This year’s music strand features some of Birmingham’s brightest rising stars, including a range of exceptionally talented pianists, both jazz and classical.

Original music, too, comes to the fore with a focus on the work of the legendary composer ‘Moondog’. Sitting comfortably alongside, fresh young composers emerging from UCE Birmingham Conservatoire get a chance to show their mettle in our Composers’ Ensemble concert and elsewhere in the strand.

Though seated in the Performing Arts strand, the English opera Psyche also forms an important part of the Festival’s music offering and provides the ideal opportunity for those who have never seen an opera to sidle up to one and say hello in the
unassuming comfort of The Crescent Theatre.

Stunning new soloists, blazing repertoire and inspiring ensembles: if this is your first NGA, you’ve picked a good one.