After all the months of anticipation and hype the moment had finally arrived, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla stepped on to the stage of a packed Symphony Hall as the CBSO’s new Music Director.

As a one-off Birmingham welcome (and calling-card showpiece for the BBC Proms the following night, but how gratifying we heard it here first) it was a truly amazing concert.

The sense of occasion was almost palpable. Even Mozart’s Magic Flute overture fizzed and sparkled with a clarity and subtlety we rarely hear in such a well-worn opener. And at the end of the programme Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 transcended its fanfare opening to develop into something of a musical quest, lovingly and elegantly sculptured by this remarkable young conductor (strings wonderfully effulgent, woodwind singing with nostalgia), which, after characterful middle movements, concluded in a glorious peroration of life-affirming joy.


An even more impressive vehicle for Gražinytė-Tyla’s musicianship and technique was Hans Abrahamsen’s Shakespeare-inspired 30-minute vocal monologue ‘let me tell you’ for soprano (the stunningly brilliant Barbara Hannigan, who has made the work her own).

Here the demands were totally different, often involving extreme nuances of range, tone, dynamics and controlled virtuosity. The kaleidoscopic and aurally seductive nature of Abrahamsen’s score was, it seemed, flawlessly realised by the quiet precision of Mirga’s direction, and conveyed by a singer and orchestra in turbocharged form.

So – has the CBSO at last found a worthy successor to Andris Nelsons? You bet they have. In just one evening we witnessed exactly what the Mirga magic can do. And this is just the start.