Local Events

The festival based on the theme 'Celebrating the Past, Pioneering the Future', features a wide variety of local and national talent.

Re-opening night. Pic: Adrian Burrows

On from the 4th - 21st October. Full details can be found on the Town Hall's website: www.thsh.co.uk (see the link on the side of this page). Tickets are on sale now.

These are some of the confirmed events:

The re-opening festival

For the Re-opening Concert (4th of October 2007) an outstanding line-up of local and national musicians performed Messiah: A Soulful Celebration and Duke Ellington’s big-band version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. Click the link for more information and photos of the re-opening night:

During October 2007...

Headline events for the rest of the Festival include Brum Rocks Extra for The Children’s – a concert in aid of Birmingham Children’s Hospital Red Balloon Appeal - with an all-star line-up including Bev Bevan, Robert Plant and Jasper Carrott (Fri 5 Oct). 

Fun on stage with The Guillemots

On Thursday 11 October the Guillemots and the CBSO will be performing Charles Ives' 'The Unanswered Question' and the world premiere of a piece written by Fyfe Dangerfield of Guillemots called 'In Wait'. After the interval there will be songs from the band and orchestra.

Soweto Kinch presents a showcase from the summer school for young musicians working on the theme of The Midnight Hop, inspired by the forgotten stories of 18th and 19th-century black musicians in England - 13th October.

Celebrating the past

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook will be paying tribute to the 10th anniversary of the death of the legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who played some of his greatest concerts at Town Hall.

The CBSO and Chorus will perform Elgar's The Music Makers, a 1912 Triennial Festival commission that ushered in a new era, alongside the violin concerto by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Britain’s leading black composer of that time.

Birmingham Town Hall

Ex Cathedra celebrates Birmingham's great choral tradition with past masterpieces and pioneers the future with a new commission from John Joubert.

And City Organist Thomas Trotter will show off the 6,000 newly refurbished pipes of the 1834 Town Hall organ with a world premiere from renowned composer Paul Patterson.

Pioneering the future

Avant-garde champions Capsule will present live performances from Pram, Modified Toy Orchestra and Shady Bard.

Ruby Turner. Pic: Adrian Burrows

The Town Hall will join forces with promoter Punch to present the Best of British Urban Scene.

The festival will launch the first of a series of Town Hall Debates for Young People, harking back to the building’s great history of political debate and speech-making.

Young people are also celebrated in a special concert drawing from the immense talent of Birmingham schools, from symphony orchestra to tin whistle ensemble.

In addition, BBC Big Band, Black Voices, Soweto Kinch, Orchestra of the Swan and Ex Cathedra have been announced as the first Associate Artists of Town Hall.