Rattle back in Brum for encore with CBSO

Renowned conductor Sir Simon Rattle is returning to Birmingham to lead the city's orchestra for the first time in more than a decade.

Sir Simon was in charge of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for 18 years in the 1980s and 1990s. On Saturday and Sunday, he and his baton return for a homecoming performance with old colleagues at Symphony Hall.

The 55-year-old, who is often credited with making the CBSO world famous, will lead the orchestra in Bach's B Minor Mass.

Sir Simon, now principal of Germany's Berlin Philharmonic, said: "I'm so looking forward to going back and seeing so many familiar faces.

"The CBSO is in such fabulous shape under Andris Nelsons. Last year, in Lucerne, they gave the best live performance of La Mer I've ever heard."

From 1980, Sir Simon had an acclaimed stint as the CBSO's principal conductor and artistic adviser and, in 1990, became musical director.

He was at the helm when the orchestra moved from Birmingham Town Hall to Symphony Hall in 1991.

In 1987, the Liverpool-born conductor was awarded a CBE and became a knight in 1994.

Sir Simon has often been celebrated for pushing pioneering new music, but this weekend's performance will see a return to Bach, which Rattle performed as a teenager.

"I was a harpsichordist in my teens and there was a bunch of us in Liverpool who got together every week to play Bach," he said.

Rattle has been conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, which is one of the leading orchestra's in the world, for seven years.

In 1999, Rattle returned to his adopted Birmingham to unveil the city's biggest ever festival of art, music, dance and theatre.

The Forward Festival, which was funded by a £1.7 million lottery grant, ran in the city throughout 2000.