Orchestra 'delighted' to honour Ozzy Osbourne

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has said it was "delighted" to pay tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne and create a "really special moment" for the city.

A classical ensemble performed at Birmingham New Street train station as part of the CBSO in the City programme, which included Black Sabbath pieces.

CEO Emma Stenning described the last-minute preparations as a "true Birmingham effort".

She said: "Music can be there in moments of celebration but also moments of reflection, and it somehow brings us together."

Discussing how the orchestra prepared, she said: "When we heard that incredibly sad news the evening before, suddenly the messages started pinging across everybody's phones with my team saying, 'Can we build something into the concert?'.

"Our friends at Birmingham Royal Ballet had a fabulous ballet called Black Sabbath which celebrated the great band.

"So we were on the phone saying, 'Hey ballet friends, can you send us some music?'

"And they did. Yesterday morning the team jumped to it and just put in a quick rehearsal, and we built it into the set."

She added: "These players are among the best in the world so they can just sit down and do it and it sounds pretty fabulous.

"We were delighted to bring what was a really special moment to Birmingham."

Ms Stenning said a variety of people watched on, including some Black Sabbath fans who found their performance moving.

"We did two concerts yesterday and by the time the second one came around, I think word was out that we were playing a bit of Black Sabbath," she said.

"There were clearly some fans in the audience and for whom it was a really emotional moment, and that's something music can do for the city."

An exhibition about Osbourne's life in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - which opened to coincide with the farewell gig - became another destination for fans to remember him.

A queue soon formed for a book of condolence at the attraction, with Toby Watley, from the museum saying they saw four times as many visitors as they would normally have expected.

"It was like a big community that had come together," he said.

"We had about 4,000 people through our doors yesterday, which is about four times what we would normally get on a Wednesday.

"They were all there to reminisce and share stories. Once they realised there was a book of condolence, everyone wanted to leave a message.

"I think we had over 600 messages in the book by the end of the day."