The Orchestra Of St John’s autumn season is well underway with an exciting line-up of concerts spanning Brahms and Beethoven to Gershwin and Ginastera, carols to concerts, sonatas to jazz, fundraisers to messiahs, with the odd lunch thrown in for good measure.
The autumn season is being played out between Dorchester Abbey, Holywell Music Rooms, The Sheldonian and Southmoor, as well as launching the new OSJ Chamber Ensemble, and showcasing artist-in-residence Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, so don’t miss out and get booking.
First up is Brahms and Beethoven this Saturday (October 3) at Dorchester Abbey, which includes a spirited homage to Zoltán Kodály’s childhood memories – Dances of Galánta (1933) – a vibrant orchestral showpiece based on 18th-century Hungarian folk music. The Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor was an olive branch offered to his estranged friend, the great violinist Joseph Joachim, with the cello part written for Joachim’s quartet cellist Robert Hausmann. While Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, whom Beethoven admired as a champion of freedom, was renamed the “Heroic” Symphony in fury when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor in 1804. https://www.osj.org.uk/event/kodaly-brahms-and-beethoven-7pm-at-dorchester-abbey/
New House in Southmoor plays host to a very special afternoon of chamber music on October 11, as a fundraiser for Orchestra of St John’s. Expect a beautiful, country house, delicious lunch, wonderful company and music by Mozart, Beethoven, Richard Chew
and Handel. https://www.osj.org.uk/event/concert-with-lunch-at-new-house/
October 29 is an exciting date to put in your diary because it marks the OSJ Ensemble Launch Concert at Holywell Music Room in Oxford. The new chamber ensemble is designed to build on OSJ’s rich history and complement its existing programmes with the likes of Bach‘s Sonata in A major, Sonata in F minor, Chaconne andSonata in E major, Howard Moody‘s Glass Island and Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel. https://www.osj.org.uk/event/osj-ensemble-launch-concert-at-holywell-music-rooms-oxford/
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason demonstrates why she’s been taken on as artist-in-residence on November 7 at Dorchester Abbey. Alongside her depiction of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue – a landmark American work, blending jazz & classical music, famous for its iconic clarinet glissando and capturing the energy of the Roaring Twenties with its mix of syncopation, soulful melodies, & “blue notes”, the concert will also feature Darius Milhaud’s La Création du Monde – a ground-breaking 1923 ballet blending African creation myths with the vibrant sounds of American jazz, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite and Ginastera‘s Dances from Estancia no 2 and 4. https://www.osj.org.uk/event/jeneba-kanneh-mason-plays-gershwin-7pm-at-dorchester-abbey/
In an evening that explores the very best of J S Bach’s unique genius, including perhaps his most popular Brandenburg Concerto, No. 3, and two peerless Double Concertos, for two Violins, and for Violin and Oboe, join OSJ on November 21 at Dorchester Abbey https://www.osj.org.uk/event/bach-7pm-at-dorchester-abbey-3/
Things get festive on December 12 with A Night of Carols at Dorchester Abbey, as OSJ Voices raise the roof in this run up to Christmas with all the classics. https://www.osj.org.uk/event/a-night-of-carols-7pm-at-dorchester-abbey-4/
Handel’s Messiah runs for two nights at Dorchester Abbey and then The Sheldonian, on December 19 (BOOK HERE) and 20 (BOOK HERE). Handel composed his famous oratorio in just 24 days, emerging from a period of severe personal and financial hardship to create one of the most celebrated choral masterpieces in history. Legend says King George II was so moved during the Hallelujah Chorus at the London premiere that he stood up, starting a tradition that audiences still follow today. December 19 and December 20 Sheldonian
For more information on OSJ and its concert series go to https://www.osj.org.uk/forthcoming-concerts/
