Without doubt one of the most anticipated concerts of recent years, Sir Simon Rattle makes a homecoming appearance at Symphony Hall with his new orchestra – one of just three dates on their first UK tour together. It’s twenty years since the world-leading Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra last came to Birmingham and, since Rattle took the reins in 2023, they say he’s “blown fresh air under the wings of all of us”.

They open with the symphony Schumann wrote after completing his piano concerto. During the year it took to finish, his mental health was at times fragile, yet this is an optimistic and exciting work, with a fast-paced scherzo and heartfelt slow movement.

Stravinsky’s spellbinding music to the extravagant ballet The Firebird was his first commission from impresario Serge Diaghilev for his Ballets Russes, and it sealed the young composer’s reputation. It was also the work Rattle chose for the first concert in Symphony Hall in 1991. We’ll hear every magical note of the complete ballet score as the tale of a prince, evil ogre, enchanted princesses and magical phoenix unfolds in vivid orchestral technicolour.

Not to be missed!

See the full B:Classical Season here