ARMONICO ACADEMY WARWICK AND SCHOLARS

“One of my proudest achievements has been the creation of the AC Academy Scholarship programme,” says Armonico Consort’s founder, Christopher Monks. 

“[The programme] supports talented young people and helps them develop both their musical potential and their ambitions... 

“I warmly invite you to hear these exceptional young musicians perform Fauré’s Requiem in the magnificent acoustic of Leek Wootton Church.”   

All Saint’s Church, Leek Wootton, Warwickshire, Tuesday 10 November

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CBSO: BRITTEN'S WAR REQUIEM

Symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, full choir, children’s choir and solo singers are here brought together for Benjamin Britten’s monumental War Requiem. Written in the early 1960s, the work was produced by the composer - a lifelong pacifist - in an attempt to articulate the horror and grief he felt at the losses caused by two world wars. 

The piece will be conducted in the cathedral by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director, Kazuki Yamada.

Coventry Cathedral, Wednesday 11 November

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EX CATHEDRA: WORDS APART

Two composers from different centuries - the 18th and the 20th - respond to the same sacred texts in Ex Cathedra’s mid-month concert at Bournville’s St Francis’ Church. 

James Burton (pictured) picks up the reins for a concert that pairs masterworks by Johann Sebastian Bach with contrasting choral interpretations by modern Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström... 

James will be taking over Ex Cathedra conducting duties on a full-time basis when Jeffrey Skidmore steps back next autumn.       

St Francis Church, Bournville, Birmingham, Saturday 14 November

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THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM CHOIR: DANCES OF TIME

The City of Birmingham Choir team up with the Westminster Chamber Orchestra to present a sequence of works that reflect on the effects of time passing. 
The programme includes Bob Chilcott’s wide-ranging Dances Of Time and John Rutter’s settings of poems by Shakespeare and Campion in When Icicles Hang.
Joseph Haydn’s Mass In Time Of War brings proceedings to a close. The mid-afternoon concert is conducted by Adrian Lucas.

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Sunday 15 November

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LANO STRING QUARTET

Lano return to Warwickshire for this late-morning concert having been among the winners at the 2025 Leamington Music Prize competition. Their impressive win, in the Audience Prize category, was achieved just one short year after they first came together at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire... The quartet here perform Caroline Shaw’s Plan And Elevation alongside Haydn’s The Lark and Elgar’s String Quartet in E minor, Op83.  

Unitarian Chapel, Warwick, Tuesday 17 November 

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ORCHESTRA OF THE SWAN: VISIONS OF BOHEMIA

The Orchestra of the Swan’s mid-month concert is one of its hugely popular Swan Sessions. The regular get-togethers typically see between three and eight members of the orchestra performing in a relaxed and intimate setting.

The programme features compositions by Smetana, Dvořák and Martinů. 
A performance of Dvořák’s String Quintet in G Major - a work full of colour, energy and melodic invention - brings proceedings to a close.    

St Nicholas Church, Warwick, Thursday 19 November

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BIRMINGHAM BACH CHOIR

One of the city’s oldest and most distinguished musical groups, Birmingham Bach Choir present a concert featuring works by three titans of the British musical scene in the early 20th century: Hubert Parry (Songs Of Farewell), Ralph Vaughan Williams (Mass in G Minor), and Gustav Holst (Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day). Paul Spicer conducts, Martyn Rawles is the organist.

St Francis Church, Bournville, Saturday 21 November

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BIRMINGHAM FESTIVAL CHORAL SOCIETY: ECHOES OF VIENNA

Specialising in a wide variety of choral music from the 16th to the 21st century, Birmingham Festival Choral Society present three main concerts a year. This later-month offering sees them performing two choral masterpieces: Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Mass in C major.

Bradshaw Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Saturday 21 November

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CHANDOS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Malvern’s very own amateur orchestra is fast heading towards its 50th anniversary and currently comprises in excess of 100 members. With Music Director Michael Lloyd at the helm, Chandos here performs a programme featuring three compositions: Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture, Anna Clyne’s This Midnight Hour, and Shostakovich’s First Symphony.

York Hall, Malvern College, Sunday 22 November 

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MARIN ALSOP & THE PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA

The trailblazing Marin Alsop makes a welcome return to Birmingham as the  principal guest conductor of the world-class Philharmonia Orchestra. 

A passionate advocate for female conductors, Marin here picks up the baton for a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium), a series of musical dialogues between orchestra and solo violin (played by Esther Yoo). Also featuring on the concert programme is Mahler’s sixth symphony, a work which has been described as a monumental tour-de-force.

Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Sunday 22 November

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CHINEKE! ORCHESTRA

Chineke! was founded to challenge the status quo - and it was certainly in need of some serious challenging. 
On a continent in which the majority of symphony orchestras were mainly made up of white and white-Asian players, this 11-year-old ensemble - the brainchild of double-bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku - were Europe’s first professional orchestra comprising black and minority ethnic musicians. 

Their visit to Coventry late this month sees them presenting an imaginative programme that features Stravinsky’s Suites No1 and No2, Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, Eliana Echverry’s Symphonic Lullabies and Adolphus Hailstork's First Symphony.

Tatiana Perez (pictured) conducts, with Plinio Fernandes playing solo guitar. 

Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Thursday 26 November

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THE WELSH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Wales’ only professional chamber orchestra are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year and visit Bridgnorth as part of a tour of the Marches area. A Shropshire Music Trust event, the concert will see them performing a programme that includes works by Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn and Morfydd Owen. A new work by Susie Self for baritone and orchestra also features. 

St Magdalene Church, Bridgnorth, South Shropshire, Thursday 26 November

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K'ANTU ENSEMBLE: MIDWINTER MERRIMENT

Exploring the less-trodden territories of early music, K’antu Ensemble combine elements of folk and world music with historically informed techniques. 

Their late-month visit to Selly Manor sees them bringing together familiar carols with some lesser-known seasonal sounds from across the centuries. Alongside the hour-long concert, audience members can also enjoy a glass of mulled wine.

Selly Manor, Bournville, Thursday 26 November

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SPIRES PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA: FIELDS AND FORESTS

“We are acoustic adventurers,” explain Spires Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus, “seeking out unheard gems, then programming them alongside classics we know and love; crafting concerts that are not only outstanding to listen to but that we also love to perform.” 

That love of performance is sure to be much in evidence when this Coventry-based community of ambitious musicmakers here present an afternoon of choral and orchestral delights inspired by nature and trees. The programme includes music by, among others, Dvorak, Grieg, Price, Elgar, and Vaughan Williams.

King Henry VIII School, Coventry, Saturday 28 November

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CBSO: BEETHOVEN'S VIOLIN CONCERTO

Ludwig van Beethoven gets a whole concert to himself at the end of the month, when the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) perform four works which represent the composer at his romantic and dramatic best. 

Three overtures - Leonore, Egmont and Coriolan - are followed by his 1806 Violin Concerto, a work which was so fussy and difficult that critics initially deemed it unplayable by all but the very finest of soloists. Indeed, it would be nearly half a century before the concerto would become part of the standard concert-hall repertory. The CBSO’s very own Eugene Tzikindelean here plays the solo part in what has since become one of Beethoven’s best-loved compositions. The talented Romanian also takes on conducting responsibilities for this mid-afternoon concert.    

Birmingham Town Hall, Sunday 29 November   

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ARMONICO CONSORT: SUPERSIZE POLYPHONY 3

Armonico Consort turn 25 this year and are ready to party! Concert-goers who’ve enjoyed the ensemble’s previous two Supersize Polyphony performances will no doubt be waiting with bated breath for the next in the series. And why wouldn’t they be? After all, what’s not to like about an immersive 360-degree surround-sound concert celebrating large-scale 16th- and 17th-century choral music? 

Armonico director Christopher Monks is typically effusive about the forthcoming celebration: “For those who have loved the cinema sound-effects of our polychoral performances from Spem in Alium in 40 parts surrounding the audience, you will simply love this! We will be working with special guest choirs around the UK in celebration of our momentous milestone.”  

Coventry Cathedral, Tuesday 26 January

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