Iqbal Khan, Artistic Director of the Opening Ceremony for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has today unveiled the music line-up that will provide the soundtrack for his ceremony.

Birmingham Conservatoire graduate, valued B:Music Front of House member and mezzo-soprano Samantha Oxborough will take the prestigious role of performing the National Anthem for the United Kingdom as part of the formal opening of the Games, supported by the celebrated Symphony Hall resident orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under acclaimed conductor Alpesh Chauhan. CBSO will also perform with Duran Duran.

A massed choir of over 700 voices, comprised of 15 choirs from across the West Midlands will flood the arena, led by Carol Pemberton and B:Music Associate Artists Black Voices, one of Europe’s leading female a cappella groups, B:Music Head of Production and Technical, Kat Wheller and Production Coordinator Sarah Taylor will be amongst the choir members. The choirs performed at Symphony Hall, a B:Music venue on 10 July and can be seen on Songs of Praise on Sunday 24 July.

Indigo Marshall will perform at the Opening Ceremony as well as with B:Music at the Victoria Square Festival Site on 31 July. Indigo was commissioned by B:Music as an artist for Now Is Not The Time For Silence and appeared at our re-opening weekend in 2021.

Even our Digital Marketing Apprentice Ibi Keita is getting in on the act: the video he recorded and edited for Xhosa Cole and Soweto Kinch as part of On Record: In Conversation will be shown on big screens at stadiums and festival sites - catch a sneak peek below!

Birmingham’s Opening and Closing ceremonies will be staged at the newly-redeveloped Alexander Stadium in front of a live audience of over 30,000 people and a television audience of over a billion.