Our Top 10+ of November’s classical music line-up, jam packed with Oxfordshire concerts!

• 1) OSJ’s Schubert and Fauré, SJE Arts. Saturday Nov 6 – Join Orchestra of St John’s for Schubert’s ever-merry Fifth Symphony, alongside sublime French favourites including Fauré’s serene Cantique de Jean Racine and Pavane. The orchestra will be joined by Frazer Scott (baritone) to perform Fauré’s Songs, OSJ Oxford Voices and John Lubbock as conductor. Find out more here: http://551.326.mywebsitetransfer.com/osj-announces-series-of-festive-concerts-at-sje-and-dorchester-abbey-running-from-this-weekend-to-new-years-eve/ or book at: https://www.osj.org.uk/osjevent/faure-and-saint-saens-7pm-at-sje-arts-oxford/

• 2) Contrapunctus, Victoria Requiem and works by Morales & Lobo, Saturday Nov 6 at Queens College. Contrapunctus is an early-music vocal ensemble dedicated to passionate interpretations informed by authoritative insight and understanding. Directed by Owen Rees, a specialist in music of the 16th and 17th centuries, the group presents imaginative programmes revealing previously undiscovered musical treasures and throwing new light on familiar works. Book at http://www.contrapunctus.org.uk/tickets

• 3) Oxford Opera Company, A Night At The Opera – Making Magic, Oxford Playhouse, Sunday Nov 7 at 3pm and 7pm. A celebration of the wonderful world of opera and a glittering line-up of some of the UK’s brightest and best soloists. Featuring favourite music from universally adored composers including Puccini, Bizet and Mozart. Joined on stage by the new Oxford Opera Orchestra and the wonderful Oxford Opera Children’s Chorus this promises to be a joyful return to live opera. Find out more here: http://551.326.mywebsitetransfer.com/oxford-operas-triumphant-return-celebrates-first-live-performance-in-two-years-at-oxford-playhouse-this-sunday/ or book here: https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/a-night-at-the-opera-making-magic

• 4) Welsh National Opera’s Puccini’s Madam Butterfly, Oxford New Theatre, Tues Nov 9 – Thurs Nov 11. Madam Butterfly is a powerful story of unrequited love, human pain and suffering, intensified by Puccini’s glorious music, in this night of drama and emotion. Inspired by Puccini’s fantasy landscape of exotic pleasures, Lindy Hume’s new production interprets Butterfly’s famous story through a dystopian prism. https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/welsh-national-opera-madam-butterfly/new-theatre-oxford/

• 5) Oxford Lieder: Song at Wolfson: James Atkinson & Sholto Kynoch. Nov 11 6pm and 8pm. Wolfson College. Outstanding young baritone James Atkinson and Artistic Director Sholto Kynoch begin their programme with one of Schumann’s most popular song cycles (Liederkreis), full of love, longing and nature. They follow that with three settings of Shakespeare by the composer – and actor – Madeleine Dring. These wonderful songs are exciting and poignant, with a film-score feel as one might expect for a composer who also wrote for stage and screen. Their programme concludes with Maurice Ravel’s Histoires Naturelles (‘Natural Histories’), five colourful and joyously irreverent songs. https://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/event/1377

• 6) Witney Music Society, 7.30pm on Friday 12 November, High Street Methodist Church, Witney. Renowned pianist Leon McCawley who’ll be making a very welcome return visit to Witney with a programme of sonatas by Mozart, Haydn and Schubert. https://www.witneymusicsociety.org.uk/12-november-2021—leon-mccawley.html

• 7) Welsh National Opera’s The Barber of Seville, Oxford New Theatre, Fri 12 – Sat 13 Nov. Set around a traditional Spanish piazza – partners wonderfully with Rossini’s witty and expressive melodies. With an unforgettable score including Figaro’s Aria, this is the perfect feel-good opera. https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/welsh-national-opera-the-barber-of-seville/new-theatre-oxford/

• 8) Opera Anywhere, Gilbert and Sullivan Festival On Tour season, November 12-13 at The Players Theatre, Thame. Enjoy The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore from Oxfordshire’s own touring theatre company. https://operaanywhere.com/tour-dates/

• 9) Oxford Symphony Orchestra, Sat Nov 13th, Oxford Town Hall. ‘The New World’ Dvořák  Symphony no.9 Walton  Violin Concerto no.1 Beethoven  Leonore Overture no. 3. Leonore Overture no. 3 is the third, and most popular, of four separate overtures written for Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio. Eunsley Park violin, Robert Max conductor. http://www.oxfordsymphonyorchestra.org.uk/concerts/Nov2021.htm

10) Oxford Harmonic Choir, Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, November 27. The first concert to be held in this 100^th Anniversary year and the first since the pandemic. Enjoy a joyful musical celebration of Christmas consisting of two uplifting choral compositions, joined by some beautiful seasonal Baroque music by Manfredini and Alessandro Scarlatti. 

Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols, for baritone and chorus, weaves together a number of carols into a harmonious sequence, while Rheinberger’s Star of Bethlehem, composed in 1894 for soprano, baritone and chorus, is a wonderfully romantic piece. The soloists for this concert are Sarah Redgwick and Philip Smith. www.oxfordharmonicchoir.org

• 11) Bampton Classical Opera Young Singers’ Competition, Sunday 28 November at Holywell Music Room, Oxford. After an exciting first round, six singers have been chosen for the Public Final. The finalists will be Jessica Cale, Frances Gregory, Sophie Sparrow, Shafali Jalota, Dan D’Souza and Cassandra Wright. A chance to hear some remarkable performances. Each singer will present a programme of 20 minutes.  Judges for the competition include the renowned tenor Bonaventura Bottone, Royal Academy of Music vocal teacher Jennifer Dakin, and the accompanist and conductor Phillip Thomas. First prize £2,000 – Second prize £1,000. https://www.bamptonopera.org/booking.htm