This Week's Classical Music (Nov 17-23)

This week's Coffee Concert at the Holywell Music Room features the Heath String Quartet. The Holywell Music Room is also hosting the Oxford Chamber Music Society featuring Karine Georgian (cello) & Jan Willem Nelleke (piano).

The Sheldonian Theatre is hosting Mendelssohn's St Paul and Oxford Philomusica's Mozart Piano Concerto Series.

St Aldate's Church has Music at Oxford's Fine Arts Brass, Oxford Symphony Orchestra's performance featuring works by Balakirev, Glazunov and Tchaikovsky, and City of Oxford Choir's The Glories of Venice - Music of the Italian Baroque.

The Jacqueline du Pre Music Building at St. Hilda's College will host the Onovo Trio - Piano, Clarinet and Cello, Oxford Contemporary Music's Okeanos, which features Japanese Instruments

The University Church of St Mary will host Oxford String Ensemble's Bach Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, Grieg Two Elegiac Melodies, and Britten Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge, Oxford University Wind Orchestra's performance which features works by Rachmaninoff, Eric Coates, and selections from Les Miserables, and Trinity College Orchestra's performance which will feature works by Mozart and Beethoven.

Lastly, Keble College will host Oxford Philomusica's Mozart Piano Concerto Series, and Queen's College will have a free Organ Recital, featuring Carlene Mills.

Get information for all classical music events in Oxford

This Week's Jazz and Blues (Nov 17-23)

At Freud this week, you can catch The Karl Demata Blues Trio, Alex Hawkins on jazz piano, Jean Phillippe on piano, the Tom Wood Jazz Trio, and Eddie Thompson on acoustic guitar followed by Bob Cockburn on guitar and vocals; Backroom at the Bullingdon Arms features The Aynsley Lister Band (pictured) on their famous Monday Blues night, as well as the Tom Grey Quintet on their Oxford Jazz Club Tuesdays; The Spin Jazz Club at the Wheatsheaf has Mark Ridout – Guitar + The Spin Trio; The Old Parsonage has Christian Brewer with Piano and Double Bass; Gee's has the Graham Harvey Trio; The Big Bang Restaurant has Terry Hutchins (gtr), Paul Jefferies (bass) & Frank Hockney (drms); Bar Milano has Delicious Music Jazz Night with Los Hombres; and lastly, QI Club has Chris McMath.

Get information for all jazz and blues music events in Oxford

For music other than classical, jazz, and blues, check out our extensive gig guide

What's in the Theatres this Week? (Nov 17-23)

The Oxford Playhouse:

The Swallow Song - A beautiful production that brings together the most talented principal actors in Greece with a chorus of young British performers to create an evening of theatre, dance and song.

Wolves in the Walls - Lucy hears wolves in the walls of her house... This fantastical, comic story will make you laugh, shriek and watch between the cracks of your fingers as an unruly pack of actors, musicians and puppets unleash this cult story onto the stage.

Old Fire Station:

The Blue Room - Freely adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's dramatic expose, La Ronde, The Blue Room is a play in ten intimate acts, linking the sexual desires of 10 people in a never-ending chain. A bittersweet portrayal of sex and relationships in a modern world.

The Curious Case of Sophia Wyatt - Five characters come together in a desperate bid to end Sophia's suffering; but if the affliction is caused by a memory, how do you cure it? And who has the right to decide what you should and shouldn't remember?

Burton Taylor Theatre:

The Cut by Mark Ravenhill - "I want The Cut." A horrific operation. A society in uproar. The agent of it all, tormented by his own conscience.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland - devised by Ben Hunt & Company. Lit by flourescent-light with an electro-clash soundtrack. Tiptoeing its way through a landscape of sneaking fears and the something you meant to do this morning, but didn't.

New Theatre:

Status Quo - Legendary three-chord maestros who have been rockin' all over the world for over 35 years.

Thunder - 90s rock band with a distinct '70s British hard rock sound. Thunder picked up the mantle discarded by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Free and AC/DC playing honest bluesy metal with a twin-guitar assault and solid riffs and rhythms. After splitting in 2000, the band reformed a mere two years later, and continue to deliver the goods.

Alice in Wonderland - ballet

Pegasus Theatre:

Bophelo - (pronounced bop-ello, meaning life in Sisutu) African inspired contemporary dance featuring original music by Tavaziva.min. age: 8 years

Theatre at Headington:

Little Shop of Horrors - Seymour Krelbourn, a geeky Skid Row floral assistant becomes an overnight sensation when he discovers an exotic plant with a mysterious craving for fresh blood. It turns out that the plant isn't just hungry, but it came from outer space on a mission to dominate the world!

Upper 6 Drama Students Examinations: Devised Performances - Upper Sixth A2 examination students present their devised performances inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula. Written,rehearsed, and designed during an eight-week period, these two plays guarantee to show an imaginative and unique take on the greatest gothic novel of all time.

College Theatre:

Butley - O'Reilly Theatre, Keble College
by Simon Gray. Butley' is set in the English Department of a college at the University of London in the early seventies. Ben Butley is about to have one of the worst days of his life, when everyone close to him grows tired of his abrasive sense of humour and his defensive nature. But is Ben making trouble for himself, or merely having fun?

Murder in Play - The Oakshott Room, Lincoln College
by Simon Brett. Described as a worthy companion to Simon Brett's "Charles Paris series" of theatrical thriller novels, 'Murder in Play' follows the exploits of Boris Smolensky and his budget repertory company as they try to rehearse "Murder at Priorswell Manor". However the production looks decidedly shaky with the cast more interested in their egos than the play. Life then imitates art as one > of the leads is killed and the rest of the cast become suspects.

The OUDS Revue Evening -Watch as the OUDS brings together the Oxford Revue, the Oxford Imps, MoFo and many others for an evening of theatrical joy. Cuppers Awards to follow the presentation.

Ruddygore by Gilbert and Sullivan - Comic operetta, set around the tangled love lifes of a small English village under the shadow of a terrible curse...

For all theatre information, times and dates, click here

What's in the Cinema this Week? (Nov 17-23)

The big opening this week is the much anticipated James Bond film Casino Royale. The film stars Daniel Craig, Eva Green, and Mads Mikkelsen. James Bond is sent to spy on a terrorist cell in Madagascar and then to destroy the man who's bankrolling world terrorism in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro. The film contains one scene of torture and strong action violence(12A)

Opening this weekend is Tenacious D. Jack Black blurs the line between his life as a movie star and his life as a musician by making this film with the other half of his rock band, Tenacious D, Kyle Gass. The two star as a band set on becoming the greatest ever rock act. To help them achieve their goal, they must steal a magical guitar pick from a rock'n'roll museum. The film contains strong language, drug use and sex references. (15)

Opening at the Phoenix this week is I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed (J'ai vu tuer Ben Barka). Political history gets a stylishly evocative pulp thriller treatment in this examination of a notorious French political scandal. The film contains moderate violence.(12A)

Also at the Phoenix this week is Little Children, starring Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, and Jennifer Connelly. The film focuses on a group of young married couples, whose lives intersect in the playgrounds, town pools and streets of their small community in surprising and potentially dangerous ways. Contains some strong sex and language. (15)

Get showtimes for all the cinemas in Oxford