Often compared to Jacques Loussier, David Rees-Williams is gaining awards and fans wherever he goes. Featuring three supremely talented musicians, the trio offers reworkings of pieces by Ravel, Bach, Chopin, Purcell, Buxtehude, Elgar, and many more.
Whether reinterpreting great classics or sliding into a glorious Latin flourish, this inspirational trio brings a profound understanding of music and an exuberant originality to their performances.
The refurbished St Aldate’s Church provides a comfortable and intimate performance setting. Wine will be on sale and may be taken to seats.
‘David Rees-Williams rendition of “When I Am Laid In Earth” by Henry Purcell literally stole my breath…I have been reduced to a groupie.’
Jon Snow, Evening Standard
Posted by Victoria Bosher, Friday 11th January @ 11:24am
A fabulous concert featuring some of Handel’s most exquisite and well-known Coronation Anthems concludes The Sixteen’s season with Music at Oxford. This will also be the last concert in the Sheldonian before it closes for work to be carried out to replace the ceiling frescoes.
‘One of the most outstanding choirs in a country renowned for choral music…Harry Christophers moulds his vocal ensemble with consummate musicianship, and the performances have seamless intensity.’
The Sunday Telegraph
Posted by Victoria Bosher, Monday 13th August @ 5:43pm
Melvyn Tan – Piano
Tasmin Little – Violin
Colin Carr – Cello
Dimitri Ashkenazy – Clarinet
Four exceptional musicians come together in a rare chamber music project, marking Messiaen’s anniversary year. This special tour offers a unique opportunity to hear these virtuosi working together as an ensemble in a programme of landmark works from the chamber music repertoire.
There will be a pre-performance talk at 7pm – free to all ticket-buyers.
Posted by Victoria Bosher, Monday 13th August @ 5:39pm
Dame Gillian Weir’s intense programme of great organ works marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Olivier Messian. This performance will have no interval.
‘One might say that Dame Gillian Weir was born to play Messiaen…such is the authority of her interpretations…Every facet of the music – technical, spiritual, emotional – is conveyed with conviction and intensity.’
Gramophone
Posted by Victoria Bosher, Monday 13th August @ 5:34pm
The Sixteen performs a programme devoted o three composers born in, or just before, the reign of King Henry VIII (1509-1547) and who not only survived the Reformation but lived through the turbulent times of Edward VI, MaryI and into the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), who, by maintaining a religious balancing act managed to secure an established Church.
The music of Christopher Tye, Robert Parsons and Robert White is heard in University Church, itself the setting for many of the famous religious disputes of the time.
There will be a pre-performance talk at 7pm – free to all ticket-buyers.
Posted by Victoria Bosher, Monday 13th August @ 5:29pm
This concert partners two classical gems with two giants of the 20th century. Haydn on his death bed was only able to complete two movements before signing off with a weary inscription, and Schubert began a second movement but abandoned it, deciding the single movement should stand alone. Janácek’s two string quartets contain some of classical music’s most passionate and complex outpourings, the work of a man driven mad by the unrequited love of a much younger married woman. The first, The Kreutzer Sonata, takes inspiration from the Tolstoy short story of the same name in which a jealous husband murders his wife, and the second is a musical representation of the hundreds of letters which passed between Janácek and Kamila Stösslová shortly before his death.
‘The Brodsky Quartet’s musical explorations know no limits.’
Gramophone
Posted by Victoria Bosher, Monday 13th August @ 5:12pm
The programme features the two great works for quartet and clarinet, both late works and written as a result of the direct inspiration of particular clarinettists. The deft agility of Mozart’s work is contrasted with the autumnal eloquence of Brahms.
‘…Emma Johnson walks onto a concert platform and suddenly transforms herself into an expressive instrument of sublime beauty.’
The Guardian
Haydn: String Quartet op.20 no.3
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major K581
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor op.115
Posted by Victoria Bosher, Monday 13th August @ 5:10pm
Beethoven’s dark, stormy trio in C minor is set against the exotic flavour of eastern European folk music, translated through the distinct musical languages of Dvořak, Kodály and György Kurtág. The Dvořak Piano Quartet in E flat is an old favourite for the Leopold String Trio/Paul Lewis partnership. They have received outstanding reviews for their concerts together, alongside their highly successful recording of Schubert and Mozart.
‘…one of the happiest musical unions of recent times – stylish, spirited and spontaneous.’
Daily Telegraph
Posted by Victoria Bosher, Monday 13th August @ 5:06pm
Edward Gardner conducts the Philharmonia in a programme including Tchaikovsky’s emotionally-charged Sixth Symphony. Said to contain some of his loveliest themes, Tchaikovsky’s last symphony is overwhelmingly melancholic, hence the title Pathétique, added by the composer’s brother. Young virtuoso Alina Ibragimova, described by the Times as ‘destined to be a force in the classical music firmament for decades to come’ will join Gardner to perform Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto.
The Philharmonia…’playing of gleaming elegance and precision, with a warm, full-bodied tone usually found more in selected red wines than British orchestras.’ The Times.
Posted by Victoria Bosher, Monday 13th August @ 4:49pm
Renowned Bach practitioner Masaaki Suzuki returns to direct the Academy of Ancient Music with soprano Carolyn Sampson in this feast of baroque sacred and secular music.
A programme which includes Handel’s Gloria, re-discovered in the Royal Academy of Music Library, London in early 2001, and a glorious Bach cantata (one of Suzuki’s signature works) make for an evening not to be missed.
‘Britain’s leading period-instrument orchestra played superbly…bringing broad grins to the faces of an already delighted audience.’
The Independent on Sunday
Posted by Victoria Bosher, Monday 13th August @ 4:48pm
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