Forward

Richard Bratby writes on music for The Spectator, Gramophone and The Arts Desk and is deputy music critic of The Birmingham Post, as well as a programme note writer for the CBSO, the BBC, the Royal Opera House and the Salzburg Festival. In 1998 he joined the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra as Hall Manager of the new CBSO Centre, and went on to launch and manage the Centre Stage chamber music series and the CBSO Youth Orchestra before leaving to become a full-time writer in 2015. During his sixteen years with the orchestra he served for four years as staff representative on the CBSO Board, and was latterly Secretary and Chief Executive of the CBSO Benevolent Fund.Born on the Wirral, Richard studied History at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, before playing as principal cello in the now-defunct Sri Lanka Philharmonic Orchestra. After a stint as a history teacher, he joined the staff of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 1997 before upgrading to the CBSO the following year. He is married to the theatre historian Annette Rubery, and they live in Lichfield with their cat Boris.

`CBSO is the heart of Birmingham. We enrich people's lives with music not only in this city, but around the whole world. That is what this book is about.' - Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla; `Congratulations to the CBSO on their 100th anniversary. I have incredible fond memories of my time in Birmingham and feel honoured to be part of this musical family.' - Andris Nelsons; `I have had the pleasure and privilege of working with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on many occasions. A more professional and inspirational band of musicians it would be hard to find. To read in this history of how swiftly they established themselves as an unrivalled force in English music-making, together with the some of the great names they worked with - from Holst and Sibelius to Elgar and Britten - not to mention a near fatal financial crisis, is a revelation.' - John Suchet