Flourish! commissions new music for Birmingham-based youth and non-professional ensembles and gives them the opportunity to work with composers.

Flourish! was first created as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, generously funded by Birmingham City Council as part of their Creative City grant programme. We are pleased to have been granted funds from Birmingham City Council’s Creative Cities Legacy Grant to deliver a 2023 iteration of the programme.  

Flourish 2023! 

Through the Spring and Summer of 2023, we will be working with four composers and ensembles. Each composer will compose a short, engaging, dynamic piece of music that will celebrate something, somewhere or someone that has strong and positive connections with Birmingham. 

Our Partnerships 

1. Birmingham Flute Choir & Rūta Vitkauskaitė 

   

Composer Rūta Vitkauskaitė is composing a flourish for Birmingham Flute Choir that will be premiered at their Summer Concert.  

“It is very exciting to be given an opportunity to write a composition for so many flutes - including two contrabass flutes! My imagination immediately jumped into the world of winds and clicks, with emerging, unfolding, blossoming flute tones. I am so much looking forward to collaborating on my composition with Birmingham Flute Choir, and together exploring the directions all those images can take.” - Rūta Vitkauskaitė 

Birmingham Flute Choir was formed in the 1980s, initially meeting at the Martineau Adult Education Centre in Harborne. Since then, the choir has grown considerably in number of members, and breadth of instruments. The group now plays with a full complement of flutes, from piccolo to contrabass. The flute choir is conducted by Sandy Hay, an established music teacher in Birmingham. The choir meetings 5-6 times each term at King Edward VI High School for Girls, and performs publicly 3-4 times a year.

2. Notebenders Big Band & David Austin Grey 

   

Composer and musician David Austin Grey will compose a flourish for the Notebenders Big Band to be premiered at one of their Summer Concerts this July.  

“I'm delighted to be able to work with The Notebenders. They are a genuinely warm and lovely group, and they bring a great energy and enthusiasm to each piece they perform. I'm looking forward to pushing them to try some new ways of exploring sound and harmony. I'm also excited to hear the colours and ideas that they bring to my music.” - David Austin Grey 

The Notebenders Big Band is a community big band based in Ladywood, Birmingham. Band members hail from all sections of the diverse and dynamic communities of the City of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands region. They are a true representation of crossing and breaking down barriers through music. 

3. Moseley Misfits & Kirsty Devaney 

   

Composer Kirsty Devaney will compose a flourish for the Moseley Misfits to be premiered at their Summer Concer at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire this summer.  

“I love getting to know people and meeting new groups of musicians. It is what inspires me most as a composer. This project will allow me the time to work closely with Misfits Music to create a piece not just tailored to ensemble, but inspired by them.” - Kirsty Devaney 

Moseley Misfits are a amateur all-ability music group for adults that meet weekly in Moseley. They like to challenge themselves musically whilst having fun and meeting other like-minded people in their community. Learn more about them HERE. 

We will be sharing details of all the premiere performances soon, so be sure to keep an eye on our events page for updates. If you can’t make the performances, we’ll also be filming all the premieres and then sharing them here for you to enjoy, so keep an eye out for those too! 

2. Birmingham Schools’ Recorder Sinfonia & Marcus Rock 

   

Composer Marcus Rock is composing a flourish for Birmingham Schools’ Recorder Sinfonia that will be premiered at the o be performed as part of the Services for Education Central Music Ensembles Youth Proms Summer Concerts at Symphony Hall this Summer. 

“I'm most looking forward to seeing how the Birmingham Schools’ Recorder Sinfonia work together, more specifically hearing their sound and trying to create something which exhibits the unique characteristics of their ensemble to the fullest.” - Marcus Rock 

Birmingham Schools’ Recorder Sinfonia is one of the Services for Education Music Service’s Central Ensembles, conducted by Michelle Holloway.  

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Flourish 2022!

Flourish! reimagines the fanfare – a ubiquitous part of sporting ceremonies – for the 21st Century and brings together communities through the medium of music. 

Throughout the spring and summer of 2022, we worked with 10 ‘musical triangles’, each comprising of a non-professional or youth ensemble, a composer, and a Commonwealth connection, to create fanfares inspired by and celebrating the Commonwealth - its nations, individuals and values of diversity and tolerance.

Each composer collaboratively worked with their ensemble to create a brand new fanfare which was performed live and filmed to be shared as a digital concert. 

BCMG's Flourish! is a partnership with The Commonwealth Resounds. 

Watch the performances

Our Partnerships

1. Birmingham Gay Symphony Orchestra & Florence Anna Maunders - Flourish of Rainbows

   

Composer Florence Anna Maunders composed a flourish for Birmingham Gay Symphony Orchestra which celebrated the LGBT+ community throughout Commonwealth Nations and was premiered at their Summer Concert. An arrangement of the flourish for a smaller ensemble of BGSO musicians was performed to open Pride House, which will be provided a safe, inclusive and welcoming space for LGBT+ supporters, athletes, staff volunteers and organisations at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

'My aim with this piece was to create a bright, colourful and flamboyant concert opener, inspired by the members of BGSO, and their programming. The piece opens with a dramatic fanfare, after which a bold, heroic melody strives ever higher over a rhythmic ostinato and rapid woodwind flourishes. After a contrasting, lyrical, cello melody in the central section, the stirring main theme is heard again, decorated with antiphonal trumpet calls, before the work finishes with a triumphant bang! The rainbow is a symbol of diversity, and how many different colours come together to create natural light - in the same way this piece celebrates the diversity of the performers, modern Britain, and the Commonwealth.' Florence Anna Maunders

Birmingham Gay Symphony Orchestra is the Midland's LGBT+ orchestra, promoting musical talent directly from within the LGBT+ community, illuminating the diversity that exists within it to the wider community and beyond. 

2. Moseley Misfits & Millicent James - Gully Mango Market

  

Composing a flourish for the Moseley Misfits, an adult community instrumental ensemble, was composer and musician Millicent James. Millicent’s flourish celebrated her Jamaican heritage and re-imagined traditional Jamaican folk melodies for the ensemble. The flourish was premiered as part of Moseley Misfits Summer Concert at the Moseley Festival summer. 2022

"It's an honour to be involved in the Flourish Project and I'm super excited to be taking part. The thing that I'm most looking forward to is working with the Moseley Misfits group. They're all such a lovely bunch of people and I'm grateful to share my music with them!" Millicent James

Moseley Misfits are a amateur all-ability music group for adults that meet weekly in Moseley. They like to challenge themselves musically whilst having fun and meeting other like-minded people in their community. Learn more about them HERE. 

3. BCMG Music Maze with Lekan Babalola & Kate Luxmore

    

As part of BCMG’s regular Music Maze, young people aged 8-11 years old worked with composers and musicians Kate Luxmoore and Lekan Babalola to create their own flourishes, using the Golden Chain creation myth from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Togo, and Benin as inspiration. The resultant flourishes were shared at the end of the workshop on 19 June 2022 with family and friends. 

4. Notebenders Big Band & Soweto Kinch - Notebenders Fanfare

  

Composer and musician Soweto Kinch composed a flourish for the Notebenders Big Band celebrating the Jamaican heritage and legacy of its’ founder Andy Hamilton as well as celebrating the diverse and dynamic communities of Birmingham that the group represents. They premiered their piece as part of their Summer Concert.

"The Notebenders have been instrumental in celebrating Andy Hamilton’s legacy, as well as providing a pathway for incredible new talent across Birmingham. They really embody the power of tradition and community. I’m thrilled to be composing a fanfare for the ensemble, and really look forward to integrating their distinctive sound into a musical flourish.” Soweto Kinch

The Notebenders Big Band is a community big band based in Ladywood, Birmingham. Band members hail from all sections of the diverse and dynamic communities of the City of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands region. They are a true representation of crossing and breaking down barriers through music.

5. Birmingham Schools' Raga & Tala & Supriya Nagarajan - Kushi

   

Supriya Nagarajan created a flourish for the Birmingham Schools' Raga & Tala. Entitled 'Kushi', which translated means happiness, the piece drew on Supriya’s South Asian heritage and the tradition of the sitar and tabla, using the playful notes of the South Indian Mohanam raga to embody today’s world where cultures coexist and thrive. The flourish was performed as part of the Services for Education Central Music Ensembles Youth Proms Summer Concerts at Symphony Hall, Summer 2022.

6. Birmingham Schools' Brass Band & Bobbie-Jane Gardner - Moving Stories

   

Bobbie-Jane Gardner composed a flourish for the Birmingham Schools’ Brass Band inspired by the band’s connections to the Commonwealth, including India and Leeds.  Stories of migration and hospitality to new communities are the heart and main catalyst for this celebratory piece. To piece was performed as part of the Services for Education Central Music Ensembles Youth Proms Summer Concerts at Symphony Hall this Summer.

'I'm really happy to be working with Birmingham music service's brass ensemble to create a short 'flourish' inspired by their commonwealth connections. We met a few times and I'm up for the task of embedding the young people's wonderful stories into our musical creation. The ensemble have also shared lots of exciting compositional ideas to include: such as how we travel the sound and 'work' the performance space. I've never composed for brass ensemble before - only for brass quintet, so this presents a fun challenge!' Bobbie-Jane Gardner

7. BCMG Creative Composing Lab with David Horne & Kuljit Bhamra

As part of BCMG’s regular Creative Composing Lab, young people aged 14-18 years old worked with composer David Horne to compose a minute-long fanfare for an ensemble of BCMG musicians comprising oboe, trumpet, double bass, and tabla that used a melodic or rhythmic idea from a traditional, folk or popular piece of music of a Commonwealth Nation. As well as young people taking part in person in Birmingham, 4 young composers from the Commonwealth Nations of Uganda, India, Singapore, and Malta participated in the event online. The final flourishes were shared in a concert at the end of the day with family and friends as well as being filmed for a future digital concert. 

8. Live in the Lodge & Katie Stevens

  

Composer and musician Katie Stevens is co-created a flourish for musicians from the Live in the Lodge, a multi-generational community music programme in Falcon Lodge in Sutton Coldfield, taking inspiration from the folk music traditions of Malta. They premiered their flourish as part of their performance at the Castle Vale neighborhood festival site as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival.

Live in the Lodge is a community-led inter-generational music programme in Falcon Lodge, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, creating and growing together since autumn 2016.

9. University of Birmingham School & Max Gibson - Even with distance our bodies resound

     

Composer and BCMG Learning Trainee Max Gibson worked with Year 9 students from University of Birmingham School to co-create a new flourish using a traditional Bangladeshi folk melody as the springboard for their musical ideas. The folk melody was recorded and shared with the group by Bangladeshi musician Neel Kamrul. Their flourish was premiered as part of their Schools Arts Festival in Summer 2022 by the students.

10. Birmingham Schools' Steel Band & Pablo Barrios - Soca Fanfare

   

Pablo Barrios is composed a flourish for the Birmingham Schools' Steel Band, which celebrated the Trinidadian heritage of steel pan and was inspired by the Soca and calypso music traditions, conveying the spirit of the Carnival held in Trinidad. Their flourish was performed as part of the Services for Education Central Music Ensembles Youth Proms Summer Concerts at Symphony Hall in Summer 2022.