Witney Music Society
PRIMROSE PIANO QUARTET
High Street Methodist Church, Witney
Friday, 7.30pm
Tickets: www.witneymusicsociety.org.uk
To open its new season, Witney Music Society welcomes its first piano quartet recital for ten years. The Primrose Piano Quartet, formed in 2004, is one of the UK’s leading chamber ensembles with a reputation for recordings of neglected British masterpieces of the 19thand 20thcenturies. The concert starts with a British composer, Frank Bridge, and his acclaimed Phantasy Quartet, followed by Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E flat, Saint-Saëns’ Barcarolleand Fauré’s Piano Quartet in G minor.
Oxford Lieder Festival
SCHUBERT AND GRIEG
Oxford Town Hall
Friday, 7.30pm
Tickets: 01865 591276 or www.oxfordlieder.co.uk
It’s always an exciting moment when the annual Oxford Lieder Festival returns to the city to embark on its latest two-week odyssey. This year’s programme, as always, is so packed with musical treats it’s well-nigh impossible to pick out the highlights, but the opening concert is always pretty special.
READ OUR FULL INTERVIEW ON THIS YEAR’S LIDER FESTIVAL HERE: http://551.326.mywebsitetransfer.com/oxford-lieder-festivals-tales-of-beyond-theme-will-bewitch-and-enthral-with-host-of-famous-stars/
In this exciting opener, Camilla Tilling (soprano), Neal Davies (bass-baritone) and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Jac van Steen, explore myths, legends and Nordic landscapes. Featured music includes Schubert’s songs Erlkönig and Prometheus and excerpts from his incidental music to Rosamunde, and Grieg’s first Peer Gynt suite plus a selection of his songs. The Oxford Lieder Festival runs until 18thOctober; visit the website for details of the full programme.
Oxford Chamber Music Festival
SCANDINAVIA!
Various venues
Friday & Saturday
Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com
As one festival opens, another closes. Don’t miss the final two days of the Oxford Chamber Music Festival, with concerts evoking the spirit of Scandinavia. There are still eight events to go, four on each day, so grab tickets while you can! For full details, visit www.ocmf.net.
Orchestra of St John’s
ROSSINI: PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE
Dorchester Abbey
Saturday, 7.30pm
Tickets: www.osj.org.uk
John Lubbock conducts one of the loveliest works in the choral repertoire, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle– which, famously, is neither small nor solemn!
Instead, it is an expansive, dramatic and uplifting work, clearly the work of a man used to writing opera. The soloists are Ilona Domnich (soprano), Ellie Edmonds (alto), Xavier Hetherington (tenor) and Fraser Scott (bass), with Maki Sekiya (piano), Howard Moody (harmonium) and the OSJ Voices.
City of Oxford Choir
FIRE & BRIMSTONE
St Helen’s Church, Abingdon
Saturday, 7.30pm
Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com
Duncan Aspden conducts an exciting, adventurous programme of some of the more dramatic music from the British choral repertoire, including Stanford For lo, I raise up, Bairstow Blessed City, Heavenly Salem, Finzi Magnificatand other works by Howells, Gibbons, Tomkins, Joubert, Ireland, Mendelssohn and James Macmillan.
Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir
CHORAL GALA CONCERT
Oxford Town Hall
Saturday, 7.30pm
Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com
Always a fun event, the annual concert by the Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir is one not to be msised. This year the choir is joined by the Haverfordwest Male Voice Choir, and proceeds go to HomeStart Oxford. Enjoy traditional Welsh songs and more sung by masters of their art.
The Korrigan Consort
THE LIFE OF ST FRIDESWIDE
Christ Church Cathedral
Saturday, 8pm
Tickets: www.korriganconsort.com
Enjoy a musical celebration of Oxford’s patron saint with Oxford’s newly-formed professional female voice consort. The consort will tell the story of St Frideswide through medieval and Renaissance polyphony, including music from convents in France, Italy and the Low Countries, and features a new piece about the legend of St Frideswide. This concert is the first in a week of events celebrating the life and legacy of St Frideswide, and also marks the establishment of girls’ choir Frideswide Voices as a permanent part of Christ Church’s Choral Foundation.
Abbey Chamber Concerts
DIANA HINDS, PIANO
St Nicolas Church, Abingdon
Sunday, 3pm
Tickets: www.abbeychamberconcerts.org
The Abbey Chamber Concerts series was set up to champion local musicians. In this latest in the series, pianist Diana Hinds plays Schubert’s great, late Sonata in A, D959and Janacek’s intimate, autobiographical In the Mist.
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
BACH, THE UNIVERSE & EVERYTHING
Mathematical Institute
Sunday, 5.30pm
Tickets: 01865 244806 or www.musicatoxford.com
The OAE returns to Oxford for the first of a three-date programme of music and talks exploring Bach’s ‘mathematical’ approach to composing. In Mathematics and the Brain, Professor Alain Goriely, Statutory Professor of Mathematical Modelling at the University of Oxford, talks about how applied mathematics can throw light on the effects of brain injuries and neuro-degenerative diseases, while the orchestra plays Bach’s cantata Ach! ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe (Ah, I see, now as I go to the marriage), BWV 162, which explores pre-marital anxiety.
Two further events in this series follow in December and February 2020.
NICOLA LISLE
