“one of the best non-professional orchestras
in the land”

The Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in the 1940s is one of the country’s leading non-professional symphony orchestras, with members from all walks of life throughout the Heart of England. It enjoys close links with both the Birmingham Conservatoire and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

The Orchestra is always happy to hear from prospective new members, especially from percussionists and harpists.  Potential supporters or sponsors are also welcome to contact us at any time.

News . . .

The programme for our 2009-2010 season will be available soon - watch this space.

BPO principal clarinetist and publicity organiser Alastair Moseley was featured in the Birmingham Post in a special article on 17 April, promoting our Environment Prom at Symphony Hall on Sunday 26 April which featured Classic FM chart-topping The Lark Ascending by Vaughan-Williams and the premiere of Ian Barnett's Ballads for a Living Planet. See Review from the Birmingham Post, 28 April 2009.

We are delighted to be able to announce that the pianist Peter Donohoe has agreed to become the patron of the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008.

Peter has had a long association with the city through his work with the CBSO, and still lives in the area while pursuing an international concert career. He has an extraordinarily large repertoire of over 150 works for piano and orchestra, and we hope to persuade him to perform with the BPO sometime in the near future.

The recent (January 2008) concert by the BPO Big Band in Sutton Coldfield was a great success - “The band played magnificently ... and deserved the rapturous applause from the full-house audience.”

Our concert in October 2007 in Birmingham was praised by the Birmingham Post for its "energy and vivacity". There are also reviews of our concerts last season in October, December, February and June

The BPO was featured playing Delius on Radio 3 Amateur Orchestra Showcase on Tuesday 3 October 2006 - available here - MP3 (4.1 mb)

A number of old photographs and copies of programmes dating back to the 1940s have recently been donated to the orchestra by Roger Preston. Most of them are now available on the Archives and History pages. Any information about dates, venues or people in the photos would be gratefully received.

More Infomation - other ways to get in touch with the orchestra, information on vacancies.

BPO Facebook page - open to members, friends, anyone - NEW

BPO Brochure 2008-09 - this year's programme in PDF (1.7mb file)

Who's Who - conductors, players and the committee

Archives - the history of the orchestra and a database of performances