Birmingham Contemporary Music Group launch their 2010/11 season on 10 October with a double focus. The concert will feature new work by composer Simon Holt, along with the talents of pianist Rolf Hind and soprano Sarah Leonard, plus work by hugely influential German composer Helmut Lachenmann.

Simon Holt’s complex, dramatic music was first performed by BCMG in 1990 and it has rarely been out of the ensemble’s repertoire. Twenty years on, BCMG presents another Holt premiere.  A Knot of Time, conducted by Richard Baker, is the composer’s setting of five poems by Federico García Lorca – the Andalucian poet whose dark, passionate and enigmatic texts have much in common with Holt’s own sound world.

Following the Season Launch Concert, there are whole string of concerts filling the BCMG diary through until Summer 2011. The programme until the end of 2010 looks like this;

BEAST: States of Play – 16 & 17 October. Presenting another weekend of electro-acoustic sound, using this spectacular multichannel diffusion system.

Feel the Buzz – 24 & 31 October. A free composing workshops for 14 to 18 year olds held at mac.

Families@5 conducted by Oliver Knussen – 14 November. A bite-sized interactive concert for young people and families, exploring energetic and jazz-influenced music.

Mark-Anthony Turnage 50th Birthday Concert – 14 November. A celebration of the composer’s work, with pre-concert talk Mark-Anthony Turnage and Charlotte Bray, open to all ticket holders.

BCMG conducted by Peter Rundel – 5 December. This high-octane mid-afternoon concert features works from two established younger composers – Tansy Davies and Enno Poppe.

Tickets for all of the above can be bought online or by calling the box office on 0121 767 4050