Centre Stage: Brahms' Clarinet Quintet

Oliver Janes leads the CBSO in Brahms' Clarinet Quintet at the CBSO Centre on Wednesday 28 October, a lunchtime concert that puts one of the orchestra's own right at the front. Janes is the CBSO's Principal Clarinet, and for this one he's stepping out of the section to lead the ensemble himself.

The programme centres on the Clarinet Quintet, a piece Brahms wrote years after he'd retired from composing, only after he met a clarinetist who inspired him to pick up the pen again. It's described as a masterpiece where melodies curl like woodsmoke and passionate sorrows burst like wildfire into golden autumn afternoons — and given the late October date, the mood fits the season. The piece runs for around an hour, played straight through without an interval.

Janes isn't a stranger to the strings he'll be leading. Born and brought up in Manchester, he spent a decade studying the violin before switching to the clarinet at 15 in 2008, encouraged by his grandfather John Fuest, who had played clarinet with the CBSO himself. From there he went to Chetham's School of Music and later spent four years at the Royal Academy of Music, before joining the orchestra in December 2014. For this performance, he's joined by Charlotte Skinner and Victoria Farrell-Reed on violin, David BaMaung on viola, and Miguel Fernandes on cello.

It's a mid-week lunch slot, so it's an easy one to fit in if you're around the city centre. Tickets are £12, with reduced prices for students, under-18s and benefit recipients. The concert starts at 1:00pm at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham.