"Action and Contemplation: Franciscan Spirituality Today"
Friday 3/9 10:00 at St James's Church, 197 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LL
MISC | Third Order of the Society of St Francis
More details and ticket booking
This is a Two day conference on Friday 3rd & Saturday 4th September 2010 with Richard Rohr, OFM Both Days 10am-4.30pm
www.st-james-piccadilly.org/rohrintro.html
"The greatest vocation is not the contemplative, nor is it the active, but the utter art form of putting the two together." (Fr Richard)
Are you a social activist? Or do you prefer to remain in the background and pray or meditate for peace with justice? It’s been said that we should pray as if everything depended on God, and act as if everything depended on us. Either way, the Franciscan priest Fr Richard Rohr, who founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico, tells us the most important word in that three word phrase is “and":
“And teaches us to say yes
And allows us to be both-and
And keeps us from either-or
And teaches us to be patient and long suffering
And is willing to wait for insight and integration
And keeps us from dualistic thinking
And does not divide the field of the moment
And helps us to live in the always imperfect now
And keeps us inclusive and compassionate toward everything
And demands that our contemplation become action
And insists that our action is also contemplative.
And heals our racism, our sexism, heterosexism,
and our classism
And keeps us from the false choice of liberal or conservative...
...And is the mystery of paradox in all things...”
Fr Richard will lead this challenging two-day conference, teaching the art form of holding together compassionate service grounded in a contemplative lifestyle. Sponsored by the Third Order of the Society of St. Francis - European Province.
Running Time: 6.5hr
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SOLD OUT
Prices: £40
Season Ticket Price: FULL - £117 & Concession - £104
Free Admission To Children between the ages of 10 and 5 When Accompanied By An Adult.
Please note we do not allow Children under the age of 5.
Running Time: 1:00
Following on from their magnificent performances of Magic Flute in 2007, and Falstaff in 2008, Opera Project return to the lovely venue at St. John's College, Oxford with Mozart’s uncompromising treatise on love and fidelity. The premise of constant love is tested to the limits through the cynical manipulation of Don Alfonso as he strives to prove that the simplistic idealogies of his young companions are no more than the arrogance of youth.
Darker and more mature forces reveal themselves as a seemingly harmless wager on the constancy of love becomes an ever more dangerous game in which no character survives intact.
Mozart’s famously ambiguous ending remains one of the great challenges of opera as the participants career through an expanding array of complex emotions, each striving to find a personal resolution to this day of ill judged folly. With a strong root in Italianate design this stunning new production aims to raise more questions than perhaps it answers in Mozart’s darkest comedy.
‘directed with panache by Richard Studer and impressively conducted from the harpsichord by Jonathan Lyness’, Opera Now, Nov/Dec 2009
Opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
English Translation by Richard Studer
Director/Designer: Richard Studer
Conductor: Jonathan Lyness
Tom Carroll (Cello)
Graham Caskie (Piano)
Delius Romanze
Debussy Cello Sonata
Chopin Cello Sonata
Season Ticket Price: FULL - £117 & Concession - £104
Free Admission To Children between the ages of 10 and 5 When Accompanied By An Adult.
Please note we do not allow Children under the age of 5.
Running Time: 1:00
The Cotswolds Through Writers' and Artists' Eyes: Readings and Images
Some writers and artists were Cotswolds-born and bred. Some fell in love with the region and settled there for life. And a few couldn't wait to get away.
Jane Bingham will take you on a literary and artistic tour of the Cotswolds. Starting at Adlestrop station with Edward Thomas, the virtual tour will feature William Morris at Kelmscott, Stanley Spencer at Leonard Stanley, Laurie Lee in Slad, Barbara Pym in Finstock, T. S. Eliot at Burnt Norton, John Buchan in Wychwood Forest and Henry James in Broadway. There will also be a brief stop at Woodstock, to view the legend of "Fair Rosamund" through the eyes of some Pre-Raphaelite artists. Jane's talk is based on research for her recent book, The Cotswolds: A Cultural History.
With readings by Dennis Hamley.
Sponsored by Belgravia Gallery
Running Time: 1hr
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
A globally renowned scientist, a distinguished academic and the most famously vocal atheist in the western world, Richard Dawkins provokes and delights audiences with his dazzling polemics of rationalism and disbelief.
His new book, The Greatest Show On Earth, is a fresh consideration of Darwin's theory of evolution. A century and a half after the publication of The Origin of Species, evolution is accepted as scientific fact by all scientists (and, incidentally, most theologians) but millions of people still question its veracity. Dawkins takes on the creationists, the believers in "Intelligent Design" and those who question the concept of evolution by natural selection.
At a time when anti-evolutionary thought is flourishing in Britain as well as America, this is an intellectual call to arms. Come and hear the bracing arguments of Professor Dawkins, the Henry V of 21st century rational debate.
Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars
Running Time: 1hr
A Short History of Celebrity
Love it or hate it, celebrity is one of the dominant features of modern life; yet it is one of the least understood. Fred Inglis's Short History gives an entertaining and enlightening social history of modern celebrity from 18th century London to today's Hollywood. Starting with the first modern celebrities in mid-18th-century London, including Samuel Johnson, he follows the story through to the rise of political celebrities such as Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin and the democratisation of celebrity in the post-war decades as actors, rock stars and sports heroes became objects of "the frenzy of renown."
He argues that celebrity is a mirror, reflecting some of the worst as well as some of the best aspects of modern history. He also considers how the lives of the rich and famous provide not only entertainment but also social cohesion and, like morality plays, offer examples of how - and how not - to behave.
Presented by Princeton University Press
Running Time: 1hr
Who knows more about food - chefs or critics?
Richard Corrigan, Rowley Leigh, Matthew Norman and John Walsh, Chaired by Tracey MacLeod
Cooks, chefs, super-chefs and masterchefs - they deal in the preparation of meals every day. But do they necessarily appreciate food more keenly than the army of food critics out there, who put their creations to the test every week in newspaper reviews?
Two chefs, Richard Corrigan, of Corrigans of Mayfair and Rowley Leigh of Kensington Place and Café Anglais, will do battle with John Walsh, deceptively mild-mannered restaurant critic of the Independent, in debating the motion "Those Who Cook For A Living Know More About Food Than Those Who Eat For A Living"
Chaired by the wise, subtle and no-nonsense Tracey MacLeod, Food Writers Guild Restaurant Reviewer of the Year.
It's not to be missed. It promises to be a mouth-watering event. Come along, and have a free glass of wine on The Independent.
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Book Tickets
Prices: Free (must book a ticket)
Young Romantics - The Shelleys, Byron and Other Tangled Lives
Shattering the myth of the Romantic poet as a solitary, introspective genius, Daisy Hay reveals the communal existence of the astonishingly youthful circle who gathered around Percy Shelley, Leigh Hunt and Lord Byron in the decade following 1813. Her Young Romantics offers tales of love, betrayal, sacrifice and friendship, all of which were played out against a background of political turbulence and intense literary creativity.
She also reveals the central part played in the drama by Elizabeth Kent, Leigh Hunt's sister-in-law, a writer and botanist. And among the wide range of manuscript and archival sources on which she draws is a recently-discovered fragment of memoir by Claire Clairmont, who accompanied the Shelleys on their honeymoon and later became Byron's mistress.
Presented by The Woodstock Literature Society
Running Time: 1hr
Mao’s Great Famine - The Story of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe 1958-62
Between 1958 and 1962, Mao Zedong threw his country into turmoil with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up and to overtake the Western World. China descended into the hell of starvation. At first the carcasses of diseased livestock were unearthed for food, but as famine tightened its grip, some people eventually dug up, boiled and ate human bodies.
Mao's experiment ended in one of the greatest catastrophes the world has ever known, with at least 45 million people being worked, starved or beaten to death.
Frank Dikötter is the only author to have been into the Chinese archives since they were reopened. He reveals what happened in the corridors of power, uncovers the everyday experiences of ordinary people, and gives voice to the dead and disenfranchised - recasting the history of the People's Republic of China.
Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars
Running Time: 1hr
The town of Woodstock is both ancient and royal, built at the gates of a park where medieval kings came to hunt. In 1703 the manor of Woodstock was given to John, Duke of Marlborough. Consequently, Sir John Vanbrugh designed Blenheim Palace, a masterpiece of English baroque and the birthplace of Winston Churchill.
Join Alastair Lack for a walking tour of Woodstock and Blenheim Park, followed by tea at The Feathers Hotel.
Alastair Lack worked for BBC World Service for nearly 30 years and was Head of English Programmes. He also worked in television and Radio 4.
Running Time: 2hrs
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Prices: £20
Biographers Sally Cline and Carole Angier, two distinguished literary biographers, offer practical advice on how we can all write our life stories. Angier and Cline provide personal tips and tales from 32 top British and American life writers, and show how style, tone and the selection of detail make the difference in writing about your own life and career.
Sally Cline is an award-winning biographer and the author of 10 books, including biographies of Radcliffe Hall and Zelda Fitzgerald. She taught for many years at Cambridge University and has an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Anglia Ruskin University, where she is writer in residence and a mentor on the MA in Creative Writing.
Carole Angier is the author of Jean Rhys: Life and Work, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and winner of the Writer's Guild Non-Fiction Award. She has also written The Double Bond: A Life of Primo Levi. Carole is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Oxford Brookes University, and teaches life writing at Birkbeck College, London.
Running Time: 1:30
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Prices: £15
Words, Words, Words
Robert Fisk has reported from the Middle East for 34 years, covering all the big stories in the region from the 1979
Iranian revolution to the Israeli invasions of Lebanon, the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.
The Independent’s correspondent, Fisk, has been named British Journalist of the Year seven times and is one
of the few western journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden. His best-selling books include Pity the Nation:
Lebanon at War, and The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East.
Charles Glass is a writer and broadcaster who began his career with ABC News in Beirut in 1973 and over the next
twenty years covered wars in Africa, Iraq and Bosnia as well as the major conflicts of the Middle East. Since 1993
he has been a freelance writer and film-maker and has lectured widely on the Middle East, US foreign policy,
world journalism and human rights. Together they discuss the misuse of words when describing conflict in the
Middle East and beyond.
Running Time: 1hr
Passionate, angry, transgressive and furiously eloquent, Steven Berkoff is acclaimed as a playwright, actor and director. The author of East, Greek, West and Sink the Belgrano, he has starred in films as diverse as A Clockwork Orange, Octopussy and Beverley Hills Cop, typically cast as a cold-eyed villain. At the Woodstock festival he talks to John Walsh of The Independent about his early life and the beginning of his theatrical career.
He was born in the East End two years before the outbreak of World War II, and life for the Berkoff family was tough. Relief came when his mother took him to New York to live for a while in the Bronx. On returning to London he began to misbehave at school, become involved with violent gangs, and ended up in a horrific remand home for stealing a bicycle. His life changed when he was successfully auditioned for a drama school, and was granted a scholarship.
The Quintessential Anthology of Gin . . . and Hendrick's in Particular
Gin has come a long way since the days of Hogarth's infamous drawing and the craze of the early 1700s. Examining the history of gin and its growing popularity amongst the world's leading bartenders, Xavier Padovani explores the different techniques used by distillers to craft particular flavours. Whether gin novice or aficionado, a rare opportunity to taste the constituent distillates of the award-winning Hendrick's Gin will both surprise and delight.
Numbers limited to 20, so book now.
Fiction and History
The first three novels in Harry Sidebottom's Warrior of Rome series have all gone top five in the UK fiction charts. The novels are action-adventure thrillers with a meticulously researched historical background, but they also raise questions and ideas more normally found in 'literary novels'. In the latest, Lion of the Sun, the corrosive effects of conscience are explored.
Harry Sidebottom, as well as writing novels, researches and teaches Ancient History at the University of Oxford. He talks to literary journalist and broadcaster David Freeman about the relationships between history and fiction.
Running Time: 1hr
The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves
Matt Ridley, the acclaimed author of the classics Genome and Nature via Nurture, turns from investigating human nature to charting human progress.
Over 10,000 years ago, there were fewer than 10 million people on the planet. Today there are more than 6 billion, 99 per cent of whom are better fed, better sheltered, better entertained and better protected against disease than their Stone Age ancestors. Yet perversely, however much things improve from the way they used to be, people still cling to the belief that the future will be nothing but disastrous.
Matt Ridely offers a counter blast to the prevailing pessimism of our age, and proves that things really are getting better. He presents surprisingly simple answer to the questions of how humans progress, arguing that we move forward when we trade - and we only trade productively when we trust each other.
In association with The Woodstock Bookshop
Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars
Running Time: 1hr
Acts of Dishonour
Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker, author and journalist Nelofer Pazira will bring her latest f lm, Acts of Dishonour, to the festival for an intimate and exclusive UK screening, followed by a question and answer session.
Acts of Dishonour - written, directed by and starring Pazira - is a dramatic and revealing portrayal of the consequences for young women living in Afghanistan who disobey the rules of their community in order to live different lives. The f lm is inspired by similar real life experiences and succeeds the documentary she co-directed, Return to Kandahar, which follows her personal story of visiting Afghanistan in order to find a lost friend.
After the screening join Nelofer Pazira for a discussion over a glass of wine.
Numbers limited to 20, so book your place now.
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SOLD OUT
Prices: £15
Food, Glorious Food: the New Tyranny?
Why are women obsessed with food, and with being thin? Why has eating become such a tyranny for many women? Do men count the number of chocolate biscuits they eat? Do they care? Do they have any inkling that women are unhealthily preoccupied with calories and slenderness?
Come and hear three of our most observant and witty women writers talk about weight, prejudice and the social embarrassment of being marked as different, simply because of avoirdupois: Arabella Weir (star of The Fast Show) whose latest book, The Real Me is Thin, gives a hilarious account of her eating history. Novelist Kathy Lette, whose witty (and by no means sexist) analysis of the male gender, Men: A User's Guide, was a huge success earlier this year. And TV impressionist Ronni Ancona, who will chair what promises to be an hilarious hour on a serious subject. Oh, and men are welcome too!
Running Time: 1hr
She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth
In 1553, when Henry VIII's son, Edward VI, died, England was about to experience the ""monstrous regiment"" - the unnatural rule - of a woman. But female rule in England also had a past. Four hundred years before Edward's death, Matilda, daughter of Henry I, came tantalisingly close to securing her hold on the crown. And between the 12th and 15th centuries, three more women - Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, and Margaret of Anjou - discovered, as queens consort and dowager, how much was possible if the presumptions of male rule were not confronted too explicitly.
Cambridge historian Helen Castor tells the fascinating story of how royal power came to lie in female hands for the first time under the Tudor Queens - and of the four women who came before them and who, whilst never reigning as monarchs, held great power nonetheless.
Running Time: 1hr
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Prices: £12
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Howard Jacobson; Chaired by Alistair Lack
Has there been a book which engrossed or moved you beyond all others? How would you describe such a work to the world at large?
Yasmin Alibhai Brown, award-winning journalist and author of The Settler’s Cookbook talks about Toni Morrison’s novellas Bluest Eye and Sula. And celebrated novelist Howard Jacobson, whose recent book The Finkler Question is on the Booker Prize long list, makes the case for Dickens’ Great Expectations.
Come and hear and challenge their views of these two writers.
Chaired by Alastair Lack formerly Head of English Programmes for the BBC World Service.
Third Writer to be announced.
Sponsored by The Oxford Times
Running Time: 1hr
Trick of the Mind
The award-winning crime writer and author of the massively successful Wire in the Blood - televised, starring Robson Green - Val McDermid talks about her latest tale of carnage and derangement, Trick of the Mind.
Set in the mysterious world of Oxford's exclusive colleges, it delves into the passions and love, family, greed and ambition that can lead a person to do strange things. A disgraced psychiatrist, Charlie Flint, finds herself drawn into a murder case when a package of press cuttings is inexplicably sent to her about a crime that has occurred in the grounds of her old Oxford college.
It's a wonderfully gripping novel - come and hear the author talk about her craft.
Running Time: 1hr
Guilt About the Past
A major new non-fiction collection from the author of the international best-seller The Reader.
Bernhard Schlink's hugely successful novel The Reader has been translated into 39 languages and was recently made into an Oscar-winning film starring Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet.
A judge and law professor, Schlink talks to the Independent's Literary Editor Boyd Tonkin about his new book Guilt About the Past, and the theme of complicity in his fictional writings. He discusses the long shadow of guilt that defines the German experience, and how the events of the past can affect a nation's future.
Based on the Weidenfeld lectures he delivered at Oxford University, Guilt About the Past has been hailed as one of the most important political, personal and philosophical treatises of recent times.
Running Time: 1hr
The Finkler Question
After his hugely successful appearance at the festival in 2008, the award-winning writer Howard Jacobson ("A real giant, a great, great writer" - Jonathan Safran Foer) returns to Woodstock to talk about his latest novel The Finkler Question - a scorching story of friendship and loss, exclusion and belonging, and the humanity of maturity.
The central characters are old school friends Julian Treslove, a professionally unspectacular former BBC Radio producer, and Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, writer and television personality. The two men have never quite lost touch with each other, or with their former teacher, Libor Sevick. After a sweetly painful evening of reminiscences shared by the three men, Treslove is attacked. His whole sense of who and what he is slowly and ineluctably changes, and so the tale really begins.
Running Time: 1hr
Winston's Grandmama
The first authorized biography of Winston Churchill's grandmother, Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest-Stewart, who became the 7th Duchess of Marlborough. Sir Winston Churchill's parental grandmother (Randolph's mother) has been a background figure in many other people's biographies - sometimes dismissed as a Victorian martinet ""at the rustle of whose silk dress the household trembled"" -- but her own story as a member of this remarkable family has never been told until now.
Frances's family background is steeped in great historical names and occasions. She was the eldest daughter of the 3rd Marquess and Marchioness of Londonderry. She arrived at Blenheim in 1843 as the bride of John Winston, 7th Marquess of Blandford. Margaret Elizabeth Forster was granted exclusive access to the Blenheim archives while researching this book.
Running Time: 1hr
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SOLD OUT
Prices: £10
Philip Pullman in conversation with Martin Jennings, Chaired by Steven Parissien
The process of how a portrait is conceived and executed has always fascinated art lovers. The motivation behind the commission, the subject's aims and approach, the manner in which the artist responds to the subject, how the viewer judges the result - all these factors make the practice of creating and evaluating a portrait an endlessly intriguing exchange.
The Festival's first annual Compton Verney event features author Philip Pullman, described by the TLS as "one of the great authors in the British tradition of fantasy fiction," in conversation with sculptor Martin Jennings. Martin recently completed a sculptural portrait of Philip for the National Portrait Gallery, and these two celebrated figures will discuss how the finished work reflected their aspirations and objectives - and how their personal ambitions fit within the wider context of historical portraiture. The conversation will be chaired by the Director of Compton Verney Museum and Gallery, Dr Steven Parissien.
Running Time: 1hr
Libraries of the Future
What next for libraries in a digital world? Will the e-book replace bookshelves? Are we leaving a digital black hole for researchers of the future? Is Google a substitute for a good library? Are public libraries dead?
The British Library is one of our greatest national institutions - holding 14m books, 920,000 journals and newspaper titles, 58m patents and 3m sound recordings. Dame Lynne Brindley DBE, Chief Executive of the British Library, gives her views on libraries in the 21st century. In conversation with Stephen Glover, one of the founders of The Independent and now a celebrated media columnist. Come and hear a thought-provoking discussion on the rapidly changing role of libraries in an information age.
Introduced by Simon Kelner, Editor in Chief of The Independent.
Presented by The British Library
Running Time: 1hr
Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean
Philip Mansel's Levant is a book of cities. In conversation with David Gelber, he describes the role of Smyrna, Alexandria and Beirut as windows on the world, escapes from nationality and tradition, centres of wealth, pleasure and freedom and, because of their mix of races and religions, challengers of stereotypes.
He brings to life their colourful, contradictory histories, from the beginning of the French alliance with the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century to their decline in the mid 20th century, and describes how Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in cities until states reclaimed them for nationalistic purposes.
Running Time: 1hr
Mated on a Plate: The Joy of Flavours
Come and hear three leading cookery writers discuss the art of food combination: the subtle marriage of meat and herbs, fish and spices, fruit and savouries sometimes produces astonishing, transcendent new experiences on your taste buds. Chris Hirst is the author of Love Bites, a tender gastronomic saga of fruitful kitchen battles with Mrs H. Rose Prince writes regularly for the national press and is the author of The New English Table. And Niki Segnit's first book, The Flavour Thesaurus, an encyclopaedic study of what goes best with what, was published earlier this year to great acclaim. Their mouth-watering deliberations will be chaired by John Walsh, the Independent's assistant editor and resident glutton.
Running Time: 1hr
Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio lived the darkest and most dangerous life of any of the great painters. The worlds of Milan, Rome and Naples through which he moved are places of extremes - of cardinals and whores, prayers and violence, all of which Andrew Graham-Dixon describes vividly.
Caravaggio created the most dramatic paintings of his age, using ordinary men and women from his own desperate life as his models to embody his depictions of classic religious scenes. Graham-Dixon shows very clearly how Caravggio created their drama, their immediacy and humanity, and how completely he departed from the conventions of his time
Andrew Graham-Dixon is introduced by Professor Martin Kemp, one of the world's leading authorities on Leonardo.
Sponsored by Belgravia Gallery
Running Time: 1hr
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SOLD OUT
Prices: £10
This Party's Got to Stop
Rupert Thompson, one of our finest novelists, turns his superb story-telling skills on himself, giving us a funny, frank and moving memoir, considered by many to be the finest book of his career.
In conversation with The Independent's Literary Editor, Boyd Tonkin, it is an irreverent, but honest portrait of a family dealing - or not dealing - with loss and grief. It's also a healing journey, and an account of one family's haphazard attempt to know itself, following the death of their father and their return to the family home.
"Very funny. Rupert Thomson is such an attentive writer, and the quality of his attention brings the smallest incidents to life" - Hilary Mantel.
Running Time: 1hr
Peter Snow - To War with Wellington: From the Peninsula to Waterloo
7pm reception for 7.30pm. Black Tie
Dinner in the Presence of HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO
Preceded by a reception in the Duke of Marlborough's beautiful Italian Gardens, this year's Festival dinner is again staged in Sir John Vanbrugh’s Orangery. The dinner menu, based on dishes served in 1815, the year of Waterloo, has been researched by food historian and writer, Anne Menzies.
Our speaker is Peter Snow - one of Britain's most respected journalists and broadcasters. Peter was ITN's diplomatic defence correspondent. He presented BBC's Newsnight and was a legendary part of election nights' coverage for a generation.
This evening he will talk about his new book To War with Wellington. The Duke of Wellington's march from the coast of Portugal to victory at Waterloo in 1815 is one of the most spectacular military achievements in British Military history. Peter has drawn on first hand accounts by officers and men to describe life on and off the battlefield - the dreadful marches, the primitive state of medicine, the looting and drunken parties. Towering over all is Wellington, the Commander - but also the generous host, the huntsman and the ladies man.
Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars
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SOLD OUT
Prices: £95
Marcus Berkmann and Angus Fraser, Chaired by Brian Viner
Join us in the wonderful setting of the King's Arms atrium for a breakfast of coffee, juice, smoked salmon with scrambled eggs or eggs Benedict. Hear Independent sports columnist Brian Viner talking about the forthcoming Ashes series with his illustrious guests: the journalist and bestselling author Marcus Berkmann (Ashes to Ashes) and the celebrated former England cricketer Angus Fraser, who played in three Ashes series.
This event will finish at 11.00am
Includes breakfast
Running Time: 1:30
Transformational Leadership - Lessons from Shakespeare's The Tempest
A rare chance to work with one of the leading international leadership development consultants in the world, Nicholas Janni.
Olivier Mythodrama (established by Richard Olivier - son of Laurence Olivier - and Nicholas Janni, Director of Strategic Partnership Programmes) have gained an international reputation training senior leaders in the private and public sectors using Shakespeare stories as case-studies.
Shakespeare's genius provides timeless insights into the human nature of transformational leadership, while the narrative drive of this great play reveals the vital ingredients of a successful change initiative.
You will work with "The Tempest" to gain timeless insights into the nature of personal and organisational transformation. The session will include some experiential exercises and time for discussion.
Book early as places are limited.
The event lasts for 3 hours.
Running Time: 3hrs
The Boy Who Bit Picasso
An Introduction for Children to the Art of Picasso
When Antony Penrose was three years old he was lucky enough to meet and become friends with Pablo Picasso, the greatest artist of the 20th century.
Tony - the son of the American photographer Lee Miller and the British surrealist artist Roland Penrose - recalls the many happy hours he spent with Picasso at their family farm in Sussex, and in Picasso's house and studio in France. His memories include pretend bullfights on the floor, playing in Picasso's messy studio, being given a drawing as a consolation for not being allowed to visit him -- and the time he sank his teeth into the Spanish maestro.
For children aged 4 upwards.
Sponsored by Belgravia Gallery
Running Time: 1hr
A Tasting of Fine Spanish Wines from Castillo Perelada of Catalonia
Wine making at the Castle of Perelada, North of Barcelona, has been documented since the Middle Ages. In 1923 the Castle and Estate were bought by Miguel Mateu Pla, whose father co-founded the famous Hispano Suiza motor car company. In recent decades the family have devoted themselves to the production of some of Europe's finest Estate wines and cava which have received numerous awards and great critical acclaim.
Charles Croft has worked in the UK and Spanish Wine Trade for over 25 years and has been associated with the wines from Castillo Perelada in the Empordà region of Catalonia since 1998.
The Castillo Perelada houses one of the finest art collections in Spain, and a great library of over 80,000 books.
Introduced by Anthony Rose, Wine Correspondent of The Independent.
The Reuters/Press Gazette launch of the Newspaper Hall of Fame listed Dame Ann Leslie as one of the 40 most influential journalists of our time. She has reported on the most dramatic events of the late 20th century, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to Nelson Mandela's walk to freedom. Steve McQueen, David Niven, James Mason and Salvador Dali were just some of the famous figures with whom she had close (sometimes too close) personal encounters. She regularly appears on television and radio shows, including Question Time and Any Questions.
Come and enjoy lunch at La Galleria in the heart of Woodstock, and hear Ann Leslie talk about her life and the people she's met in her long and rumbustious career.
Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars
Running Time: 1hr
Gardening Women - Their Stories from 1600 to the Present
From Flora, Roman goddess of plants, to today's horticulturalists at Kew, women have always ruled in the garden. They have grown vegetables from their kitchens and herbs for their medicine cupboards. They've been the subject of footnotes in horticultural annals, for specimens they collected abroad. They taught young women about gardening 25 years before women's horticultural schools officially existed, and their influence on the style of our own gardens - frequently unacknowledged - survives to the present day.
Catherine Horwood has uncovered some extraordinary gardening women. We discover that Beatrix Potter was barred from submitting research to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew because she was a woman; and that the Bramley apple should be called the Brailsford apple because it was first planted by Mary Ann Brailsford who later sold her home to a Matthew Bramley. Catherine Horwood will talk about the circumstances - always unusual, sometimes bizarre - that led these women to the garden.
Sponsored by Floris London
Running Time: 1hr
My Father's Fortune
The award-winning author and playwright Michael Frayn talks about his father's life.
"An unknown place" -- this was what Frayn's children called the shadowy landscape of the past from which their family emerged. In My Father's Fortune, Frayn sets out to rediscover that lost land before all trace of it finally disappears beyond recall. As he tries to see it through the eyes of its inhabitants - his parents and some of the others who shaped his life - he comes to realise how little he himself ever knew or understood about them.
This is the story of his father, the quick-witted boy from a poor and struggling family, who overcame disadvantages and shouldered many burdens to make a go of his life; who found happiness, had it snatched away in an instant, and in the end, after many difficulties, perhaps found it again.
Michael Frayn's 15 plays range from the delirious farce Noises Off to the epic encounter between two quantum physicists in Copenhagen. His most recent novel Spies won the Whitbread Novel Award.
Running Time: 1hr
The Hemlock Cup
We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did. His aphorism, "The unexamined life is not worth living" may have originated 25 centuries ago, but it is a founding principle of modern life. Socrates lived and contributed to a city that nurtured key ingredients of contemporary civilisation - democracy, liberty, science, drama, rational thought - yet he wrote nothing in his lifetime and remains an enigmatic figure.
Television historian and bestselling author of Helen of Troy, Bettany Hughes, tells the story of Socrates's life, following his footsteps across Greece and Asia Minor and examining the new archaeological discoveries that shed light on his world. For 70 years he was a vigorous citizen of one of the greatest capitals on earth, but his beloved Athens turned on him and condemned him to death by poison. Socrates's pursuit of personal liberty is a vibrant story that Athens did not want us to hear, but which must be told. Nobody tells it better than Bettany Hughes.
Running Time: 1hr
Chasing the Devil - The Search for Africa's Fighting Spirits
For many years Sierra Leone and Liberia have been bedevilled by a uniquely brutal culture of violence from which many of Africa's cruellest contemporary cliches have sprung - child soldiers, prisoner mutilation, blood diamonds. With their wars now officially over, Tim Butcher set out on a journey across both countries. Just as he followed H M Stanley through the Congo in order to write his bestseller, Blood River, he now pursues a trail blazed by Graham Greene in 1935, and immortalised in the travel classic Journey without Maps.
As a journalist in Africa, Tim came to know both countries well, although the wars meant that trips to the jungle hinterland became far too risky. But he persevered, knowing that he had to explore the jungle to see if the devil of war had truly been chased away. What he encountered were other devils - masked figures guarding the spiritual secrets of jungle communities. His book is a record of a dramatic journey to one of the most fraught parts of the globe, at a unique moment in its history.
Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars
Running Time: 1hr
Woodstock and the Royal Park
Woodstock and the Royal Park has been published to celebrate the 900th anniversary of a stone wall around a royal park. Today we know this Park as the Unesco World Heritage site of Blenheim and the adjacent town as Woodstock. The royal Manor House has long gone but the Park, although no longer royal, remains. Monarchs from Alfred to Anne owned and walked on this stage but many of their actions here are not widely known. Join John Banbury, one of three editors of the book, as he takes you back 900 years and reveals the story of Woodstock and Blenheim and the affect they had on ordinary people. It's a story with a cast of great names and tremendous events.
Running Time: 1hr
Yoluma and the King
The artist James Naughton, renowned for breathtaking, Turneresque landscapes which capture the essence of light, has now written and illustrated a children's book.
Yoluma and the King is a mysterious tale of a young boy's journey to overcome adversity and regain self-confidence. Written in the style of a fairy tale, its message is universal and optimistic: ultimately good overcomes evil, and light overcomes darkness. The sepia-coloured illustrations have the same timeless quality about them.
For children aged 8 years upwards
Presented by Iona House Gallery
Running Time: 1hr
Tastings from the The Settler's Cookbook
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's family history is one of constant displacement and repeated relocation, in which feeling "settled" doesn’t come from putting down roots, but from taking up a pot and creating a feast that tastes and smells like home. The Settler's Cookbook follows her family story and brings it to life, describing the food they cooked together. Yasmin presents a cultural and culinary history of her people, full of recipes and stories passed on and shared around, which continue to feed and inspire friends and relatives to this day. Yasmin will cook some of her family recipes for you to taste, and will tell of the memories each dish evokes.
Running Time: 1hr
The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog and of his Friend Marilyn Monroe
Award-winning novelist Andrew O'Hagan discusses his work with Sarah Crompton, Arts Editor of the Daily Telegraph and reads from his new book, The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog.
Maf the dog was Marilyn Monroe's constant companion for the last two years of her life. His licence and photographs were sold at auction along with Marilyn's other personal effects. He was much more than a canine pal, however: he was also a scholar, witnessing the rise of America's new liberalism, civil rights, the space race and the New York critics.
The story of Maf is a hilarious and highly original peek into the life of a complex canine hero. Through his eyes, you'll be given unique insights into the life of Monroe herself, and into one of the most extraordinary periods of the twentieth century.
Running Time: 1hr
David Aaronovitch, Kevin Maguire and Paul Staines, Chaired by Ann Leslie
In an era of 24-hour news and the internet, have conspiracy theorists and online gossips begun to distort the news agenda? Has healthy scepticism now turned into a poisoned cynicism which damages the body politic?
Discussing this issue are the Times columnist David Aaronovitch, author of Voodoo Histories: the Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History; the highly influential Paul Staines whose political blog "Guido Fawkes" is much feared by politicians; Kevin Maguire, Associate Editor (Politics) of the Daily Mirror, who also writes the Village Voice column on "high politics and low life in Westminster" for the New Statesman, and is co-author of Great Parliamentary Scandals.
The award-winning foreign correspondent and political commentator Dame Ann Leslie will chair the discussion.
Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars
Running Time: 1hr
The Jumping Rocks
Mark Ryder will talk about The Jumping Rocks, a novel he wrote from his screenplay of the same name, which he plans to shoot in Italy later this year. It's the story of an Englishman and his family, who arrive to spend the summer with some friends on the Italian Riviera. But the idyllic surroundings mask terrible secrets. A nightmare slowly ensues. Tragic events peel back the thin veneer of normality in two English families, to reveal their fragile grasp on reality.
Ryder will discuss the strange journey the book took, and his battle to get the film made. It takes in Rome, Portofino, London - and its origins, when he was working as a composer in Los Angeles.
Sponsored by Harriet’s Tea Rooms
Running Time: 1hr
The Hare with Amber Eyes.
In association with The Woodstock Bookshop
Artist Edmund de Waal travelled the world, standing in the great buildings his forebears once inhabited, in order to discover the story of a unique collection of wooden and ivory carvings - the netsuke. He first encountered them in the Tokyo apartment of his great uncle Iggie: 264 pieces, depicting animals, plants and people, none of them larger than a matchbox. Later, when he inherited the collection, he discovered it unlocked a fascinating story.
Bought by Charles Ephrussi as a wedding present for his cousin in Vienna, it remained banished to the bride's dressing-room. But during the Second World War, the collection was smuggled out of his cousin's Viennese palace (then occupied by Hitler's theorist on the "Jewish Question,") one piece at a time, in the pocket of a loyal maid.
Edmund de Waal will tell the story of this unique collection which passed from hand to hand - and which, in an ironic twist of fate, found its way home to Japan.
Sponsored by Belgravia Gallery
Running Time: 1hr
A modern take on the ancient music of the oud. Using jazz and flamenco influences, the trio bring improvisation and virtuosity to their middle eastern traditions. The trio are sons of a Palestinian master luthier, endowing them with passion and exceptional musicianship for the instrument. With outstanding technical skill, the brothers spin out rich, textured drones or break out into distinct voices locked in expressive dialogue. The soulful oud gives a voice to the trio’s ideas about history, musical evolution and the beautiful, seductive aesthetics of Arabic music.
“wistful and brooding, yet always ravishingly tasteful...There are few enough oud (Arab lute) ensembles in the world and none that come close to Trio Joubran for imaginative compositions and intuitive interplay” Songlines Magazine
Co-promoted by OCM and Big Village
Hugh Trevor-Roper, and the Feud with Evelyn Waugh
Clever, witty and sophisticated, Hugh Trevor-Roper was the most brilliant historian of his generation. Until his downfall, he seemed to have everything: wealth and connections, a chair at Oxford, an aristocratic wife, and, eventually, a title of his own.
He developed a lucid prose style which he used to deadly effect. He was notorious for his acerbic attacks on other historians. But ultimately he destroyed his own reputation with a catastrophic error when he authenticated the forged “Hitler Diaries”.
Award-wining biographer Adam Sisman reveals that there was much more to Trevor-Roper's career than the Diaries fiasco that became his epitaph. From wartime code-breaking to grilling Nazis when the trail was still fresh in 1945, to his snobbery, his malice and his formidable post-war feud with Evelyn Waugh.
Sponsored by The Oxford Times
Running Time: 1hr
My Last Duchess
Daisy Goodwin is one of the nation's greatest promoters of poetry through her books and television series. In conversation with Simon Kelner, Editor in Chief of The Independent, she launches her debut novel My Last Duchess - a story full of exquisite period details and a phalanx of historical characters.
The heroine, American heiress Cora Cash, has grown up in a world in which money unlocks every door, yet her fortune cannot buy her the one thing she craves - the freedom to choose her own destiny. Cora's mother has her heart set on a title for her daughter. Impoverished English blue-bloods are queuing up for introductions to her - but Cora loses her heart to a man she barely knows.
Running Time: 1hr
Did Labour's Demise result in a Hung Parliament?
"For the first time in 36 years, a general election resulted in no overall majority and a battle to see which leader could form a government. Was the demise of Labour inevitable? Did Gordon Brown lose an election that Labour might have won had he departed sooner? Was a Lib-Lab coalition ever thought to be a likelihood? How effective is the Lib-Con coalition after five months, and will it hold together for five years? What are the implications for Britain?
These questions will be discussed by Polly Toynbee, the Guardian columnist and writer (The Verdict; Did Labour Change Britain?), Steve Richards, TV presenter and chief political columnist for The Independent (Whatever it Takes; The Inside Story of GB and New Labour), and Peter Hennessy, English historian of government, award winning author and journalist. Chaired by Mary Ann Sieghart
Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars
Running Time: 1hr
Season Ticket Price: FULL - £117 & Concession - £104
Free Admission To Children between the ages of 10 and 5 When Accompanied By An Adult.
Please note we do not allow Children under the age of 5.
Running Time: 1:00
Must You Go?
"Must You Go?" were the first words Harold Pinter said to Antonia Fraser, as she prepared to leave a dinner party one night in 1975. She didn't go. It was the beginning of one of the great love affairs, that ended 34 years later with Pinter's death in 2009. This book is based partly on Antonia Fraser's diaries which she has kept since October 1968; she began them because she suffered from withdrawal symptoms after finishing her first historical biography, Mary Queen of Scots.
Lady Antonia talks to Geordie Greig, Editor of the London Evening Standard, about her life with Pinter, revealing an insightful testimony to modern literature’s most celebrated marriage, between the greatest playwright of the age and a beautiful and famous, prize-winning biographer.
Running Time: 1hr
Courtiers - The Secret History of Kensington Palace
"In the 18th century, talented and ambitious people flocked to Kensington Palace in search of power and prestige, only to find it was a gilded cage and a bloody battlefield.
Lucy Worsley is Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces. She presents an eye-opening group portrait of the royal servants who inhabited Kensington Palace during the early 18th century: they include the feral "Wild Boy," the hermit of the royal gardens and the Bedchamber Woman. Her book throws new light on the dramatic life of George II and Queen Caroline - a lover murdered, snatched babies, horrific illnesses and tearful deathbed reconciliations - while satisfying our greedy curiosity about backstairs life in the Hanoverian court.
Running Time: 1hr
Ancient Worlds - The Search of the Origins of Human Civilization
Richard Miles talks about his forthcoming book which accompanies a BBC2 series on Ancient Worlds, to be aired during the autumn. In his quest for the origins of our civilization, he recreates the ancient cities of the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta: cities that defined culture, religion and economic success and were humanity's greatest invention, yet also had a cruel edge to them. And building systems that provided backbreaking hardship and amazing results.
Richard will also discuss his most recently published book, Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilisation, a spectacular account of the generations-long battle for supremacy between Carthage and Rome.
Running Time: 1hr
Last Bus to Woodstock - A Tribute to Colin Dexter at 80
Colin Dexter will be 80 in September and 2010 also marks the 35th anniversary of the publication of his first Inspector Morse novel, Last Bus to Woodstock.
To mark these landmarks, the Festival is organising a tribute to Colin. On the morning of Sunday 19 September, a special Stagecoach bus will draw up to the Randolph Hotel in Oxford - setting for so many Morse encounters - to collect Colin, his family and friends for the journey to Woodstock and Blenheim Palace. There, in the Orangery, Colin will talk about his life, career and writing.
Sponsored by The Oxford Times with The Macdonald Randolph Hotel and Stagecoach
Running Time: 1hr
The Secret State: Preparing for the Worst 1945 - 2010
Peter Hennessy's new edition of his landmark book The Secret State completely revises his original picture of the Soviet threat, as it was successively presented to ministers from the last days of the Second World War right up to the 1970s.
He is able to do this thanks to extraordinary new material from the most secret of Whitehall's Cold War files, including the War Book for World War II, and details of the transition to war exercises that tested it.
Peter Hennessy, one of our most distinguished historians, maps out the size and shape of the Cold War state built in response to that threat, traces the arguments used to justify the British nuclear capability, and finds civil defence bunkers deep under the Cotswolds to shelter Britain's elite rulers from attack. He brings us up to date by explaining the work of the Joint Intelligence Committee and the protective "counter-terror" state that was formed in response to the threats presented by radical Islamic terrorists after September 11, 2001.
Introduced by Ivan Fallon, former Deputy Editor of The Sunday Times and a noted biographer.
Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars
Running Time: 1hr
Crown and Country: Our History through the Monarchy
No historian has brought the Tudors to vivid, passionate life as briliantly as David Starkey, in his bestselling books and popular television shows.
His new book, Crown and Country, synthesises and updates two earlier books to provide an outstanding overview of the British monarchy from the retreat of the Romans to the rise of the Windsors.
Starkey charts the history of British royalty through the Wars of the Roses, the confusion of the Civil War and the fall of Charles I, the Restoration, the Georgians and Hanoverians to the time when British royalty finally came face to face with the modern world.
Come and listen to this great historian sweeping through the centuries with his customary wit, gusto and (said the Daily Telegraph) quasi-Pontifical assurance.
Running Time: 1hr
I Think I Love You
I Think I Love You asks: what happens when the man you thought you loved turns out to be someone else entirely?
The award-winning journalist and best-selling novelist Allison Pearson, whose first novel I Don't Know How She Does It, sold more than 3.5m copies worldwide, now takes her readers back to the 1970s and the world of teenagers Petra and Sharon, both hopelessly in love with David Cassidy. A magazine called The Essential David Cassidy is the girls' bible but, unbeknown, to them David's personal letters are written by someone else. Twenty-four years later, Petra discovers an old letter which forces her to confront her past.
In conversation with Christina Patterson, writer and columnist for The Independent.
Running Time: 1hr
Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940-45
The pre-eminent military historian Max Hastings presents Winston Churchill as he has never been seen before, by looking at him from the outside in, through the eyes of British soldiers, civilians and newspapers - and also through the eyes of Russians and Americans. Hastings paints a wonderfully vivid image of Churchill in both triumph and tragedy, and points just how low his popularity fell in 1942, amid an unbroken succession of battlefield defeats.
Finest Years is an intimate and affectionate portrait of Churchill as Britain's saviour, but it is also an unsparing examination of the wartime nation that he led.
Introduced by Ivan Fallon, former Deputy Editor of The Sunday Times and a noted biographer.
Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars
Running Time: 1hr
Italy's Private Gardens: An Inside View
Helena Attlee has been visiting Italian gardens, delving into their history and writing about them for two decades.
Her travels are the inspiration for Italy's Private Gardens, a book built around conversations with people intimately associated with some of Italy's most intriguing private gardens situated in Piedmont, the Veneto, Tuscany, Lazio, Umbria and Sicily.
Come and hear about the owners, the gardeners and the garden designers who make these gardens what they are. In conversation with Victoria Summerley, Executive Weekend Editor of the Independent, she will describe some of the extraordinary experiences that she has had over the years.
Illustrated with wonderful photographs by her award winning partner Alex Ramsay.
Presented by the University of Worcester
Running Time: 1hr
6.30pm reception, 7pm talk followed by dinner. Business Suits
Sir Max Hastings is one of Britain's most distinguished journalists and war correspondents - reporting from more than 60 countries and 11 conflicts for BBC Television and the London Evening Standard. He was the first journalist to enter Port Stanley during the Falklands War.
Ten years as Editor of the Daily Telegraph and 5 years as Editor of the Evening Standard have been followed by nearly a decade as a columnist and commentator. Sir Max has written over 20 books on history and military campaigns.
Sponsored by Liaison
The International Baroque Players present outstanding period instrument performance by talented young musicians from all over the world. The Pleasure Gardens of the Eighteenth Century provided Londoners from all walks of life with evenings of multi-sensory entertainment. Food, wine, music and visual spectacle provided respite from the crowded city. In this programme, IBP will perform an eclectic programme of eighteenth century popular hits by Handel and Arne, alongside beautiful and rare repertoire by Avison and Boyce. On this occasion the ensemble will be directed by up-and-coming harpsichordist Christopher Bucknall who recently toured as a concerto soloist with Rachel Podger and works extensively in baroque opera and chamber music. For these concerts the IBP also welcome talented soprano Mary Bevan (“when she opened up her high register…the effect was ravishing” The Independent).
By kind permission of the Vicar and PCC
Running Time: 2:15
Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail K384: Overture; no 8 Durch Zartlichkeit und Schmeicheln; no 12 Welche Wonne, welche Lust (Louise Alder)
Symphony no. 39 in E flat K543
Oboe Concerto K314
Zaide K344 no. 3 Ruhe sanft
Beethoven: Symphony no. 1
George Caird is soloist and conductor with the Oxford Sinfonia in an evening of Mozart and Beethoven
Running Time: 1:50
Season Ticket Price: FULL - £117 & Concession - £104
Free Admission To Children between the ages of 10 and 5 When Accompanied By An Adult.
Please note we do not allow Children under the age of 5.
Running Time: 1:00
This second teatime concert by The Holywell Ensemble and OXUS again spans the centuries and continents. Haydn’s delightful D minor quartet, with its poignant slow movement and gypsy-themed finale precedes a rare chance to hear Steve Reich’s powerful minimalist work Different Trains for string quartet with pre-recorded tape accompaniment. Brahms’s beautiful clarinet quintet closes the concert. An enriching way to spend your Sunday afternoon.
Running Time: 2hrs
Schumann Marchenerzahlungen Op. 132
Kurtag Hommage a Robert Schumann for clarinet, viola and piano
Ravel Piano trio in A minor
Copland Sextet for clarinet, piano and string quartet
NORTHERN LIGHTS
Borodin Quartet No.2
Sibelius Malinconia for cello and piano
Svendsen String Octet Op.3
Book 4+ Oxford Chamber Music Foundation events and get 10% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse Ticket Office,
Free tickets are available for students/children through the Cavatina ticket scheme by calling 0845 652 0762 or emailing office@ocmf.net
Running Time: 2hrs
FRATERNAL
Pärt Fratres for violin, string orchestra and drums
Lindberg Clarinet Quintet
Mozart Clarinet Quintet
Book 4+ Oxford Chamber Music Foundation events and get 10% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse Ticket Office.
Free tickets are available for students/children through the Cavatina ticket scheme by calling 0845 652 0762 or emailing office@ocmf.net
Running Time: 1hr
INTIMATE VOICES
Rachmaninov Trio Elegiaque
Sibelius Quartet in D minor, Op.56, ‘Intimate Voices’
Shostakovich Piano Quintet
Book 4+ Oxford Chamber Music Foundation events and get 10% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse Ticket Office.
Free tickets are available for students/children through the Cavatina ticket scheme by calling 0845 652 0762 or emailing office@ocmf.net
Running Time: 2:15
LOVE & DISSONANCE
Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Overture, arr.Vladimir Mendelssohn
Grieg Violin Sonata No.2
Vasks Piano Quartet
Book 4+ Oxford Chamber Music Foundation events and get 10% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse Ticket Office,
Free tickets are available for students/children through the Cavatina ticket scheme by calling 0845 652 0762 or emailing office@ocmf.net
Running Time: 1hr
VALSE SENTIMENTALE
Anton Rubinstein Six soirées à St Petersburg &
Sibelius Valse Triste
Tchaikovsky Valse Sentimentale
Rachmaninov Vocalise
Tchaikovsky Piano Trio
Book 4+ Oxford Chamber Music Foundation events and get 10% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse Ticket Office,
Free tickets are available for students/children through the Cavatina ticket scheme by calling 0845 652 0762 or emailing office@ocmf.net
Running Time: 2hrs
Oxford Chamber Music Festival - White Nights - Nordic Jam
Friday 1/10 21:45 at Vaults & Gardens, & Old Library, University Church of St Mary the Virgin
Classical Music | Oxford Chamber Music Foundation
More details and ticket booking
Late night jam session at the Vaults: Food, wine finish tango and spontaneous music making with all the festival artists.
Ticket include 2 course dinner and wine.
Running Time: 90min
BRUNCH CONCERT
11.30am Brunch buffet
12.15pm Concert
Handel -Halvorsen Passacaglia
Glazunov String Quintet
Brunch buffet included in the ticket price
Book 4+ Oxford Chamber Music Foundation events and get 10% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse Ticket Office
Free tickets are available for students/children through the Cavatina ticket scheme by calling 0845 652 0762 or emailing office@ocmf.net
Running Time: 2hrs
Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor
Monteverdi Vespers of 1610
The Vespers of 1610 is a monumental work in the history of Western music. Monteverdi's spectacular writing for choir and orchestra, with colourful use of sackbutts, cornetts, theorbo and soloists is as spell-binding today as for the work's first audiences. It will no doubt have many anniversary performances, but Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s return to the work with which the Monteverdi Choir's unparalleled career began, is surely the one to catch. Music at Oxford is privileged to join forces with Wadham College, also celebrating its 400th anniversary, to bring one of the most enduringly magnificent works of the seventeenth century to Oxford.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 2:30
FESTIVAL FINALE
Saariaho 'Terra Memoria' string quartet
Atterberg Suite no. 3 for Violin, Viola and String Orchestra
Shostakovich Piano Trio no.2
Grieg Holberg Suite
Book 4+ Oxford Chamber Music Foundation events and get 10% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse Ticket Office
Free tickets are available for students/children through the Cavatina ticket scheme by calling 0845 652 0762 or emailing office@ocmf.net
Running Time: 2hrs
45 minute informal concert with Mark Hooper especially devised for children. Fun for all the family. Bring your own cushion! All concerts sell out, and numbers are limited for each concert, so please book in advance for your preferred time.
9.30am, 10.30am & 3pm for Under 5's only
11.30am for Over 5's Only
Running Time: 0:45
An incredible evening, packed with musicians, lovingly brought together to celebrate the life and work of Kate Garrett (1972-2009).
Chris Wood is the headliner. He has been described as "the renaissance man of English folk" and has received unstinting critical acclaim, including BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ 2009 Folk Singer and Album of the Year. The evening also includes Duotone, Jon Fletcher, Helen Garrett, Claud and Will Gibson, Jane Griffiths and Colin Fletcher, Matt Sage, Zoe Bicat, Rachel Hughes, Uneek, Abbie Lathe and Sammy Hurden with Trio Hysteria, Nick Gibson and Lisa Fitzgibbon.
Prokofiev's sonatas 6-8 from 1941-44 and Beethoven's op 2 sonatas
Friday 8th October - Friday 12th November - Friday 10th December
Prokofiev’s visionary sonatas 6, 7 and 8 from the years 1941 - 44 are presented in an unique opportunity to hear these masterpieces in sequence. These beautiful and brilliant works are contrasted with the vitality of Beethoven’s first three sonatas and performed by the Danish pianist David Christophersen. His recording of Prokofiev’s sonatas nos 6 and 7 and shorter works by Kabalevsky will be on sale at these concerts; ‘a very musical pianist’ – Henry Holst.
Programme Friday 8th October:
Beethoven
Sonata op 2/1 in F minor
Rachmaninov
Preludes op 23 nos 7 and 10; op 32 nos 2 and 5
Kabalevsky
15 Children’s Pieces op 27
Prokofiev
6th Sonata op 82
Guidance: Not suitable for children under 8
Running Time: 1:45
A Taste for Simple Form
Ensemble Settecento, conducted by Robert Hodge, combine the talents of leading players in the orchestral scene and post graduate students from the Royal Colleges of Music in London. They have teamed up with historic buildings specialist Barnaby Wheeler in a programme of music by Purcell, Vivaldi, J.S.Bach, Haydn and Tim Perkins, illustrated with architecture from The Baroque to English Palladian.
Soloists are Edmund Jones, Carol Irby - violins, Susanna Perkins - bassoon, in a programme including Concerto for 2 Violins by J.S.Bach, Violin Concerto No 1 in C by Haydn, and Vivaldi’s “la Notte” for Bassoon and Strings, his most popular wind concerto.
Of particular interest is “Bending Glass” for Bassoon, Keyboard and Strings by charismatic Oxford composer Tim Perkins, inspired by a visit to a glassmaking factory in Venice.
“Tantalising quality” HADCAF Festival 2009
"Architecture is Frozen Music” .....Goethe
Running Time: 2:15
Raphael Wallfisch, cello
PART ONE 6.30 – 7.35pm
BACH Suite No.1 in G major BWV1007 (19')
BACH Suite No.2 in D minor BWV1008 (21')
BACH Suite No.3 in C major BWV1009 (23')
Interval 1
PART TWO 8.00 – 8.50pm
BACH Suite No.4 in Eb major BWV1010 (24')
BACH Suite No.5 in C minor BWV1011 (23')
Interval 2
9.10 – 9.45pm
BACH Suite No.6 in D major BWV1012 (32')
(Part One and Part Two must be booked separately)
Bach’s Cello Suites are arguably the best music ever written for the cello. Every cellist makes their own mark on the various miniature masterpieces that make up the splendid, contemplative whole, and this evening’s is one of the best interpreters. Come and sample an after-work performance or as many parts as you like and design your evening to suit your listening appetite.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 50min
Raphael Wallfisch, cello
PART ONE 6.30 – 7.35pm
BACH Suite No.1 in G major BWV1007 (19')
BACH Suite No.2 in D minor BWV1008 (21')
BACH Suite No.3 in C major BWV1009 (23')
Interval 1
PART TWO 8.00 – 8.50pm
BACH Suite No.4 in Eb major BWV1010 (24')
BACH Suite No.5 in C minor BWV1011 (23')
Interval 2
9.10 – 9.45pm
BACH Suite No.6 in D major BWV1012 (32')
(Part One and Part Two must be booked separately)
Bach’s Cello Suites are arguably the best music ever writeen for the cello. Every cellist makes their own mark on the various miniature masterpieces that make up the splendid, contemplative whole, and this evening’s is one of the best interpreters. Come and sample an after-work performance or as many parts as you like and design your evening to suit your listening appetite.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 2:00
Schumann ‘Kerner Lieder’ & settings of Heine
Wolfgang Holzmair – baritone
Julius Drake - piano
The opening concert of the 2010 Oxford Lieder Festival appropriately features Schumann in his bicentenary year. Schumann’s Kerner Lieder contains some of the composer’s finest writing, with moments of high drama and extraordinary tenderness. Heinrich Heine was one of Schumann’s favourite poets, and as well as the cycles to his poems (Op. 24 Liederkreis and Dichterliebe) there are many other settings, some of which are brought together in this concert. Wolfgang Holzmair’s and Julius Drake are both Lieder Festival favourites, and expert song performers.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45 for anyone wishing to attend.
“Singing for All” workshop for adults led by Fiona Dobie
Beautiful harmony songs are taught by ear with hot tips on how to sing well. This is fun and enlightening for all singers, experienced and beginners!
“Warm, encouraging, great sense of fun” - previous participant
Running Time: 2:30
Angela Bic soprano - Winner of the 2009 Kathleen Ferrier Awards Song Prize
Robin Davis piano - Winner of the 2009 Kathleen Ferrier Awards Musicians Benevolent Fund Accompanist’s Prize
The duo of Angela Bic and Robin Davis gave a memorable lunchtime recital at the 2008 Lieder Festival, and in 2009 they won the Song Prize and Accompanists’ Prize at the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Awards. They present a carefully thought-out programme of songs celebrating the anniversaries of Schumann, Wolf and Mahler, also including songs by Schubert and Strauss. This programme lasts one hour without interval.
"earth-shattering, taking a sledgehammer to preconceived limitations of jazz" Time Out
Not for the feint-hearted, trio VD fly in the face of conventional jazz with a thrashcore soul. If you like pacy, restless rhythms, outrageous virtuosity combined with incredible energy then try this. Needless to say this band has ruffled jazz world feathers across the UK at all the major jazz festivals. With a huge following in their home town of Leeds, they have gone on to win Mojo Magazine Best Jazz Album 2009 and an array of fantastic, and a little shell-shocked, reviews.
Katarina Karnéus mezzo-soprano
Julius Drake piano
Sibelius is often considered a composer primarily of symphonic music, but he wrote songs throughout his life and they are a key part of his output. The same could also be said of Grieg, not least due to the fact that his wife was a singer. Since winning the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 1995, Swedish mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus has appeared on all the world’s major stages and is particularly renowned as a recitalist. Her recordings of songs by Grieg and Sibelius with Julius Drake on Hyperion have been universally acclaimed, and they will perform some of this glorious repertoire in this concert.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45 for anyone wishing to attend.
Schubert: Songs with Guitar
Nathalie Chalkley soprano
Christoph Denoth guitar
Schubert was a gifted guitarist, and there is considerable evidence that Schubert wrote many of his songs with the guitar in mind. Christoph Denoth is a world-renowned guitarist and an expert on the use of the instrument in this repertoire. He is joined by rising star Nathalie Chalkley for an evening of magical music in the atmospheric setting of New College Chapel.
Franz Schubert: Winterreise
Gary Griffiths baritone
Sholto Kynoch piano
Baritone Gary Griffiths won the 2009 Guildhall Gold Medal and is rapidly establishing himself as a singer to watch, already engaged for major roles at Welsh National Opera. In this concert he and Sholto Kynoch will perform Schubert’s great song cycle Winterreise. At the height of his creative powers, Schubert wrote this cycle of 24 songs, loosely following a young man wandering in despair; his “Winter Journey”. When first played to a circle of friends, they were perplexed by its unremitting pessimism, but Schubert merely stated, “I like these songs more than all the others, and you will come to like them also”. How right his words were to prove!
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45 for anyone wishing to attend.
Schubert: Schwanengesang
Benedict Nelson baritone
Gary Matthewman piano
As part of Oxford Lieder’s now annual tradition of programming all three Schubert song cycles, emerging star Benedict Nelson performs Schwanengesang. Whilst not intended by Schubert as a complete cycle, it contains many of his finest songs including the extraordinarily haunting “Der Doppelgänger”.
Benedict Nelson won second prize at last year’s Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and was hailed by Rupert Christiansen in the Daily Telegraph as Best Newcomer in his “Opera Highlights of 2009”. He is joined by pianist Gary Matthewman, established as one of the outstanding accompanists in the UK.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45 for anyone wishing to attend.
Stuart Jackson – tenor
Jocelyn Freeman - piano
The Oxford Lieder Festival lunchtime Schumann recitals get under way with a performance from one of the Royal Academy of Music’s most exciting young singers, who was also awarded this year’s Oxford Lieder Scholarship. A perfect interlude to the day.
A Celebration of African American Women in Words and Music
This high energy one-woman show is the creation of the internationally acclaimed writer and performer Sandi Russell. Born in Harlem, New York City, Sandi has sung jazz with top musicians on both sides of the Atlantic - Render Me My Song is an inspiring crash course in Black American history and culture from eighteenth-century slavery to the award of the Nobel Prize for literature to Toni Morrison, combining spirituals, blues, jazz and freedom songs with dramatic performances of prose and poetry. If you enjoy the writings of Morrison, Maya Angelou or Alice Walker, don’t miss this show! One distinguished critic called it ‘a breathtaking experience’; another praised it as ‘a stunning one-woman show with a difference’, adding: ‘Drawing on performers Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Oscar Brown and Nina Simone, Russell lays it on the line, whether reading or singing. On a bare stage, she takes her audience on a journey of discovery and self-discovery.’
Guidance: Performance discusses slavery.
Running Time: 2hrs
Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin
Tilman Lichdi tenor
Roger Vignoles piano
Die schöne Müllerin tells the tragic tale of a young lad as he steps out into the world, full of optimism, only to meet with bitter disappointment; the beautiful miller's daughter fails even to notice him, and he is ultimately driven to despair. Schubert's musical journey matches the protagonist's perfectly, mirroring the gradual mental descent of the tragic young man.
Emerging German tenor Tilman Lichdi (”Simply sensational” - Chicago Classical Review) is joined by Roger Vignoles, one of the world's leading pianists.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45 for anyone wishing to attend.
Schumann Quartet no.1 in A minor
The Doric String Quartet
The Doric String Quartet is firmly established as the finest quartet of its generation and will be “in residence” at this year’s Oxford Lieder Festival, performing Schumann’s three magnificent string quartets and a concert on 25th.
Miss the rush-hour traffic whilst enjoying this exceptional concert.
“Women on the Edge” – songs by Purcell, Tchaikovsky, Schumann & others
Felicity Palmer mezzo-soprano
Simon Lepper piano
One of Britain's best-loved singers, Felicity Palmer presents a programme exploring "women on the edge", socially, emotionally and physically! Joined by pianist Simon Lepper, they will perform songs by a wide range of composers, from Purcell, Schumann and Tchaikovsky, through the gypsy songs of Brahms and Dvorák to Sondheim's Broadway classics.
The programme has already been performed on a number of occasions to great acclaim, and this is sure to be a wonderful evening.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45 for anyone wishing to attend.
Presented in association with RNCM
Elizabeth Skinner soprano
Joshua Friend tenor
Yasmin Rowe piano
Continuing a partnership with the Royal Northern College of Music, Oxford Lieder welcomes three of their finest students, who will perform a number of Schumann’s lesser-known songs and some of the delightful duets.
Schumann: Spanisches Liederspiel & Spanische Liebeslieder
Stephen Hough: Herbstlieder
Ned Rorem: “My Love is as a Fever” (Sonnet 147)
Songs by Quilter & Barber
The Prince Consort:
Anna Leese soprano | Jennifer Johnston mezzo-soprano
Andrew Staples tenor | Jacques Imbrailo baritone
Alisdair Hogarth piano
Schumann's two Spanish-influenced works for four voices in various combinations are among his finest writing, yet are rarely heard due to the forces required. They are ideally suited to the artists of The Prince Consort, who also give two world premières in this concert; one by the phenomenal pianist, composer and polymath Stephen Hough and the other by leading American composer Ned Rorem.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45 for anyone wishing to attend.
Presented in association with the GSMD
Ines Simoes soprano
Piran Legg baritone
Jean-Yves Cornet piano
Three outstanding students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama perform Schumann’s most substantial song cycle, Myrthen, his glorious wedding gift to his wife Clara.
Sophie Daneman soprano
Anna Grevelius mezzo-soprano
James Gilchrist tenor
Stephan Loges baritone
Sholto Kynoch piano
Hugo Wolf wrote almost nothing other than songs, but the legacy he left is a rich one. His writing found its peak with his settings of the poet Eduard Mörike, often compared to Britten and Auden or Schubert and Goethe for the perfect marriage of composer and poet. On 22nd and 23rd October, 150 years on from the composer’s birth, all 53 of these extraordinary settings will be performed by these four exceptional singers.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45 for anyone wishing to attend.
Enter the tiny musical world of Pierre Bastien and Małe Instrumenty. French composer and surrealist inventor Bastien has delighted audiences worldwide with his delicate, minimal music created from meccano and pocket trumpet. Having built musical machinery since the 1970s, he has worked with artists as diverse as Robert Wyatt and Issey Miyake. Małe Instrumenty is the perfect pairing; a captivating five piece orchestra of toys and small instruments from Wrocław, Poland.
“Bastien never lets the spell break. The way each new tune grows from the last is as pleasing as a rabbit from a hat, and it makes this musical machine add up to so much more than its wheezing, spinning - and very moving - parts” **** The Guardian (Fertilizer France)
Sophie Daneman soprano
Anna Grevelius mezzo-soprano
James Gilchrist tenor
Stephan Loges baritone
Sholto Kynoch piano
Eduard Mörike was a pastor and painter as well as a poet and a great lover of music. His poetry inspired settings by a range of composers from Brahms and Schumann to Schoeck, Pfitzner and Marx, but none so much as Hugo Wolf. His poems range from short, bright reflections on nature and simple love poetry to much darker, introverted worlds. Wolf evidently felt a great affinity with the poet and his works: of his 53 settings (notwithstanding a handful of earlier efforts), every one is a gem and a remarkable number are considered masterpieces of the song repertoire.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45 for anyone wishing to attend.
Alasdair Malloy presenter
Awesome Al, the cabin boy of our Pirate Ship welcomes you aboard this suitably swashbuckling seafaring adventure. From the stirring sounds of Leroy Anderson's Pirate March to the spectacular finale where everyone learns The Sailor's Hornpipe, this is an unforgettable voyage through uncharted waters in search of a treasure trove of musical gems. Hear about the pirates hiding their treasure in Fingal's Cave, head off Over the Waves to the Caribbean and sing about the Jamaican Rumba. Encounter Cap'n Jack Sparrow in music from the Pirates of the Caribbean films and test your nautical knowledge in our quiz Nautical Notes.
Come dressed as a pirate for the pre-concert craft activities from 2pm. Concert suitable for ages 4 – 8 but the whole family is welcome.
In partnership with Oxford City Council
To join Oxford Philomusica’s mailing or e-list please click HERE
Running Time: 1:10
Brahms: Zigeunerlieder
Poulenc: Métamorphoses
Songs by Mendelssohn, Strauss, Duparc & Rachmaninov
Sarah-Jane Brandon soprano - Winner of the 2009 Kathleen Ferrier Award
Gary Matthewman piano
Sarah-Jane Brandon, won the prestigiouos 2009 Kathleen Ferrier Award. Of her winning performance, the Independent wrote, “one of tomorrow’s great divas… a born recitalist”. Her programme includes Brahms’ ferociously energetic Gypsy Songs, Poulenc’s colourful settings of Louise de Vilmorin (including the famed “Paganini”), and some of Strauss’ most popular songs, including “Cäcilie” and “Morgen!”.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45 for anyone wishing to attend.
Respighi: Il Tramonto
Chausson: Chanson Perpétuelle
Schubert: “Rosamunde” Quartet
Works by Saint-Saëns & Brahms
The Doric String Quartet
Catherine Hopper mezzo-soprano
Sholto Kynoch piano
The Doric Quartet, who are “in residence” at this year’s Oxford Lieder Festival (performing the three Schumann quartets in rush-hour concerts on 20th, 27th and 29th), join with the wonderful mezzo Catherine Hopper. Together they perform Respighi’s masterpiece for mezzo and string quartet, Il Tramonto. Chausson’s darkly moving Chanson Perpétuelle is less well known but deserves to be heard more often, while Schubert’s “Rosamunde” quartet is of course one of the most popular works in the repertoire.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.30 for anyone wishing to attend.
Songs and duets by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy, Fauré, Quilter & Britten
Mary Bevan soprano
Sophie Bevan soprano
Sholto Kynoch piano
Sisters Sophie and Mary Bevan, both exceptional emerging talents, present a wonderful programme of songs and duets. This is not the first time they have sung alongside one another: this summer they sang Susanna and Barbarina in Garsington Opera’s production of The Marriage of Figaro, as well as performing tonight’s programme in Malta. The varied repertoire they cover includes Brahms’ delightful setting of Mörike’s bitter-sweet poem, The Sisters, a number of duets and some enchanting folk-song arrangements.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.30 for anyone wishing to attend.
Schumann: String Quartet no. 2 in F
The Doric String Quartet
The Doric String Quartet continue their survey of Schumann’s three extraordinary quartets. All three quartets were written in 1842. Schumann himself wrote; “You may rest assured that I have spared no pains to produce something really respectable – indeed, I sometimes think my best.”
Programme devised and introduced by Ian Partridge CBE
The concert given by participants of the Oxford Lieder Master Course is now an established annual event. During the course, nine outstanding duos work with tenor Ian Partridge and three guest tutors, studying a huge range of repertoire. For the culmination of the course Ian Partridge devises a programme of songs selected from the week. This concert traditionally has a richly varied programme and is given by singers and pianists who are about to embark on their careers.
Presented in association with the RCM
Robyn Allegra Parton soprano
Kitty Whately mezzo-soprano
Belinda Jones piano
Oxford Lieder is delighted to welcome for the first time students of the Royal College of Music to our lunchtime recital series. Robyn Allegra Parton was the winner of the 2009 Oxford Lieder Scholarship. She and Kitty Whately continue the Oxford Lieder Festival lunchtime Schumann concerts.
Berlioz: Les Nuits d’été
Granados: La Maja dolorosa
Songs by Schubert (settings of Metastasio) & Rossini, and a selection of early Spanish songs
Clara Mouriz mezzo-soprano
Joseph Middleton piano
Described in The Times as “a classy act: a light, agile mezzo of great charm and elegant intelligence”, Clara Mouriz gathers universal acclaim for her stunning voice and captivating stage presence. She and pianist Joseph Middleton present a programme including haunting works by Granados, some of Schubert’s few settings of Italian texts and Berlioz’s remarkable Les Nuits d’été. These latter songs are perhaps better known in their orchestral version, but were originally written for voice and piano. Berlioz, setting texts by his friend Théophile Gautier, produced in this cycle some of his most inventive and lyrical songs; his great contribution to the song repertoire.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.30 for anyone wishing to attend.
Robert Schumann – String Quartet No. 3 in A major (Op. 41, no. 3)
Joseph Haydn - String Quartet in A major (Op. 20, no. 6)
Songs by Schumann, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Ives & Copland
Sir Willard White – bass-baritone
Eugene Asti - piano
One of the world’s best-loved singers, Sir Willard White, makes his first appearance at the Oxford Lieder Festival with renowned pianist Eugene Asti. Their programme includes Schumann’s dramatic Husaren-Lieder and some of his Heine settings, as well as songs by Vaughan Williams, English folksong arrangements by Britten, and settings of American folksongs by Ives and Copeland. The concert concludes with a group of Rodgers and Hammerstein classics. Not a concert to miss!
Premium tickets are available for this concert at £50. These include seats in a reserved area of the Holywell, a signed programme and an exclusive post-concert reception with Sir Willard White and Eugene Asti. They can be booked by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.30pm for anyone wishing to attend.
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To Book Call 01865 305 305
Prices: £20 (£17 con, £50 prem)
Schumann: Piano Works
Alasdair Beatson – piano
Alasdair Beatson, described by the Sunday Times as “artistry incarnate”, performs piano works by Schumann, including the Fantasy and the Gesänge der Frühe, and transcriptions of some of the songs. New College Ante-Chapel provides a magical backdrop.
An Introduction to Polish Song: Songs by Chopin, Paderewski & Moniuszko
Maciek O’Shea baritone
Sholto Kynoch piano
This concert celebrates Chopin’s bicentenary, with a number of his songs performed in the context of other notable, though lesser-known, Polish composers.
Bach’s Most Secret Desire is the first part of the IBP Journey of Discovery Series, to be delivered through three concerts in October, February and April at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford.
In this concert J.S. Bach’s ever popular Concerto for Violin and Oboe forms the centrepiece of a programme which explores works from a similar musical context and background. The programme also includes incredible (and criminally seldom performed!) works by W.F. Bach (Adagio & Fugue), Heinichen (Dresden Concerto) and Zelenka’s “Hipochondrie, as well as an extraordinary orchestral Sonata in F by Handel.
It promises to be a real Journey of Discovery as we explore the familiar baroque soundworld in works that are immaculately well-constructed and share much in common with J.S. Bach and his style. And of course, the International Baroque Players will bring these pieces to life with their usual flair, charisma and energy.
This concert takes place with thanks to the Vicar and PCC of St Mary’s.
Running Time: 2hrs
Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death
Schumann: Andersen Lieder & settings of Eichendorff
Richard Rodney Bennett: Songs Before Sleep
Jonathan Lemalu bass-baritone
Roger Vignoles piano
Jonathan Lemalu makes an eagerly anticipated return to the Oxford Lieder Festival with an attractive and varied programme. He performs Schumann’s magical songs to poems by Hans Christian Andersen and some of his settings of the great poet Eichendorff, as well as a group of songs by Schumann's close friend, Brahms. After this comes Mussorgsky's haunting and dramatic Songs and Dances of Death. The programme concludes with a cycle of nursery rhyme settings by Richard Rodney Bennett. Written for Jonathan Lemalu in 2002, they have been acclaimed as wonderfully inventive songs are an ideal celebratory end to the 2010 Oxford Lieder Festival.
There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7pm. Doors will open at 6.45pm for anyone wishing to attend.
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9 in E minor, ‘From the New World’
Tatiana Kolesova piano
Marios Papadopoulos conductor
Oxford Philomusica
Russian pianist Tatiana Kolesova, finalist in the Leeds International Piano Competition when she was only 15, has been attending the Oxford Philomusica International Piano Festival and Summer Academy regularly since 2000. We are therefore delighted that she will be making her debut with Oxford Philomusica performing Chopin’s 1st Piano Concerto where her extraordinary pianistic talents will be in full display. Chopin’s poetic and deeply moving work is complemented by Dvořák’s ‘The New World’ Symphony, a work that employs European folk music to evoke the composer’s emotional response to Native American music.
To join Oxford Philomusica’s mailing or e-list please click HERE
To view the seating plan please click HERE
Running Time: 1:50
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Book Tickets
Prices: £37 / £26 / £17.50 / £10
Season ticket for all 6 concerts in the 2010/2011 Oxford Chamber Music Society on the following dates: 31 October, 21 November, 16 January, 6 February, 13 March, 10 April.
See individual website entries for full programme.
Running Time: 2hrs
Haydn in G Hob XV:25 ‘Gipsy Rondo’
Mendelssohn no 1 in D minor opus 49
Dvořák no 3 in F minor opus 65
The Sitkovetsky Piano Trio comprise three young musicians who met and worked together at the Yehudi Menuhin School. Formed in 2007, they have already received numerous awards and critical acclaim.
Running Time: 2hrs
Cheeky sax riffs, irresistible bass lines and arguably the UK’s most sought-after drummer. This is jazz that makes you move to dance-inducing beats and then lounge to a languid melody. Polar Bear have a refreshing rawness, a sparse sound that can bloom into rich layers. Unafraid of combining and splicing jazz styles, each number is distinct, from catchy numbers to experimental improvisation. Their latest album Peepers was released this year on the Leaf label, receiving high praise and four star reviews. Polar Bear includes Sebastian Rochford (drums) and Leafcutter John (electronics/guitar).
"Polar Bear blast out of the past, full of straight, cool school skills...bursting with edgy, forward-looking lust" Observer Music Monthly
Actual tickets for this event will be for collection ONLY at the O2 - so please don't select postage.
Leader Mariette Richter
Music Director Robert Max
Soloist Danny Driver (piano)
Programme Liadov Baba Yaga
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 3
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Under 16 free of charge when accompanied by an adult - please call 01865 305 305 to book.
Running Time: 2hrs
MOZART Clarinet Concerto in A major
MOZART The Requiem Mass in D minor
Mark Simpson clarinet
Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford
Stephen Darlington conductor
Oxford Philomusica orchestra
This concert on Armistice Day features two great masterpieces Mozart composed in 1791, the final year of his life. The Clarinet Concerto, played by the 2006 BBC Young Musician of the Year Mark Simpson, is complemented by a performance of the Requiem by the Christ Church Cathedral Choir under their Music Director Stephen Darlington as a fitting tribute to the war dead.
To join Oxford Philomusica’s mailing or e-list please click HERE
To view the seating plan please click HERE
Running Time: 1:45
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Book Tickets
Prices: £37 / £26 / £17.50 (partial view) / £10 (no view)
Prokofiev's sonatas 6-8 from 1941-44 and Beethoven's op 2 sonatas
Friday 8th October - Friday 12th November - Friday 10th December
Prokofiev’s visionary sonatas 6, 7 and 8 from the years 1941 - 44 are presented in an unique opportunity to hear these masterpieces in sequence. These beautiful and brilliant works are contrasted with the vitality of Beethoven’s first three sonatas and performed by the Danish pianist David Christophersen. His recording of Prokofiev’s sonatas nos 6 and 7 and shorter works by Kabalevsky will be on sale at these concerts; ‘a very musical pianist’ – Henry Holst.
Programme Friday 12th November:
Beethoven
Sonata op 2/2 in A major
Chopin
Nocturne in F sharp op 15/2
Ballade in A flat op 47
Berceuse op 57
Kabalevsky
Sonatina no 1 op 13/1
Prokofiev
7th Sonata op 83
Guidance: Not suitable for children under 8.
Running Time: 1:45
Chapel Series
Sally Pryce harp
Adam Walker flute
Programme to include works by Mozart, Faure, Bach, Jean-Michel Damase and Debussy.
The combination of flute and harp is in many ways a perfect marriage, yet is heard surprisingly rarely in the concert hall. Adam and Sally’s programme could not better showcase their instruments, ranging from the understated sophistication of Bach to the colour and charisma of Debussy.
Book all 3 events in the Chapel series and get 10% discount, or book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount, by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 1:45
45 minute informal concert with Mark Hooper especially devised for children. Fun for all the family. Bring your own cushion! All concerts sell out, and numbers are limited for each concert, so please book in advance for your preferred time.
9.30am, 10.30am & 3pm for Under 5's only
11.30am for Over 5's Only
Running Time: 0:45
Sleeps in Oysters bring their unique brand of wind-up electroacoustic pop back to Oxford for the launch of their long-awaited second album.
"Avant folktronica...admirably adventurous" Time Out
This event is the launch of the Editions of You series, curated and programmed by the Oxford Brookes University Popular Music Research Unit, OCM and Launch Collaborative. Editions of You events celebrate and showcase self-publishing and self-releasing musicians and artists, and the handmade editions and releases they create.
Jerusalem Quartet
Mozart String Quartet K175
Mendelssohn Quartet Op 44/2
Brahms Quartet No 1 Op 51/1
One of the most vibrant international chamber music ensembles to emerge in recent years, The Jerusalem Quartet includes Oxford in its new tour of top European venues. They perform three works which are central to the quartet repertoire and represent some of each composer’s best writing. Whether you know then or not, this quartet will certainly bring something new and fresh to such well-loved classics.
With the generous support of Ruth & John Deech; Sandra and Raymond Dwek; Zvi and Ophra Meitar; Alison and Simon Ryde
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 1:15
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Book Tickets
Prices: £40 / £26 / £18 (Partial View) / £10 (No View)
Haydn in G op 54 no 1,
Ireland no 1 in D minor.
Beethoven in F opus 135
The Maggini Quartet is one of the finest British string quartets, both in performance and through award winning recordings. They have sold more than 100,000 discs, and won several individual awards.
Running Time: 2hrs
Geoffrey Hopkins returns to the J.D.P. to perform the complete Chopin Études: 12 Études Bk.1. Op.10, 12 Études Bk.2. Op 25, 3 Nouvelles Études.
Running Time: 1:30
Bach wrote his Christmas Oratorio in Leipzig during 1734, and surprisingly it was only performed once in its entirity during his lifetime. In fact the first complete concert performance took place as recently as 1857, during the period in which many of his works were being revived in Germany. Despite the slow uptake, this work has subsequently become one of Bach's most popular and most widely performed choral compositions.
This performance will consist of Parts 1, 2, 4 and 6 of the Christmas Oratorio, and will be sung in English.
Running Time: 2:30
BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto in D
BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D
Nicola Benedetti violin
Marios Papadopoulos conductor
Beethoven wrote his only violin concerto in 1806. It quickly fell into obscurity after a disastrous premiere, but has long since become a staple in the instrument’s repertoire. Nicola Benedetti, the 2004 BBC Young Musician of the Year, joins the Philomusica for tonight’s performance. Brahms’ autumnal 2nd Symphony is one of his later works, characterised by a distinctively nostalgic lyricism. Sponsored by Raymond and Sandra Dwek
YOUNG ARTISTS PLATFORM, 6.30pm
Free access for evening concert ticket holders
Directing from the keyboard Masterclass with Marios Papadopoulos
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A
Alissa Firsova piano, Oxford Philomusica
Music Director Marios Papadopoulos is this year’s Honorary Fellow of The Worshipful Company of Musicians. As such, he has undertaken a number of projects in association with the Company to assist young musicians. One of these features a brilliant musician, Alissa Firsova, in a Directing from the Keyboard masterclass offering an unparalleled opportunity for a wonderful young artist to play and conduct a professional orchestra and receive guidance on this aspect of music-making that she is interested in pursuing as a career. In association with The Worshipful Company of Musicians
To join Oxford Philomusica’s mailing or e-list please click HERE
Running Time: 2hrs
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Book Tickets
Prices: £37 / £26 / £17.50 / £10
Come and hear popular local choir Cranford Choral Society sing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in the exquisitely atmospheric surroundings of Dorchester Abbey. Conducted by Richard Blackford, and accompanied by the Amadeus Orchestra.
Running Time: 2hrs
Oxford's premier large choir and its principal conductor Nicholas Cleobury join forces with the London Mozart Players
and a group of distinguished soloists to perform Haydn's Creation - an uplifting masterpiece not to be missed!
Running Time: 2:10
Albanian virtuoso Alda Dizdari and renowned pianist Sholto Kynoch perform Brahms' three sonatas, pinnacles of the romantic repertoire. From the serene but passionate first sonata (G major), to the autumnal lyricism of the second (A major) to the drama and turbulence of the third (D minor), these works are among Brahms' finest output. Also included in the programme is the fiery C-minor Scherzo, Brahms' contribution to the FAE sonata, a present from Brahms, Schumann and Albert Dietrich to the great violinist Jospeh Joachim.
Running Time: 2hrs
45 minute informal concert with Mark Hooper especially devised for children. Fun for all the family. Bring your own cushion! All concerts sell out, and numbers are limited for each concert, so please book in advance for your preferred time.
9.30am, 10.30am & 3pm for Under 5's only
11.30am for Over 5's Only
Running Time: 0:45
Prokofiev's sonatas 6-8 from 1941-44 and Beethoven's op 2 sonatas
Friday 8th October - Friday 12th November - Friday 10th December
Prokofiev’s visionary sonatas 6, 7 and 8 from the years 1941 - 44 are presented in an unique opportunity to hear these masterpieces in sequence. These beautiful and brilliant works are contrasted with the vitality of Beethoven’s first three sonatas and performed by the Danish pianist David Christophersen. His recording of Prokofiev’s sonatas nos 6 and 7 and shorter works by Kabalevsky will be on sale at these concerts; ‘a very musical pianist’ – Henry Holst.
Programme Friday 10th December:
Scarlatti
4 Sonatas; K 46, K175, K492, K159
Beethoven
Sonata op 2/3 in C major
Kabalevsky
24 Little Pieces op 39
Prokofiev
8th Sonata op 84
Guidance: Not suitable for children under 8.
Running Time: 1:45
Combining technical brilliance with his Cuban roots, Ahmed Dickinsen is an extraordinary guitarist. Having trained in the top music colleges in Cuba and the UK, he frequently collaborates with leading artists including Eduardo Niebla and dance star Carlos Acosta. His trio adds delicate nuances and enriches his playing, with Hammadi Rencurrell on percussion and Emma Blanco on violin. They perform an evening of jazz tinged traditional Cuban and Latin American genres alongside classical styles.
“You are left with the sensation of being touched to the core by exquisitely played pieces” **** Songlines Magazine
Chopin Piano Recital to celebrate the composer's 200th anniversary
CHOPIN Barcarolle in F sharp major
CHOPIN Nocturne in C sharp minor
CHOPIN Ballade No. 3 in A flat major
CHOPIN Mazurka A minor No. 2
CHOPIN Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor
CHOPIN Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor
Marios Papadopoulos piano
Marios Papadopoulos, a leading pianist of his generation, performs a solo recital to celebrate Chopin’s bicentenary. The programme features some of Chopin’s most popular works alongside a selection of his lesser-heard masterpieces. The evening will conclude with the composer’s epic Third Sonata, one of his most substantial compositions in any genre.
To join Oxford Philomusica’s mailing or e-list please click HERE
Running Time: 2hrs
Christmas Concert
Featuring the music of Howard Goodall
Howard Goodall conductor
EMMY- and BAFTA-winning composer and broadcaster Howard Goodall leads tonight’s concert, which boasts a unique Christmas theme. Come and welcome in the Festive season with a wide array of yuletide favourites, bound to entertain the whole family at this special time of year.
Children £1: Book child tickets in the Upper Gallery for only £1 on 020 8450 1060.
Pre-concert activities from 6.30pm and FREE activity pack.
To join Oxford Philomusica’s mailing or e-list please click HERE
Running Time: 2hrs
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Book Tickets
Prices: £37 / £26 / £17.50 / £10
Christ Church Cathedral Choir
Stephen Darlington director
Jean Marsh reader
Take a break from the incessant rush and bustle of shopping, parties and preparations and stop awhile. The evening’s event is the start of Christmas for many of the regular audience, a chance to link into the spirit of Christmas through inspirational words and music from across the centuries performed in this stunningly majestic and spiritual of venues. Tickets sell out every year, so do book early.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 2:15
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Book Tickets
Prices: £40 / £26 / £18 / £10 (No View)
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Book Tickets
Prices: £40 / £26 / £18 / £10 (No View)
Traditional Viennese New Year’s Concert
ROSSINI Barber of Seville Overture
PROTO Carmen Fantasy for double bass and Orchestra
STRAUSS Waltzes, Marches Polkas
Thomas Martin double bass
Marios Papadopoulos conductor
The shoebox-shaped Oxford Town Hall with its opulent decor is reminiscent of Vienna’s illustrious Musikverein. What better setting for our annual Viennese New Year’s concert where all the traditional Waltzes, Marches and Polkas by the Strauss family will usher in the New Year. The first half of the concert features Rossini’s Barber of Seville and Frank Proto’s virtuosic Carmen Fantasy, a work that makes extraordinary demands on the double bass soloist, performed by the Philomusica’s Principal Thomas Martin.
To view the seating plan please click HERE
To join Oxford Philomusica’s mailing or e-list please click HERE
Running Time: 2hrs
Martinu’s Viola Sonata
Smetana’s Piano Trio in G minor opus 15
Dvořák’s Piano Quartet no 2 in E flat
The Phoenix Piano Trio was reformed in 2009 by Sholto Kynoch (founder of the Oxford Lieder Festival). Ylvali Zilliacus is a soloist and chamber musician in her own right.
Running Time: 2hrs
45 minute informal concert with Mark Hooper especially devised for children. Fun for all the family. Bring your own cushion! All concerts sell out, and numbers are limited for each concert, so please book in advance for your preferred time.
9.30am, 10.30am & 3pm for Under 5's only
11.30am for Over 5's Only.
Running Time: 0:45
Mozart: Overture to Don Giovanni
Haydn: Trumpet Concerto (Crispian Steele-Perkins)
Strauss: Feirliche Einzug
Webern: Passacaglia op.1
R. Strauss: Four Last Songs (Sarah-Jane Brandon)
J. Strauss: Blue Danube
Peter Bassano conducts the Oxford Sinfonia
Running Time: 1:50
Elizabeth Kenny
Theatre Of The Ayre
Rachel Podger violin
Clare Salaman violin
Galina Zinchenko viola
Alison McGillivray bass violin
Pamela Thorby recorder
Kate Latham recorder
Merlin Harrison recorder
Elizabeth Kenny theorboe/guitar
David Miller theorboe/guitar
Ayres from John Blow's Amphion Anglicus, 1700 Welcome, welcome every guest; Go, perjured man; Cloe found Amintas Lying all in Tears
Instrumental music by Robert de Visée and Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Ayres from Michel Lambert's Livre d'Airs de Cour, 1689
Il est vrai, l'amour est charmant; Vos mespris chaque jour me causent des alarmes
John Blow Venus & Adonis (Purcell Society’s new edition by Bruce Wood)
Written to intrigue the court of Charles II at the height of its opulence, John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, newly edited for the Purcell Society, is performed by a specially assembled group of the UK’s most accomplished performers of the baroque. The entrancing story of love and loss is told in a form which lies somewhere between masque and opera. Theorbo, guitars, voices and recorders bring to life a lost masterpiece from the teacher who inspired Henry Purcell.
Pre-concert talk at 6.30pm given by Elizabeth Kenny
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 1:45
BAROQUE SERIES
ALBINONI Adagio
HANDEL Organ Concerto
VIVALDI La Tempesta di Mare
BACH Brandenburgh Concerto No. 5
Soloists of Oxford Philomusica
Tamás András violin/director
Following his highly successful rendition of Vivaldi’s and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons last May in front of a capacity audience in the Sheldonian Theatre, Philomusica leader Tamás András returns to direct another concert of Baroque masterpieces. From the solemnity and dignity of Albinoni’s Adagio, the staggering virtuosity of Vivaldi’s ‘La Tempesta’, to the eclecticism and innovation of Bach’s enigmatic 5th Brandenburg Concerto, tonight’s concert presents a kaleidoscope of all that characterizes the music of the Baroque era.
YOUNG ARTISTS PLATFORM, 7pm
Free access for evening concert ticket holders
BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ Scherzo
EUGENE BOZZA Trois Impressions
LUCIANO BERIO Sequenza
PAUL TAFFANEL Fantaisie sur le Freischutz
Claire Wickes flute
Claire Wickes dazzled the panel when she auditioned for the Young Artists Platform,featuring, this time, music students from the University of Oxford. Do not miss a great opportunity to witness an outstanding talent with a wonderful career ahead of her.
To join Oxford Philomusica’s mailing or e-list please click HERE
Running Time: 90min
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Book Tickets
Prices: £37 / £26 / £17.50 / £10
Nielsen in G minor opus 13
Thomas Adès’ Arcadiana
Beethoven’s opus 127 in E flat major
The Danish Quartet, formed in 2001 won the London International String Quartet Competition in 2009, is now undertaking tours in the UK and Germany and has recorded all the Nielsen quartets on DaCapo.
Running Time: 2hrs
45 minute informal concert with Mark Hooper especially devised for children. Fun for all the family. Bring your own cushion! All concerts sell out, and numbers are limited for each concert, so please book in advance for your preferred time.
9.30am, 10.30am & 3pm for Under 5's only
11.30am for Over 5's Only.
Running Time: 0:45
Paul Lewis piano
Schubert Sonata for Piano no.15 in C D840
Schubert Drei Klavierstücke D946 No.1 in E flat minor
Schubert Drei Klavierstücke D946 No.2 in E flat Major
Schubert Drei Klavierstücke D946 No.3 in C major
Schubert Sonata for Piano no. 17 in D major D850
The first of three performances this season in Paul Lewis’s exploration of the works of Franz Schubert. Available dates have been snapped up by concert promoters across the world. We are fortunate to have secured appearances here.
Please note the series discount if you book for performances on May 27 and June 17 too.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 2:00
Mae Heydoorn mezzo soprano
Sholto Kynoch piano
Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder will be the main work in this programme, with songs by Schubert, Grieg, Stenhammar & others.
Mae gave a wonderful but all too brief lunchtime recital in Oxford in 2009. We all agreed that we must bring her back with accompanist Sholto Kynoch, creator of the Oxford Lieder Festival, to share more of the romantic European and Scandinavian repertoire for which her warm, rich voice is perfect. Join us to enjoy a full evening in the company of two remarkable performers in a little known gem of an Oxford chapel.
Book all 3 events in the Chapel series and get 10% discount, or book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount, by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 1:45
Probably the world’s greatest living classical guitarist, John Williams has worked with legendary musicians throughout his long career, from du Pre to Previn to Paco Pena. A guitarists’ guitarist, he is still busy with concerts throughout the world. This evening’s programme will be a charismatic cocktail of dazzling showpieces and contemporary classics.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 1:45
45 minute informal concert with Mark Hooper especially devised for children. Fun for all the family. Bring your own cushion! All concerts sell out, and numbers are limited for each concert, so please book in advance for your preferred time.
9.30am, 10.30am & 3pm for Under 5's only
11.30am for Over 5's Only.
Running Time: 0:45
Gabriel Faure Requiem
James MacMillan Seven Last Words from the Cross
A concert featuring Oxford’s premier large choir and one of the country’s prominent chamber orchestras in a programme showcasing two stunning choral works. Faure’s Requiem is deservedly one of the most popular works in the repertoire and James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross is a work widely admired as one of his finest achievements, promising an absorbing and moving evening.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 2:00
Bruckner Intermezzo
Mozart K.593 in D
Mendelssohn 2nd Quintet
The Fine Arts Quartet is one of most distinguished ensembles in chamber music today, receiving numerous international awards. Toby Hoffman is an international viola soloist, chamber musician and conductor.
Running Time: 2hrs
Telemann Fantasia in F minor
Bach Sonata in A minor
Biber Passacaglia
Bach Partita in D minor
This evening is frankly an experiment and we would like to know what our audience thinks of it. It’s certainly not a musical experiment (there could hardly be a better chance of total enjoyment than to hear Rachel Podger in solo works of Bach and Biber) but we will try a new seating lay-out in the Sheldonian, putting our star performer at the centre of an intimate, in-the-round lay-out. There isn’t a bad seat in the house.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 1:45
During the period 1854-68, while Brahms was writing his German Requiem, his mother died, closely followed by his friend and mentor Robert Schumann. These events undoubtedly heavily influenced the piece, in particular the emotionally charged fifth movement with its reference to a mother comforting her children. First performed in full in 1868, this work was quickly identified as a choral masterpiece and became Brahms' first major success at home and abroad.
The second piece being performed in this concert will be Bruch's attractive four-movement Scottish Fantasy, which is based on Scottish folk tunes. The soloist will be internationally-acclaimed Ukranian violinist Dima Tkachenko.
Running Time: 2:30
Bridge’s Three Idylls for String Quartet
Bliss’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings
Berkeley’s Sextet for Clarinet, Horn and String Quartet
Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet
The Berkeley Ensemble formed by London musicians champions British music alongside mainstream repertoire.
Running Time: 2HRS
45 minute informal concert with Mark Hooper especially devised for children. Fun for all the family. Bring your own cushion! All concerts sell out, and numbers are limited for each concert, so please book in advance for your preferred time.
9.30am, 10.30am & 3pm for Under 5's only
11.30am for Over 5's Only.
Running Time: 0:45
‘Passion and Resurrection’
Lenten choral masterworks by Orlando Gibbons, William Byrd, Tallis and Victoria. Stile Antico are Gramophone Award winners and Grammy nominated. Working as chamber musicians without a director, they bring intensity and passion to their interpretation of early music. Unmissable.
Running Time: 1:30
Rachmaninov The Liturgy of St John Chrysostom
Tenebrae’s unique choral palette equips it perfectly for Rachmaninov’s setting of one of the most solemn rites of the Orthodox Church. This is a follow-up to the group’s powerful performance of the Vespers at Christ Church which was remarkable. Enjoy candlelight and an intense musical experience.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 1:15
45 minute informal concert with Mark Hooper especially devised for children. Fun for all the family. Bring your own cushion! All concerts sell out, and numbers are limited for each concert, so please book in advance for your preferred time.
9.30am, 10.30am & 3pm for Under 5's only
11.30am for Over 5's Only.
Running Time: 0:45
Peter Phillips Director
Benjamin Nicholas Director
In the beginning - Gabriel Jackson (written for Merton 2009)
Lugebat Absalom - Gombert
When David heard - Whitacre
When David heard – Weelkes
Nunc Dimittis - Holst
Nunc Dimittis - Palestrina
Nunc Dimittis – Lukaszewski
In the beginning - Aaron Copland
We are very glad to begin an annual association with Merton to track the development of Oxford’s newest choir, instituted at Merton Chapel in 2009. It is already one of the most exciting choral ensembles in the city, with a strong commissioning programme and outstanding leadership in the shape of Peter Phillips, founder and director of the Tallis Scholars, and Ben Nicholas, director of music at Tewkesbury Abbey. Music by Palestrina, Whitacre, Holst and Gabriel Jackson.
Pre-concert Talk at 7pm. Peter and Ben will discuss the ideas behind the creation in of the choir and its work to date.
Co-promotion with Merton College
Book all 3 events in the Chapel series and get 10% discount, or book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount, by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 1:45
Hear classical stars in the making showcased in a day of recitals plus a finale evening concert. In the fourth year of this successful concert project, we welcome back pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Levon Chilingirian as mentors to our emerging classical stars.
Beyond the superb music, bask in the beautiful riverside grounds, browse the art exhibition, hear insightful musical guest speakers and indulge in the delicious food on offer. And of course no Oxford festival would be complete without lawn games!
(Each recital must be booked separately)
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined.)
Hear classical stars in the making showcased in a day of recitals plus a finale evening concert. In the fourth year of this successful concert project, we welcome back pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Levon Chilingirian as mentors to our emerging classical stars.
Beyond the superb music, bask in the beautiful riverside grounds, browse the art exhibition, hear insightful musical guest speakers and indulge in the delicious food on offer. And of course no Oxford festival would be complete without lawn games!
(Each recital must be booked separately)
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined.)
Hear classical stars in the making showcased in a day of recitals plus a finale evening concert. In the fourth year of this successful concert project, we welcome back pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Levon Chilingirian as mentors to our emerging classical stars.
Beyond the superb music, bask in the beautiful riverside grounds, browse the art exhibition, hear insightful musical guest speakers and indulge in the delicious food on offer. And of course no Oxford festival would be complete without lawn games!
(Each recital must be booked separately)
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined.)
Hear classical stars in the making showcased in a day of recitals plus a finale evening concert. In the fourth year of this successful concert project, we welcome back pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Levon Chilingirian as mentors to our emerging classical stars.
Beyond the superb music, bask in the beautiful riverside grounds, browse the art exhibition, hear insightful musical guest speakers and indulge in the delicious food on offer. And of course no Oxford festival would be complete without lawn games!
(Each recital must be booked separately)
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined.)
Hear classical stars in the making showcased in a day of recitals plus a finale evening concert. In the fourth year of this successful concert project, we welcome back pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Levon Chilingirian as mentors to our emerging classical stars.
Beyond the superb music, bask in the beautiful riverside grounds, browse the art exhibition, hear insightful musical guest speakers and indulge in the delicious food on offer. And of course no Oxford festival would be complete without lawn games!
(Each recital must be booked separately)
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined.)
Mark Padmore tenor
Paul Lewis piano
Schubert Die Schöne Müllerin Op 25
The second of our Paul Lewis/Schubert series. This is sure to be a benchmark interpretation of one of the great feats of the Romantic imagination. The opportunity to hear it live should not be missed.
Pre-concert talk at 7.00pm given by Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis, free to all ticket-holders.
Please note the series discount if you book for performances on February 11 and June 17 too.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 1:45
45 minute informal concert with Mark Hooper especially devised for children. Fun for all the family. Bring your own cushion! All concerts sell out, and numbers are limited for each concert, so please book in advance for your preferred time.
9.30am, 10.30am & 3pm for Under 5's only
11.30am for Over 5's Only.
Running Time: 0:45
Paul Lewis piano
Schubert Twelve Waltzes D145
Schubert Four Impromptus D899
Schubert Hungarian Melody in B minor D817
Schubert Sonata for Piano no.18 in G major D894 (1826)
The last of three performances this season in Paul Lewis’s exploration of the works of Franz Schubert. Available dates have been snapped up by concert promoters across the world. We are fortunate to have secured appearances here.
Please note the series discount if you book for performances on February 11 and May 27 too.
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 1:30
Christian Vasquez conductor
Natalie Clein cello
Elgar Serenade for Strings
Elgar Cello Concerto
Tchaikovsky Symphony No 4
Graham Pye Memorial Concert
It’s a delight to welcome the Philharmonia back to the Sheldonian for a spectacular season finale. They bring with them one of the world’s most exciting conductors, Christian Vasquez, fresh from his triumphs with the extraordinary Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. With the invariably popular Natalie Clein and a marvellous programme, this will be a sell-out. You are advised to book in good time.
Sponsored by Harris Manchester College, Oxford
Book 6 or more events in the Music at Oxford Season Oct 10 – June 2011 and get 15% discount by calling 01865 305305 or in person at Oxford Playhouse. (Please note different discounts cannot be combined)
Running Time: 2:30
This concert will include two works by Vaughan Williams - 'The Lark Ascending' and 'An Oxford Elegy' - plus 'Feel the Spirit' by John Rutter.
'The Lark Ascending' is Vaughan Williams' most popular and recognisable instrumental work and needs no further introduction. 'An Oxford Elegy' is a lesser known, but beautiful setting of Victorian poet Matthew Arnold's text nostalgically harking back to days of yore.
John Rutter is an astonishingly successful composer and arranger best known for a wide range of vocal works including anthems and carols. His composition 'Feel the Spirit' is a lively and complex work based on negro spirituals that looks set to become as popular with both choirs and audiences alike as many of his earlier works.
Running Time: 2:30
Tickets Oxford is managed by Oxford Playhouse.
