You haven't really experienced Oxford until you've heard a musical performance in the Sheldonian Theatre, the Holywell Music Room or in one of the other many beautiful concert locations around the city. Here you can find a list of upcoming events and buy your tickets in advance so you can plan your special night out ahead of time.
*Look for our Child Friendly Events (blue background)
Fri 10 Sep
Cosi Fan Tutte
Following on from their magnificent performances of Magic Flute in 2007, and Falstaff in 2008, Opera Project return to the lovely venue at St. John’s College, Oxford with Mozart’s uncompromising treatise on love and fidelity. The premise of constant love is tested to the limits through the cynical manipulation of Don Alfonso as he strives to prove that the simplistic idealogies of his young companions are no more than the arrogance of youth.
Darker and more mature forces reveal themselves as a seemingly harmless wager on the constancy of love becomes an ever more dangerous game in which no character survives intact.
Mozart’s famously ambiguous ending remains one of the great challenges of opera as the participants career through an expanding array of complex emotions, each striving to find a personal resolution to this day of ill judged folly. With a strong root in Italianate design this stunning new production aims to raise more questions than perhaps it answers in Mozart’s darkest comedy.
7.30 pm
St John’s Auditorium
Sat 11 Sep
Luke Berryman presents ‘A Celebration for Glynis’ - a concert in aid of Sobell House Hospice
Featuring music from Chopin, Scarlatti, Ravel and Haydn plus Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No 3
5.00 pm
Jacqueline du Pre Music Building
£7.50
Sat 11 Sep
‘A Celebration for Glynis’ in aid of Sobell House Hospice
Concert by Luke Berryman featuring music by Chopin, Scarlatti, Ravel, Haydn and Rachmaninoff. Cost £7.50
5.00 pm
Jacqueline du Pre Music Building
For tickets and info contact 01865 857007
Sat 11 Sep
Cosi Fan Tutte
Following on from their magnificent performances of Magic Flute in 2007, and Falstaff in 2008, Opera Project return to the lovely venue at St. John’s College, Oxford with Mozart’s uncompromising treatise on love and fidelity. The premise of constant love is tested to the limits through the cynical manipulation of Don Alfonso as he strives to prove that the simplistic idealogies of his young companions are no more than the arrogance of youth.
Darker and more mature forces reveal themselves as a seemingly harmless wager on the constancy of love becomes an ever more dangerous game in which no character survives intact.
Mozart’s famously ambiguous ending remains one of the great challenges of opera as the participants career through an expanding array of complex emotions, each striving to find a personal resolution to this day of ill judged folly. With a strong root in Italianate design this stunning new production aims to raise more questions than perhaps it answers in Mozart’s darkest comedy.
7.30 pm
St John’s Auditorium
Sun 12 Sep
Coffee Concert: Tom Carroll & Graham Caskie
Established in 1986, Coffee Concerts have been a continuing feature of Sunday mornings in Oxford. They are recognised as one of the most successful chamber music series in the country. Described by The Independent as being one of the top ten things to do in Oxford. Tickets £11/£10. Free admission to children ages 5 -10 accompanied by an adult. Season tickets £96/£84.
Tom Carroll (Cello)
Graham Caskie (Piano)
Delius Romanze
Debussy Cello Sonata
Chopin Cello Sonata
11.15 am
Holywell Music Room
Sun 19 Sep
Coffee Concert: Concert in Association with The Rawsthorne Trust
Established in 1986, Coffee Concerts have been a continuing feature of Sunday mornings in Oxford. They are recognised as one of the most successful chamber music series in the country. Described by The Independent as being one of the top ten things to do in Oxford. Tickets £11/£10. Free admission to children ages 5 -10 accompanied by an adult. Season tickets £96/£84.
11.15 am
Holywell Music Room
Fri 24 Sep
Music from London’s Pleasure Gardens
The International Baroque Players present outstanding period instrument performance by talented young musicians from all over the world. The Pleasure Gardens of the Eighteenth Century provided Londoners from all walks of life with evenings of multi-sensory entertainment. Food, wine, music and visual spectacle provided respite from the crowded city. In this programme, IBP will perform an eclectic programme of eighteenth century popular hits by Handel and Arne, alongside beautiful and rare repertoire by Avison and Boyce. On this occasion the ensemble will be directed by up-and-coming harpsichordist Christopher Bucknall who recently toured as a concerto soloist with Rachel Podger and works extensively in baroque opera and chamber music. For these concerts the IBP also welcome talented soprano Mary Bevan (“when she opened up her high register…the effect was ravishing” The Independent).
7.30 pm
University Church of St Mary the Virgin
Sat 25 Sep
The Oxford Sinfonia
George Caird Conductor and oboe soloist
Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K384 Mozart:
Overture
No 8: Durch Zärtlichkeit und Schmeicheln
No 12: Welche Wonne, welche Lust
Symphony No 39 in E flat, K 543 Mozart 29’
Oboe Concerto K314 Mozart 21’
Zaide,K 344 Mozart
No 3: Ruhe sanft
Symphony No 1 in Beethoven 26’
8.00 pm
St Marys Church, Oxford
Sun 26 Sep
Teatime Concert
This second teatime concert by The Holywell Ensemble and OXUS again spans the centuries and continents. Haydn’s delightful D minor quartet, with its poignant slow movement and gypsy-themed finale precedes a rare chance to hear Steve Reich’s powerful minimalist work Different Trains for string quartet with pre-recorded tape accompaniment. Brahms’s beautiful clarinet quintet closes the concert. An enriching way to spend your Sunday afternoon.
3.30 pm
Holywell Music Room
Sun 26 Sep
Coffee Concert: Adderbury Ensemble
Established in 1986, Coffee Concerts have been a continuing feature of Sunday mornings in Oxford. They are recognised as one of the most successful chamber music series in the country. Described by The Independent as being one of the top ten things to do in Oxford. Tickets £11/£10. Free admission to children ages 5 -10 accompanied by an adult. Season tickets £96/£84.
11.15 am
Holywell Music Room
Wed 29 Sep
An Opera by Philip Glass
Philip Glass is one of our most popular and distinctive living composers. Franz Kafka’s In the Penal Colony, is the source of this opera. Set in an island prison we meet an obsessive officer about to execute his prisoner. Glass rakes up the tension to a taut, unforgettable climax as judge, victim and witness stare into the abyss in this dark and beautiful opera.
8.00 pm
Oxford Playhouse
Wed 29 Sep
Oxford Chamber Music Festival - White Nights -Northern Lights
Borodin Quartet No.2
Sibelius Malinconia for cello and piano
Svendsen String Octet Op.3
7.45 pm
Jacqueline du Pre Music Building
Thu 30 Sep
Oxford Chamber Music Festival - White Nights - Fraternal
Pärt Fratres for violin, string orchestra and drums
Lindberg Clarinet Quintet
Mozart Clarinet Quintet
1.00 pm
Holywell Music Room
Thu 30 Sep
Oxford Chamber Music Festival - White Nights - Intimate Voices
Rachmaninov Trio Elegiaque
Sibelius Quartet in D minor, Op.56, ‘Intimate Voices’
Shostakovich Piano Quintet
7.45 pm
Holywell Music Room
