The Concert Coach Spring/Summer Programme 2026

For all of the CBSO concerts on this programme, under-18s pay just the coach fare of £17 - we will buy their concert ticket. They can sit anywhere in the hall, as long as they are accompanied by an adult paying full price.

16 Sunday 17th May - 12:55pm at the Abbey
NB bookings close no later than 13/03/26
Venue: Symphony Hall

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra

LutosÅ‚awski: Little Suite — Circle £45.00
Chopin: Piano Concerto no.2 — Circle Ledge £45.00
Bacewicz: Scherzo — Side Stalls £38.00
Beethoven: Symphony no.7 — Rear Stalls £45.00

Conductor: Krzysztof Urbański
Piano soloist: Alexandra Dariescu

There is certainly no shortage of fine musicians in Poland. The Warsaw Philharmonic, founded in 1901, is that country's national orchestra and has a past conductor in common with the CBSO - Sir Andrei Panufnik. In this afternoon's concert they bring us colourful, tuneful music from their compatriots and then turn to perhaps the most universal of composers for his Seventh, the symphony called by Wagner the Apotheosis of the Dance.

17 Thursday 21st May - 5:25pm at the Abbey
NB bookings close no later than 13/03/26
Venue: Symphony Hall

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde — Circle £64.00
Richard Strauss: a selection of orchestral lieder — Circle Ledge £64.00
Richard Strauss: Don Juan — Rear Stalls £44.00
Richard Strauss: Symphonic Fantasy on The Woman Without a Shadow — Centre Stalls rows L,M £44.00
Side Stalls £33.00

Conductor: Fabien Gabel
Soprano: Nikola Hillebrand
Under-18s, seated anywhere £17.00

Complex sets and effects (children singing from a frying pan?) make Strauss's opera Die Frau ohne Schatten difficult and expensive to stage - hence the one-movement orchestral suite he made from all its best bits. Wagner started his grand opera Tristan and Isolde with a famous chord which so undermined tonality that it changed the history of music... and brought the evening to an overwhelming love/death climax 4 hours later. We'll get by without the bit in the middle!

18 Thursday 28th May - 5:25pm at the Abbey
Venue: Symphony Hall

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Philip Glass: Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra — Circle £64.00
Carlos Simon: Four Black American Dances — Circle Ledge £64.00
Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances — Centre Stalls rows K,L £44.00
Rear Stalls £44.00
Side Stalls £33.00

Conductor: Alpesh Chauhan
Timpani soloists: Matt Hardy and Toby Kearney
Under-18s, seated anywhere £17.00

Now here's something we don't see very often: our timpanists being given a chance to show off, with 13 drums between them - and a large orchestra behind them, for once. There will be plenty of scope for virtuosity and spectacle. Then we hear contrasting sets of dances, both in their different ways from an American point of view - Carlos Simon showing us enslavement, liberation and exuberance... and Rachmaninov remembering his Russian home from far away.

 

19 Wednesday 3rd June - 5:25pm at the Abbey
Venue: Symphony Hall

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Frescobaldi, orch. Stokowski: Gagliarda Seconda — Circle £64.00
Purcell, arr. Stokowski: Dido's Lament — Circle Ledge £64.00
Debussy, orch. Stokowski: The Sunken Cathedral — Upper Circle £54.00
Mussorgsky, arr. Stokowski: Coronation Scene from Boris Godunov — Rear Stalls £44.00
Bach, orch. Stokowski: Toccata and Fugue in D minor — Side Stalls £33.00
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring — Choir £33.00

Under-18s, seated anywhere £17.00
Conductor: Ilan Volkov

Stokowski's re-imaginings of music by others are fascinating and stirring in equal measure, making great pictures with a lavish orchestra. Stravinsky used the same flexible instrument to take us to primitive Russia, land of ritual and sacrifice. At its first hearing, the Rite caused a riot among the audience. We are just beginning to get the hang of it now...

20 Thursday 18th June - 12:15pm at the Abbey
Venue: Symphony Hall

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Martinu: Memorial to Lidice — Circle £64.00
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto — Circle Ledge £64.00
Prokofiev: Symphony no.6 — Upper Circle £54.00
Rear Stalls £44.00
Side Stalls £33.00
Choir £33.00

Under-18s, seated anywhere £17.00
Conductor: Dmitri Slobodeniuk
Violin soloist: Inmo Yang

Two works which we seldom have an opportunity to hear live, yet which are among their composers' most profound, frame Tchaikovsky's familar and well-loved concerto. Martinu commemorates the village of Lidice, obliterated in an act of Nazi revenge. Prokofiev's Sixth is seen by many as the peak of his symphonic output. He said that it memorialised the victims of the Great Patriotic War - something wise to say in Stalin's Russia - but there is rather more to it than that.

21 Saturday 27th June - 4:55pm at the Abbey
Venue: Symphony Hall

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Choruses

Puccini: Tosca — Circle £69.00
Circle Ledge £69.00
Upper Circle £58.00

As Tosca: Natalya Romaniw, soprano
As Cavaradossi: Gwyn Hughes Jones, tenor — Centre Stalls row E £47.00
As Scarpia: Sir Bryn Terfel, bass-baritone — Rear Stalls £47.00
Side Stalls £33.00

Under-18s, seated anywhere £17.00
Conductor: Kazuki Yamada

Puccini's tragic opera caused him considerable difficulty, only to be criticised as "a shabby little shocker" - yet it found immediate favour with audiences. Previous semi-staged operas at Symphony Hall have been very effective, with excellent productions and some fine performances. This evening's cast seems guaranteed to repeat those successes.

22 Saturday 4th July - 4:55pm at the Abbey
Venue: Symphony Hall

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man — Circle £64.00
Copland: Lincoln Portrait, for narrator and orchestra — Upper Circle £54.00
Joan Tower: Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman — Centre Stalls rows F,G £44.00
Florence Price: The Heart of a Woman - nine short songs (European premiere) — Rear Stalls £44.00
John Adams: Harmonium, for chorus and orchestra — Side Stalls £33.00

Under-18s, seated anywhere £17.00
Conductor: Kazuki Yamada
Narrator/soprano: Janai Brugger

In the first half of this concert on America's 250th national day, composers male and female portray men and women in ways designed to inspire and intrigue their audiences. Then... although John Adams is often labelled a minimalist composer, his Harmonium from 1981 is anything but minimal. It is a masterly, lyrical choral setting of beautifully chosen words which, if you haven't heard it before, we confidently expect will blow you away. If evidence is needed that even in this day and age there are still great Americans, John Adams provides it.

 

435 Service:

Due to icy road conditions, we will not be serving Wistanstow or Bushmoor. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience.

 

Service Disruption 740

 

The B4385 between Marlow to the Junction with A4113 with be Closed for the 19th—23rd January 2026.

The 740 will run from Bucknell to Leintwardine along the A4113 on the 738 route.

 

Service Disruption 701,702, 722, 738 & 740

 

20th-21st January 2026

Bell Lane Ludlow will be closed between 08:00 - 17:00

Buses will be running from Corve St. 

 

 

The Concert Coach Winter/Spring Programme 2026

Ticket Information

Choir and Upper Circle seats are always listed when available. If they’re not shown, it’s because they are not for sale.

9. Thursday 15 January, 5:25 pm (Abbey pickup)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

• Mahler: Blumine

• Dai Fujikura: Vast Ocean II (UK premiere, 20 mins)

• Mahler: Symphony No.1

Conductor: Kazuki Yamada
Venue: Symphony Hall

SeatingPriceCircle£64.00Circle Ledge£64.00Upper Circle£54.00Rear Stalls£44.00Side Stalls£33.00Choir£33.00

Blumine was originally a movement of Mahler’s First Symphony, discarded and rediscovered in 1966. Benjamin Britten gave its first modern performance. Dai Fujikura’s Vast Ocean II receives its UK premiere here. If Mahler’s First once felt unprecedented, perhaps Fujikura’s new work will evoke that same sense of discovery today.

10. Thursday 19 February, 5:25 pm (Abbey pickup)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

• Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3 (with newly composed 2nd movement)

• Haydn: Nelson Mass

Conductor: Omer Meir Welber
Piano Soloist: Sir Stephen Hough
Tenor: Luis Gomes
Bass: Stefan Cerny
Venue: Symphony Hall

SeatingPriceCircle£64.00Circle Ledge£64.00Upper Circle£54.00Rear Stalls£44.00Centre Stalls (rows F, G)£44.00Side Stalls£44.00

When Beethoven’s Third Concerto premiered in 1803, he was still known mainly as a virtuoso. In this performance, its second movement is replaced by a new piece, Con gran espressione, composed by Stephen Hough and inspired by Beethoven. Omer Meir Welber then directs Haydn’s Mass for Troubled Times—later nicknamed the Nelson Mass after news of Nelson’s victory at the Nile reached Vienna.

11. Wednesday 4 March, 5:25 pm (Abbey pickup)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

• Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture

• Mozart: Piano Concerto No.23 in A major, K488

• Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (Symphonic Suite)

Conductor: Kazuki Yamada
Piano Soloist: Steven Osborne
Venue: Symphony Hall

SeatingPriceCircle£64.00Circle Ledge£64.00Upper Circle£54.00Rear Stalls£44.00Side Stalls£44.00Choir£33.00

This annual CBSO Benevolent Fund concert supports former players and staff. Mozart’s poignant and charming concerto sits between two dazzling examples of Romantic orchestration.

Minsterley Motors

Unit 2A, The Farriers, Annscroft, Shrewsbury, SY5 8AN
Tel: 01743 791208 • Email: bookings@minsterleymotors.co.uk

12. Thursday 9 April, 5:25 pm (Abbey pickup)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

• Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber

• Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

• Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra

Conductor: Kazuki Yamada
Piano Soloist: Nelson Goerner
Venue: Symphony Hall

SeatingPriceCircle£64.00Circle Ledge£64.00Upper Circle£54.00Rear Stalls£44.00Side Stalls£44.00Choir£33.00Under-18s (any seat)£17.00*

*For this event, under-18s only pay the coach fare – Nick and Judith will buy their concert ticket. As it falls in the school holidays, we hope to see many young people on the coach.

Both Hindemith and Bartók wrote these 1943 masterpieces while in exile in the USA. Symphonic Metamorphosis is anything but dry; Concerto for Orchestra recalls Bartók’s Central European roots. Between them, Rachmaninov’s famous Rhapsody takes Paganini’s theme to entirely new places.

13. Wednesday 15 April, 5:25 pm (Abbey pickup)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

• Puccini (arr. Rizzi): Tosca – Symphonic Suite

• Respighi: Il Tramonto (Sunset), lyric poem for mezzo-soprano and strings

• Puccini (arr. Rizzi): Madam Butterfly – Symphonic Suite

• Respighi: The Pines of Rome

Conductor: Carlo Rizzi
Mezzo-soprano: Fleur Barron
Venue: Symphony Hall

SeatingPriceCircle£64.00Circle Ledge£64.00Rear Stalls£44.00Centre Stalls (rows L, M)£44.00Side Stalls£33.00

Carlo Rizzi takes us on a musical journey to Rome. We hear his own symphonic suites from Puccini’s operas, Respighi’s intimate Il Tramonto, and then the full orchestral splendour of The Pines of Rome, culminating in its triumphant Appian Way procession.

14. Thursday 23 April, 5:25 pm (Abbey pickup)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

• Purcell: Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary

• Brahms: A German Requiem

Conductor: Ryan Wigglesworth
Soprano: Sophie Bevan
Baritone: Gareth Brynmore John
Venue: Symphony Hall

SeatingPriceCircle£64.00Circle Ledge£64.00Upper Circle£54.00Rear Stalls£44.00Centre Stalls (rows F, G)£44.00Side Stalls£33.00

Brahms once said he would gladly have called this work A Human Requiem—a piece of universal consolation rather than liturgy. Purcell’s Funeral Music, written in 1695 for Queen Mary’s funeral, was partly reused for his own later that year.

15. Wednesday 29 April, 12:15 pm (Abbey pickup)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

• Brahms: Violin Concerto

• Rachmaninov: Symphony No.1

Conductor: Stanislav Kochanovsky
Violin Soloist: Ning Feng
Venue: Symphony Hall

SeatingPriceCircle£64.00Circle Ledge£64.00Upper Circle£54.00Rear Stalls£44.00Side Stalls£33.00Choir£33.00

Brahms’s Violin Concerto is one of the “Big Four” German concertos, according to Joseph Joachim. Reviews suggest tonight’s soloist will do it full justice. Rachmaninov’s First Symphony, whose disastrous 1897 premiere led to its loss, was reconstructed in 1944 and revealed as a powerful and dramatic work.

 

Services Changed

 

The 552/553 service timetable has been amended.

The new timetable starts on 4th November 2024.

This amendment affects only the Monday to Friday 553 Service starting from Bishop's Castle at 7.30 am and the Monday to Friday 552 Service starting from Stiperstones at 7.50 am.

552/553 Bishop's Castle To Shrewsbury (Mon-Fri)

 

Carriage of Dogs and Small Animals Policy

We welcome Assistance Dogs of any size on all of our services free of charge, at any time. This includes both Assistance Dogs accompanying a registered disabled person and those being trained by an accredited trainer carrying valid identification.

For all other animals, the following applies:

• Dogs:
  • Only one dog per passenger is permitted allowing up to two dogs being permitted on board at any one time, and only at the driver’s discretion.
  • Dogs must be on a lead at all times and muzzled where required under the Dangerous Dogs Act or equivalent legislation, or if they are likely to be dangerous.
  • Dogs must remain on the floor and must not be allowed to sit on seats.
• Other Small Pets:
  • Small pets may travel if they are secured in a suitable cage or box that can be safely stowed in the luggage pen or comfortably carried on the passenger’s lap.
  • Pets must not obstruct the gangway or be placed on seats.
• Passenger Responsibility:
  • Customers are responsible for the behaviour of their animals at all times.
  • Animals must not cause a nuisance or inconvenience to other passengers.
  • Customers may be asked to leave the vehicle if their animal is disruptive, aggressive, or not safely under control.
  • Cleaning or repair charges may apply if an animal soils or damages the vehicle.

We cannot be held liable for any inconvenience or loss caused if a customer is refused travel or asked to leave due to failure to comply with this policy.

 

New Services

We are pleased to announce a new service running between Cardington and Shrewsbury on college days

540 Cardington - Shrewsbury (College Days ONLY)

540 Shrewsbury - Cardington (College Days ONLY)

We are pleased to announce a new service running between Wall and Shrewsbury on Saturdays

540 Wall - Shrewsbury (Saturdays ONLY)

540 Shrewsbury - Wall (Saturdays ONLY)