Now that The Schwarzman Centre is officially open, 12,000 people pouring through its doors during its free one-day Open House festival READ ABOUT IT HERE, Oxford’s new arts and academic institution presents its first major cultural season Unfinished Revolutions.
Spanning music, dance, comedy, literature, history, theatre and film, Unfinished Revolutions includes performances by award-winning American artists and writers, placing experimentation and co-creation at its heart.
Here are our #mustsee picks from the Unfinished Revolutions programme:
Cécile McLorin Salvant: Book of Ayres, May 28 – 29, 7pm. Sohmen Concert Hall. The three-time Grammy Award winner will bring together top improvising musicians from different worlds: early music, jazz, folk, and electronic using synthesizers, percussion, flute and harpsichord to create a colourful backdrop for a new type of folk song, through her musical story-telling. Expect stories from different tongues cutting across eras and borders, blending early music and vaudeville, Sappho and folkloric material of Europe and the Americas. https://www.schwarzmancentre.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/cecile-mclorin-salvant-book-of-ayres-yblx
Suzan-Lori Parks: Sally and Tom, May 29, 7pm, Theatre. The Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks will be marking the UK debut of Sally & Tom in this rehearsed reading which focuses on the charged relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Hemings was the enslaved woman who lived and negotiated within his household – a sharp, witty and resilient presence whose voice cuts through history. Blending humour, theatrical daring and political edge, it confronts the contradictions of America’s founding myths and asks what stories we choose to tell about power, freedom and desire, offering audiences the chance to encounter Parks’ searing vision live on stage. https://www.schwarzmancentre.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/suzan-lori-parks-sally-and-tom-dnc9
Percival Everett: The 2026 Esmond Harmsworth Lecture in American Arts and Letters, June 2, 5pm. Theatre. The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, is one of the most daring, inventive and provocative voices in contemporary American fiction. Here he will argue that an ability to read fiction and apply it, is crucial to a culture’s ability to reason soundly and employ empathy. https://www.schwarzmancentre.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/percival-everett-n1xf
Taylor Mac’s DOUBLE BILL:
Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music, June 5 – 13, Cinema. A decade-long labour of love, this riotous concert film captures New York theatre legend and MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellow’s joyously queer 24-hour immersive theatrical experience. The documentary showcases this one-time-only concert which offered an alternative take on US history, narrated through popular songs from each decade. Performed by Mac in elaborate, decade-specific costumes, alongside a 24-piece orchestra, it is not to be missed!
Taylor Mac and Matt Ray’s: Bark of Millions in Concert, June 12 – 13, 7pm, Sohmen Concert Hall. Taylor Mac, Matt Ray and Machine Dazzle present original songs and an array of extravagant costumes in this epic rock opera meditation on queerness, brought to life by a powerhouse ensemble of 16 international artists including Le Gateau Chocolat and Mama Alto, with one new work that centres on queer voices in this joyful and provocative, transformative experience which celebrates the power of individuality and human connection. https://www.schwarzmancentre.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/taylor-mac-and-matt-ray-s-bark-of-millions-in-concert-fmq7
Anna Clyne: Looking Glass, June 24, 7.30pm. Sohmen Concert Hall. The Grammy Award-winning British American composer brings a new composition exploring light as it reflects and refracts, bounces and shimmers, bends and dances. Blending together a live string quartet, a sinfonietta, and real-time digital sound design she creates a spatialised and augmented orchestral experience. Particularly Oxford-centric, it is also inspired by the magic of author Lewis Carroll, who used the looking glass as a metaphor for entering a surreal, unfamiliar and reversed world, ensuring the soundscape is both mysterious and playful, classical and contemporary. Also being performed is Aaron Dvořák’s radiant American Quartet which blends the spirit of African American spirituals with his own Bohemian lyricism, creating a uniquely transatlantic masterpiece of folk-inspired chamber music. https://www.schwarzmancentre.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/anna-clyne-looking-glass-r57m
1776 with Lil Buck, ZooNation Youth Company and Body Politic Youth Company, June 26, Sohmen Concert Hall. A collision of hip hop and Memphis Jookin’ that transforms independence into kinship, and history into evolution. Jookin pioneer Lil Buck and ZooNation Associate Artistic Director, Dannielle Rhimes Lecointe reclaim 1776 through the language of movement. This work unites young dancers from Memphis, London and Oxford, sparking a dialogue that bridges local roots with global perspectives across generations and geographies.
And keep your eyes peeled for the Schwarzman’s upcoming Autumn programme when the second themed season Utopia Now! runs from October – November with highlights including a new commission by Nitin Sawhney and a History of Utopia, led by Brian Eno and Kim Stanley Robinson. Go to https://www.schwarzmancentre.ox.ac.uk/whats-on for further details.
