Overlooking a lake in the Austrian resort of Pörtschach, Johannes Brahms wrote a symphony that captured all he saw: the beauty of the sunset, the stillness of the night, a new day awakening. Brahms’s symphony of light and shadows tells of the magnificence of creation,…
Calling all pirates! Dress up in your sea-faring finery and hurry aboard our Pirate ship, the Barnacle Bill, for an action-packed adventure on the Seven Seas with nautical nonsense and amazing maritime music. With Cap’n Alasdair ‘Awesome Al’ Malloy at the helm and the…
When Edward Elgar started to improvise a little tune at his piano one day, considering how a group of his closest friends might play that tune, he gave birth to one of the greatest masterpieces of English music. The ‘Enigma’ variations are uplifting and resigned,…
In his Symphony No. 8, Antonín Dvořák captured his delight to be alive − his sheer enchantment in the face of existence. Surely the most blissful symphony the Czech composer wrote, it is a work overflowing with joyous fanfares and the beauty of the natural…
John Rutter returns to Oxford for another Christmas celebration in the company of the Choir of Merton College, with soloists Susannah Hill and Jonathan Brown. Gerald Finzi’s seasonal cantata In terra pax − his last major work − forms the centrepiece of a programme that…
Between them, Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber defined the orchestral sound of America in the first half of the 20th century. From Copland’s simple sounds of the open prairie to the emotional depths of Samuel Barber’s heart-rending harmonies, this is music that could have come…
Bach’s sonatas for flute are among his best kept secrets. Here we journey from the outright masterpiece that is his Sonata in B minor for flute and harpsichord − with its huge expressive range culminating in bold exuberance − to the experiments with musical fashion…
As a prelude to the 25th Anniversary of the Oxford Piano Festival we present the Festival’s President Sir András Schiff in recital in the Sheldonian Theatre. Having collaborated with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, Sir András Schiff now focuses primarily on solo recitals,…
Soloists of the Oxford Philharmonic come together for Schubert’s most profound quartet and, in contrast, his unfailingly heartwarming ‘Trout’ quintet.
We are joined by Oxfordshire choirs and front-rank soloists, conducted by The Queen’s College’s Owen Rees for this monumental performance.