Songwriter, composer and recording artist Laura Mvula will return to her home city this October to perform with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) as part of the Classically Black festival.
The one-of-a-kind concert, which takes place at Symphony Hall on Friday 10 October 2025, marks Laura’s first solo collaboration with the CBSO. Conducted by Matthew Lynch, the performance will bring her signature blend of rich harmonies and soul stirring vocals home, performing several of her songs – including Green Garden, Father Father and Sing to the Moon – alongside the full-force of the orchestra.
The concert is part of Black Lives in Music’s celebrated classical music festival, Classically Black. Now in its second year, the festival celebrates the depth and brilliance of Black composers and musicians – past, present, and future – reimagining classical music through the powerful lens of culture, experience and creativity.
Although this is Laura’s first solo concert with the CBSO, she has a long history with the organisation. First as a member of the CBSO Youth Orchestra, before later working as a receptionist after graduating from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. It was during this time she began to write her own songs.
Laura released her debut album, Sing to the Moon, in 2013, earning her two MOBO awards and a Mercury Prize nomination. Since then, Laura has released two more albums The Dreaming Room and Pink Noise, both Mercury Prize nominated, won two Ivor Novello Awards for Best Album, composed music for the Royal Shakespeare Company and a Netflix Series, and recently released a single as part of the 2024 John Lewis Christmas campaign.
Laura Mvula, said: “Coming back to Birmingham to perform with the CBSO feels like a full-circle moment. The orchestra has been part of my life since I was a child, so to now share my music at Symphony Hall, alongside these musicians is deeply personal and incredibly special. To be able to do it as part of Classically Black, celebrating the contribution of Black musicians and composers, adds even more meaning. I am so excited to perform to a home crowd, it’s going to be an unforgettable night.”
In the last year, Laura has been a Special Guest on tour with Lenny Kravitz and performed at Glastonbury with Coldplay. Classically Black with Laura Mvula & the CBSO is Laura’s first hometown performance since the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
The event will also reflect a wider family connection – as a teenager Laura performed with the vocal acapella group Black Voices, founded by her aunt Carol Pemberton. The group has performed alongside the CBSO several times – including a performance of Dvorak’s 9th Symphony and African American Spirituals earlier this year.
Emma Stenning, CEO of CBSO, said: “We’re thrilled to be working alongside Black Lives in Music to bring Classically Black to Birmingham. Our home city is fantastically musical, and full of diversity and creative adventure. To be able to celebrate and share Laura’s incredible music-making with audiences is a powerful moment – not just for the CBSO, but for the whole city. Her story is rooted in Birmingham, and this collaboration is a chance to honour that journey with something truly unforgettable.”
Roger Wilson, Director of Operations of Black Lives in Music, said: “Classically Black is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the not insignificant contribution of Black and global majority musicians and composers in classical music. The largely unacknowledged contribution by this community to this genre of music is as rich in heritage as it is in legacy. There is no more versatile and beautiful voice than that painted with the orchestral tonal palette.”
“Classically Black is a celebration that also encapsulates the narrative of intersectionality. Laura Mvula is a phenomenal talent, transcending musical genres as artists should. As a Black Woman, creating and leading from the front, she is a beacon of hope for so many still disenfranchised in classical music today. To have an opportunity to work with the world class artist that Laura is, and on home turf in Birmingham with the equally world class CBSO are two invaluable pieces of the jigsaw coming together. BLiM are both honoured and proud to be bringing together these world class artists.”