyone who experiences a CBSO performance will be able to pick up a golden ticket—this means that for just £1, you will be able to book a CBSO concert during its 2026-27 Season.
“Birmingham is not a city waiting to be introduced to culture,” said Emma Stenning, CBSO Chief Executive. “It is already living it, in public spaces and on commutes, long before anyone walks through the doors of Symphony Hall. With CBSO in the City, our musicians spend a week in the places people already use and enjoy, creating surprise moments that feel personal, unexpected and rooted in the life of the city.”
CBSO in the City:
Thursday 27 August
Notelets: Wind in the Willows at Birmingham Library (11:30am & 1:30pm)
Solo Harp at Birmingham Children’s Hospital (11:30am)
Friday 28 August
Full Orchestra at New Street Station (3pm & 5pm)
Pianist John Reid performs on Angela de Cruz’s Upright Piano at Ikon Gallery, presented by BCMG (2.30pm)
Saturday 29 August
Flute & Harp duo at Birmingham Library (10:30am)
Kazuki Yamada on the CBSO Branded Tram (11:30am)
CBSO Brass at Touchwood Solihull (2pm)
String Quartet at The Exchange (2:30pm)
Saxophones in the City with Jess Gillam in Brindleyplace (2:45pm & 4pm)
Sunday 30 August
String Trio and String Quartet in Birmingham Museum
& Art Gallery (11am & 2pm)
Open for Business (Immersive Community Opera) across multiple sites in Digbeth (free but ticketed) (2pm & 6pm)
CBSO Winds in Birmingham Botanical Gardens (2pm)
Monday 31 August
Full Orchestra in the Bullring (1pm & 3pm)
Solo Harp at Birmingham Botanical Gardens (2pm)
For full details of CBSO in the City, head here.
