Ten concerts will get what CBSO Chief Executive, Stephen Maddock, describes as "The Harmony treatment", referring to the CBSO's new and wide-ranging culturally diversity plan, The Harmony Project. Over the next three years, the Orchestra will be working with three distinct ethnic groups within Birmingham, aiming to take music into the community and to bring the communities into the concert hall. This is part of the Orchestra's commitment to ensuring that the widest possible number of people from the most diverse backgrounds have their lives touched by the CBSO's music-making.

A R RAHMAN - BOLLYWOOD CLASSICS

For the first year of the project, the CBSO is exploring the influence of South Asian music and cultures on western classical music, making it an integral part of concerts and educational activities. The Orchestra has also initiated a commissioning programme and features new works by A.R. Rahman & Nitin Sawhney, as well as Indian popular and classical music for performance in schools and community venues by the many small ensembles from the CBSO.

The first concert takes place on Wednesday 21 January 2004 and features Messiaen's colourful Turangalîla-Symphonie, an epic orchestral work that was inspired by Indian music. The composer's fascination with the complex rhythms of traditional Indian music shines through in this piece which uses a colossal orchestra, a solo piano, and the ondes-martenot, a bizarre electronic instrument. In total, there are ten huge movements, each aiming to express love on a cosmic scale.

Joining the CBSO in January are two guest ensembles, Nadhamanjari (21 January only) and Sam-Yo! (24 January only) and they will play a selection of Indian classical music. Nadhamanjari was founded in 1998 and consists of students aged between 12 and 24 who are skilled in playing a variety of Eastern and Western instruments. Sam-Yo! is the first ever South Asian Music Youth Orchestra and is an initiative of the South Asian Music Consortium, a national partnership between three organisations specialising in Asian music - Milapfest (Liverpool), sampad (Birmingham) and Saa-UK (Leeds).

The often neglected pre-war British composer John Foulds gets the attention he deserves in two CBSO concerts in February which include a rare performance of his ground-breaking large orchestral work Three Mantras (which are fragments from Avatara, an unfinished 'Indian' opera) and the first performances of two rediscovered scores, Mirage and Lyra Celtica. John Foulds was strongly influenced by Indian music and his dream was to fuse the music of Europe and India. Mirage is a Straussian evocation of man's metaphysical aspirations while Lyra Celtica makes ground-breaking use of Indian quarter-tone scales in a wordless concerto for voice and orchestra that Foulds composed for his wife Maud McCarthy. All three works will be recorded by the CBSO after the concerts.

In March, the world-famous Indian composer A.R. Rahman will be conducting the CBSO for two evenings of Bollywood blockbusters including his own themes from Bombay, the Oscar-nominated Lagaan, Dil Se, Warriors of Heaven and Earth, Taal, Iruvar, Roja and Bombay Dreams. Rahman, who has sold over 40 million recordings worldwide and is perhaps best known to Western audiences through his hit West End musical Bombay Dreams, has also agreed to compose a new orchestral work for the CBSO which will be premièred in the summer of 2004.

Continuing the Indian theme in May are two works by the composer Gustav Holst including the first professional concert performance of his symphonic poem Indra and a rare opportunity to hear his short opera Savitri. India was a source of inspiration for Holst and as a young man he became interested in Buddhism and Hinduism. His orchestral work Indra is based on Indian myth and it conveys a vivid portrait of the god Indra while Savitri is based on a tale derived from the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata. This innovative opera is composed for three soloists, a small chamber group and female chorus and it will also feature a collaboration between UK and Indian dancers from sampad. In addition, at this concert the same dancers will perform to traditional South Indian music

Later in May, the CBSO's Family Concert - a concert specially tailored to appeal to young people aged 7-12 years old - will focus on pieces of music that were Made In Birmingham. Alongside music by Elgar and Ketèlbey, this concert will include the première of a new work by Nitin Sawhney featuring instrumentalists, singers and dancers from South Asian community groups in Birmingham. Sawhney is one of Britain's most original and gifted musicians as well as being an award-winning writer, comedian, actor, scriptwriter and producer. In 2000, he was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and received the prestigious South Bank Show Award; he has worked with Sir Paul McCartney, toured with Sting, played at Glastonbury 2000 and was commissioned by the BBC to write a piece for the Proms 2000.

CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
SOUTH ASIAN AND INDIAN SEASON

WEDNESDAY 21 JANUARY & SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2004
SYMPHONY HALL (starts 7.30pm; pre-concert talk 6.15pm)
KAZUSHI ONO, conductor
JOANNA MACGREGOR, piano
TAKASHI HARADA, ondes-martenot
GUEST ENSEMBLE (21 January) - Nadhamanjari Traditional Classical Music
GUEST ENSEMBLE (24 January) - Sam-Yo! Indian Classical Music
MESSIAEN Turangalîla-Symphonie

TUESDAY 10 FEBRUARY & THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2004
SYMPHONY HALL (starts 7.30pm; pre-concert talk 6.15pm)
SAKARI ORAMO, conductor
AKIKO SUWANAI, violin
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY YOUTH CHORUS (SENIORS)
FOULDS Three Mantras
PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 2
STRAVINSKY Petrushka

WEDNESDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2004
SYMPHONY HALL (starts 7PM; pre-concert talk 6.15pm)
SAKARI ORAMO, conductor
SUSAN BICKLEY, mezzo-soprano
STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel
FOULDS Mirage - FIRST PERFORMANCE
FOULDS Lyra Celtica - FIRST PERFORMANCE
STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra

FRIDAY 5 MARCH & SATURDAY 6 MARCH 2004
SYMPHONY HALL (starts 7pm)
A.R. RAHMAN, conductor
BOLLYWOOD CLASSICS

TUESDAY 18 MAY 2004
SYMPHONY HALL (starts 7.30pm; pre-concert talk 6.15pm)
SIMON HALSEY, conductor
SARAH CONNOLLY, mezzo-soprano
MARK PADMORE, tenor
JAMES RUTHERFORD, baritone
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY YOUTH CHORUS (SENIORS)
PIALI RAY, choreographer
SAMPAD South Indian Classical Dance
ELGAR Serenade for Strings
FINZI Dies natalis
HOLST Savitri

SUNDAY 23 MAY 2004
SYMPHONY HALL (starts 3pm)
VAYU NAIDU, presenter
FAMILY CONCERT Made In Birmingham
Includes music by Elgar, Ketèlbey and a new work by Nitin Sawhney - FIRST PERFORMANCE

SATURDAY 29 MAY 2004
(starts 7pm; pre-concert talk 5.45pm)
SAKARI ORAMO, conductor
ELSPETH DUTCH, horn
HOLST Indra - FIRST PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE
MOZART Horn Concerto No. 4
MOZART Symphony No. 32
ELGAR Enigma Variations