Renowned 80s English pop group Duran Duran to headline Opening Ceremony of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games (28 July), as music line-up for the major stadium production revealed on Wednesday.
Returning to the city where their four-decade career began, global hitmakers Duran Duran will be the finale to the Ceremony’s musical offer, featuring some of the city’s most celebrated artists and promoting its emerging talent on a global stage.
Birmingham Conservatoire graduate and mezzo-soprano Samantha Oxborough will take the prestigious role of performing the National Anthem for the United Kingdom as part of the formal opening of the Games, supported by the celebrated City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under acclaimed conductor Alpesh Chauhan, while musicians from The Royal Marines deliver a rousing trumpet fanfare.
The Opening Ceremony will see the formal declaration of the start of the Games, marking the beginning of 11 days of sport, with 19 events over 16 venues.
With ceremonial traditions including the athletes’ parade and firework finale, the ceremony will open the Games with spectacle and emotion.
A massed choir of over 700 voices, comprised of 15 choirs from across the West Midlands will flood the arena, led by Carol Pemberton and Black Voices, one of Europe’s leading female cappella groups.
Birmingham’s Opening and Closing ceremonies will be staged at the newly-redeveloped Alexander Stadium in front of a live audience of over 30,000 people and a television audience of over a billion.
