Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra is gearing up for a busy autumn with an incredible series of concerts, featuring something for everyone, of all ages. The wide range of famous soloists and conductors lined-up is incredible, as is the range of genres; from opera to symphonies, children’s concerts, contemporary music, sacred works and breakthrough compositions.
Here are our top picks:
TOSCA, SEPTEMBER 24 AND 26, NEW THEATRE. Join the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra alongside international opera stars for the brand-new, fully-staged production by Oxford International Opera, where Puccini’s epic opera features the likes of Sir Bryn Terfel, Carmen Giannattasio and Saimir Pirgu, the Oxford Philharmonic will be the fourth protagonist and extra voice on the stage. https://oxfordphil.com/additional_event/tosca/
ENGLISH MELODIES, SHELDONIAN THEATRE, OCTOBER 7. Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra‘s first symphonic concert of the season featuring Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending. Doyen of English music and former Music Director of English National Opera, Martyn Brabbins conducts works that portray dark clouds above green fields, including deeply moving music by composers killed at the front during WW1, and Roderick Williams’s flute concerto, written for his childhood friend Anthony Robb. BOOK HERE
FUNOMUSICA FAMILY CONCERT: HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR, OCTOBER 18, OLIVIER HALL, ST EDWARD’S SCHOOL. It’s Halloween! Disguise yourself in a spooky manner and come along to join Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra‘s Master of the Ghostly Revels, Alasdair Malloy, who will introduce music guaranteed to give you goosebumps. Hear the spooktacular Oxford Philharmonic perform mysterious music about witches, ghosts, vampires, ghouls and gnomes and dance with the Devil in a special story version of Saint-Saëns’s Danse Macabre. BOOK HERE
THOMAS ADÈS CONDUCTS, SHELDONIAN THEATRE, OCTOBER 22. An evening of music from the composer who nherited Elgar’s mantle in England. Thomas Adès also conducts his own Dawn – an intense meditation on cycles of time, light, renewal and a masterpiece in miniature. In this concert, it forms the missing link before Kurtág’s Movement for Viola and Orchestra – a grippingly physical opening to a full concerto, the rest of which was scrapped. BOOK HERE
TCHAIKOVSKY FIVE, NOVEMBER 5, SHELDONIAN THEATRE. Marios Papadopoulos conducts his first concert of the season with Tchaikovsky’s deeply personal essay on inner demons, the torment of love and the irrepressible strength of the human spirit. MarÃa Dueñas joins the Orchestra for the first of Prokofiev’s violin concertos, but the concert opens with the breakthrough work by the 23-year-old Doreen Carwithen from 1947, her swashbuckling overture inspired by John Masefield’s novel One Damn Thing After Another. BOOK HERE
MOZART, DEBUSSY AND ROUSSEL, NOVEMBER 14, HOLYWELL MUSIC ROOM. Soloists of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra bring flute-led chamber music that celebrates heritage while also reflecting on loss. English composer Arnold Bax sympathised profoundly with the Irish rebels who rose up against British rule in 1916 and faced terrible consequences. His Elegiac Trio reflects that, just as Guy Ropartz’s Prélude, Marine et Chansons enshrines the composer’s love for Brittany. Light and joy come courtesy of Roussel’s bright, compact and melodious Sérénade and a Flute Quartet by Mozart which demands spectacular virtuosity from every instrument. BOOK HERE
MONTEVERDI VESPERS OF 1610, SHELDONIAN THEATRE, NOVEMBER 21. Not many works change the course of musical history, but Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 did. Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra perform a grand collection of psalms, motets and sinfonias providing an immersive musical experience and also a rare one, given its treacherous technical and interpretative challenges. In the galleries of the Sheldonian Theatre, and then in the Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, Marios Papadopoulos marshals this most majestic and timeless of sacred works. BOOK HERE
For all upcoming events go to https://oxfordphil.com
