CBSO appoints Eastern European wunderkind as its new music director
THE City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has announced the successor to Andris Nelsons as music director.
Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla – just 29 – takes over as the CBSO’s 12th music director, with effect from September 2016 for an initial three-year period.
Gražinytė-Tyla made her debut with the CBSO in July 2015 and impressed the orchestra so much that she returned last month to conduct a specially arranged concert featuring works by Debussy, Schumann and Sibelius.
Following an extensive search process led by a committee made up of CBSO musicians, board members and management, and with strong support from orchestra and audience alike, a unanimous decision was made by the board of trustees to appoint Gražinytė-Tyla.
She succeeds Nelsons, who held the position from 2008-2015.
Gražinytė-Tyla’s plans with the CBSO will range widely from Mozart and Haydn to 20th century classics and works by living composers.
Coming from the strong choral traditions of the Baltic states (her father is a choir conductor in Lithuania), and following her role in Salzburg, she will also lead opera projects in Birmingham and will work closely with Simon Halsey CBE, CBSO chorus director, on projects with the CBSO’s choruses.
Gražinytė-Tyla said: ‘Every single musician of the CBSO is an artist with great individuality and sense of responsibility. They are driven to be one of the world’s leading orchestras and their shared spirit for team work helps them to achieve this.
“I felt so at ease working with the Orchestra at the CBSO Centre and at Symphony Hall and I can’t wait to get started and to call these my homes too.
“I am also very excited about working with the CBSO family including its brilliant choirs led by Simon Halsey, and getting involved with its extensive learning and participation programme both locally and further afield. I believe we will be a great team and really look forward to making music together.
CBSO chief executive Stephen Maddock said: “We are absolutely delighted to be appointing Mirga as the CBSO’s next music director. There was an instant chemistry between Mirga and our musicians, and the excitement in Symphony Hall at her concerts both on stage and in the audience was palpable.
“The CBSO is world-famous for its track record in finding brilliant young conducting talent: Sir Simon Rattle, appointed at just 25 years old, held the post for 18 years before moving to the Berlin Philharmonic.
“He passed the baton to the superbly talented Sakari Oramo (appointed at 30), who is now with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Andris Nelsons (appointed at 28) had seven wonderful years here and has gone on to lead the Boston Symphony and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras.
“Mirga is 29 and is thrilling audiences wherever she goes: we can’t wait to start making music with her.”
Gražinytė-Tyla has been music director of the Salzburg Landestheater since 2015. She is currently the assistant conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where she was a Dudamel Fellow in 2012-13, and she takes up a new post of associate conductor from July 2016. She won the prestigious Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award in 2012.
