Anna Clyne announced as composer-in-residence with the CBSO for 2026/27 with new viola concerto with Lawrence Power, new recording with Jess Gillam and more

Anna Clyne (Photo: Victoria Stevens)

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has announced that USA-based British composer Anna Clyne has been appointed composer-in-residence for the 2026/27 season. Her work with the CBSO will include major symphonic performances, a world premiere commission and a significant new recording project.

Concert highlights include Restless Oceans in a programme conducted by the CBSO’s music director Kazuki Yamada in September 2026, as well as her saxophone concerto, Glasslands, performed by CBSO collaborative artist Jess Gillam under the baton of Alpesh Chauhan, with a Decca recording of the work forming part of the project.     

In March 2027, the CBSO will give the world premiere of Clyne’s new Viola Concerto – Resonant Forms – co-commissioned by the orchestra for Lawrence Power. Her piece Night Ferry will also be performed as part of the CBSO’s Halloween themed Family Concert in October 2026.    

Clyne’s residency will extend beyond the concert platform, with collaborations including a project with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, educational visits to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Shireland CBSO Academy, and involvement in the CBSO’s Orchestral Residency Scheme with young musicians in July 2027, featuring her work PALETTE – a concerto for Augmented Orchestra. 

Clyne’s cello concerto DANCE was performed by National Youth Orchestra as part of Shimmer, its January 2026 programme, and she was awarded her first Ivor Novello Award for Orbits, a piece commissioned and performed by The Sixteen and Harry Christophers setting the poem I Live My Life In Growing Orbits by Rilke in a translation by American poet Robert Bly [see my review]. Her piece, The Years, was performed at the BBC Proms in August 2025 by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Fabio Luisi as part of the orchestra’s centenary celebrations [see my review].

Clyne’s announcement at composer-in-residence comes after recent announcements of Ilan Volkov as principal guest conductor from 2026 to 2029; pianist Alice Sara Ott and saxophonist Jess Gillam as collaborative artists for 2026–28; composer and producer Rushil Ranjan as collaborative artist for 2025-27; along with the confirmation that Kazuki Yamada will remain music director until at least the end of the 2028-29 Season

Full details from the CBSO’s website.