Birmingham music facts
Music plays a huge part in Birmingham's cultural scene. Artists from the city have been instrumental in the progression of many genres of music and the city has provided exciting innovations in the live venue experience in both the classical and rock arenas.
Here are some Birmingham music facts which you may not have known...
The West Midlands attracts 942,000 music tourist visits and enjoys a 12% share of all visits to the UK. The region is the 3rd largest contributor to music tourism in the UK, after London and North West.
The world’s largest collection of rock album covers can be found at St
Paul’s Gallery in the Jewellery Quarter.
The music library at Birmingham Conservatoire houses 95,000 individual scores and 10,000 sound recordings.
Symphony Hall sits on 2000 rubber ‘shock absorbers’ helping to prevent external vibrations reaching the hall and creating one of the most acoustically perfect venues in the world.
There are over 47,000 seats available every day for performances
in the city.
The LG Arena is one of the largest arenas in the UK, it is also the most accessible. The arena is extremely flexible with four interchangeable layouts.
Mendelssohn composed his oratorio Elijah for Birmingham's Triennial
Music Festival which was premiered in Birmingham's Town Hall. The festival began in the 18th century and ran until 1912.
Popular music acts as diverse as Led Zeppelin, UB40, Joan Armatrading, Duran Duran, Black Sabbath (OK you knew that one) , Fine Young Cannibals, Moody Blues, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne, The Electric Light Orchestra, Apache Indian, Ocean Colour Scene, Mike Skinner of The Streets, The Editors and Jamelia are from or originated in the city.
Birmingham is the centre of the UK’s Asian music industry, producing almost 90% of bhangra music.