Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) is a chamber orchestra based in Birmingham, England. BCMG specialises in the performance of new and contemporary music. BCMG performs regularly at the CBSO Centre and Symphony Hall in Birmingham. BCMG also tours nationally and worldwide and has appeared several times at the Proms in London.
Musicians from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra formed the ensemble in 1987, with Simon Rattle as its founding patron, with the first performances at the Birmingham Conservatoire's Adrian Boult Hall. BCMG has since given world premieres to more than 100 works by such composers as Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Judith Weir BCMG has won numerous awards, including the 2004 Royal Philharmonic Society Audience Development Award, the 1995 Gramophone Award for Best Orchestral Recording, the 1993 Royal Philharmonic Society Chamber Ensemble Award, the 1993 Prudential Award for Music, and The Arts Ball 2002 Outstanding Achievement Award.
Thomas Adès was the first music director of BCMG, from 1998 to 2000. The current artistic director of BCMG is Stephen Newbould. Peter Wiegold, John Woolrich and Oliver Knussen are the current artists-in-association with BCMG, with Knussen having begun his 3-year contract in 2006.
Read more about Birmingham Contemporary Music Group: Sound Investment, Composers and Works Commissioned Through Sound Investment
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