The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra was a professional symphony orchestra based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

between 1906 and 1918. The orchestra was founded as a self-governing organisation run on

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

lines by musicians from George Halford's Orchestra, which had been performing annual series of concerts in Birmingham since 1897. George Halford remained the new orchestra's Music Director, though he would only conduct half of their concerts. The new body included fifty of the musicians from the previous organisation. The inaugural concert took place in Birmingham Town Hall on 4 April 1906 and was conducted by

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

, with further concerts in the 1906-1907 season being conducted by Halford, Hans Richter and

Landon Ronald Sir Landon Ronald (born Landon Ronald Russell) (7 June 1873 – 14 August 1938) was an English conductor, composer, pianist, teacher and administrator. In his early career he gained work as an accompanist and '' répétiteur'', but struggle ...

, and the ''

Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...

'' describing as a "splendid concert" a performance conducted by Halford in March 1907. For the 1907-1908 and 1908-1909 seasons concerts by the BSO were promoted under the auspices of the "Birmingham Concerts Society" and took place on Tuesday evenings, conducted by Halford,

Frederick Cowen Sir Frederic Hymen Cowen (29 January 1852 – 6 October 1935), was an English composer, conductor and pianist. Early years and musical education Cowen was born Hymen Frederick Cohen at 90 Duke Street, Kingston, Jamaica, the fifth and last c ...

, Charles Stanford, Allen Gill and

Henri Verbrugghen Henri Adrien Marie Verbrugghen (1 August 187312 November 1934) was a Belgian musician, who directed orchestras in England, Scotland, Australia and the United States. Born in Brussels, Verbrugghen made his first appearance as a violinist when o ...

. From July 1910 it was the "Birmingham Philharmonic Society" that promoted eight concerts a year featuring the BSO players and conductors including Halford, Wood, Ronald,

George Henschel Sir Isidor George Henschel (18 February 185010 September 1934) was a German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor, and composer. His first wife Lillian was also a singer. He was the first conductor of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra ...

Vasily Safonov Vasily Ilyich Safonov (russian: Васи́лий Ильи́ч Сафо́нов, link=no, ; 6 February 185227 February 1918), also known as Wassily Safonoff, was a Russian pianist, teacher, conductor and composer. Biography Vasily Safonov, or ...

Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Roya ...

and

Fritz Cassirer Friedrich (Fritz) Leopold Cassirer, (29 March 1871 – 26 November 1926) was a German conductor. He was one of the early proponents of the music of Frederick Delius, and conducted the premiere of Delius's first opera. Biography Cassirer was born ...

. The orchestra also gave popular Saturday night concerts at the Town Hall that continued until 1918, and performed widely alongside many different choral societies with conductors including Edward Elgar,

Henry Coward Sir Henry Coward (26 November 184910 June 1944) was a British conductor and composer. Born in Liverpool to parents in the entertainment industry, Coward took an apprenticeship to a cutler in Sheffield. Educating himself, he became a teacher an ...

and

George Robertson Sinclair George Robertson Sinclair (28 October 1863 – 7 February 1917) was an English Organist#Classical and church organists, cathedral organist, who served at Truro Cathedral, Truro and Hereford Cathedral, Hereford cathedrals. As a young man, Sincla ...

. Although there was no institutional connection between the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the later

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...

, fifteen of the players who founded the earlier organisation in 1906 would also play with the later orchestra when it was established in 1920.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{authority control British symphony orchestras Culture in Birmingham, West Midlands English orchestras Disbanded orchestras 1906 establishments in England 1918 disestablishments in England Musical groups established in 1906 Musical groups disestablished in 1918