Sundays 3:00pm, Holywell Music Room

17 May 2020 - Cancelled

Schumann Piano Quintet

Alasdair Beatson & friends

Dvořák Piano Quartet in D op 23
Hindemith String Trio no 2
Suk Elegie op 23
Schumann Piano Quintet

The highly accomplished pianist and chamber musician Alasdair Beatson is joined by a quartet of leading string players in a varied programme framed by Dvořák's lovely D major Piano Quartet and Schumann's magnificent Piano Quintet.  

Alasdair Beatson works prolifically as soloist and chamber musician and has performed at London’s Kings Place and Wigmore Hall and at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. He has also taken part in at festivals in Aldeburgh, Resonances and Ernen and collaborates with some of the foremost soloists, the Doric String Quartet, the Gringolts Quartet and the Nash Ensemble.

For this concert he is joined by his much respected chamber music playing friends, Sini Simonen & Beatrice Philips, violin, James Boyd, viola and Pierre Doumenge, cello.

See more

10 May 2020 - Cancelled

Tasmin Little plays Beethoven & Brahms

Celebrity farewell concert

Beethoven Spring Sonata
Brahms Sonata in D minor
Arvo Pärt Fratres
Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata

'One of the supremely great violinists of our time' and 'justly regarded as Britain's finest violinist', Tasmin Little has firmly established herself as one of the leading international soloists. She has performed on every continent and in some of the most prestigious venues of the world.  

In January 2019 Tasmin Little announced that, after a long and exciting career, she has decided to pursue new directions from Summer 2020. Teaming up again with the wonderful Russian pianist Andrey Gugnin, winner of the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition, in May 2020 she will be giving a few UK recitals. Her performance of these Beethoven and Brahms masterpieces in the Holywell Music Room marks her last appearance in Oxford.

See more

26 April 2020 - Cancelled

A Baroque 'Festival of the Planets'

The Brook Street Band

JS Bach Two Trio Sonatas
Telemann Paris Quartet no. 1
Couperin L'Apothéose de Lully
Handel Trio Sonata op.5 no.4
Kirnberger Trio Sonata in G minor

(This programme replaces the previously advertised concert to be given by Flauti d'echo who had to withdraw from this engagement).

Renowned for performances of passion and commitment The Brook Street Band 'with their irrepressible, dancing energy are a joy to watch and hear'. They 'bring a lovely combination of virtuosity and vibrancy to their performances, really engaging the audience and making you want to listen for more'.  

Baroque music specialists, The Brook Street Band, evoke the spirit of the 1719 Dresden 'Festival of the Planets'. Attended by both Handel and Telemann, this was an event which celebrated political power and cultural achievement through art and music and where astronomy played an important part in the celebrations. We'll hear music by composers who made detailed studies of harmony and proportion in music, inspired by the movements of the sun, moon and planets.

The Brook Street Band: Lisete da Silva Bull (flute and recorder), Rachel Harris (baroque violin), Tatty Theo (baroque cello), Carolyn Gibley (harpsichord)

See more

22 March 2020 - Cancelled

Schubert & Haydn

Maggini String Quartet

Haydn Quartet op 64 no 5 'The Lark'
Rawsthorne Quartet no 1
Schubert Quartet in G D887

The Maggini Quartet has long been a favourite of Oxford audiences and continues to be much admired by chamber music playing enthusiasts. In addition to two great classical masterpieces they bring a work drawn from the English quartet repertoire that the Maggini have very much made their own.  

Schubert's late G major Quartet is a work of symphonic scale and expression, a masterpiece. Rawsthorne's Quartet no. 1 is cast as a concise theme and variations and Haydn's 'Lark' Quartet has been so named from the soaring violin theme with which it opens.

Maggini String Quartet: Julian Leaper & Ciaran McCabe, Violin, Martin Outram, Viola, Michal Kaznowski, Cello

See more

16 February 2020

From Bach to Nielsen

Atéa Quintet

Zemlinsky Humoresque
Bozza Divertimento
Tuur Arkitektoniks
Briccialdi Quintet in B flat
Bach Selections from Goldberg Variations
Nielsen Wind Quintet

The Atéa Quintet is one of the foremost British Wind Quintets. They will be playing a diverse programme of delights including music by Bach and Nielsen whose wind quintet, a work of contrasting moods, was inspired by the personalities of the players for whom it was written.  

Internationally acclaimed, the Atéa Quintet became double prize winners at the 2015 Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition and are Associate Ensemble in Residence at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Atéa Quintet: Alena Walentin, Flute, Anna Hashimoto, Clarinet, Ashley Myall, Bassoon, Chris Beagles, Horn, Philip Haworth, Oboe

See more

12 January 2020

Doric String Quartet

Haydn Beethoven & Sibelius

Haydn Quartet op 33 no 2
Sibelius Quartet 'Voces Intimae' op 56
Tarrodi String Quartet no 3 'Light Scattering'
Beethoven Quartet in F op 18 no 1

Firmly established as one of the leading string quartets of its generation, the Doric String Quartet receives enthusiastic responses from audiences and critics across the globe. Alongside their main season concerts the Quartet also has a busy international festival schedule.  

Haydn's popular 'Joke' quartet opens the programme. Sibelius's quartet reflects the personal cross-roads the composer had reached in his transition from a romantic to a modernist composer and the lyrical and impressionistic Quartet no 3 by Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi was inspired by the play of light on glass. (This replaces the previously advertised Divertimenti by Britten). One of Beethoven's much-loved quartets brings the concert to a close.

Doric String Quartet: Alex Redington & Ying Xue, violin, Hélène Clément, viola, John Myerscough, cello

See more

1 December 2019

Mozart & more

Britten Oboe Quartet

Moeran Phantasy Quartet
Lutyens Driving Out The Death
Françaix Cor Anglais Quartet
Mozart Adagio K580a for Cor Anglais Quartet
Knussen Cantata
Mozart Oboe Quartet K370

Nicholas Daniel is one of the world's great oboe players who performs with a string ensemble of friends as the Britten Oboe Quartet. They bring an attractive and informal programme.  

As well as Mozart's great oboe quartet we will hear Nicholas Daniel's own completion of Mozart’s elegiac fragment K580a. Knussen's Cantata and the delightful Cor Anglais Quartet of Jean Françaix have a particular resonance for Daniel so we can be assured of an interesting and engaging afternoon.

Britten Oboe Quartet: Nicholas Daniel, oboe and cor anglais, Jacqueline Shave, violin, Clare Finnimore, viola, Caroline Dearnley, cello

See more

3 November 2019

Pavel Haas String Quartet

Beethoven & Tchaikovsky

Beethoven Quartet op 59 no 3
Tchaikovsky Quartet no 3

The Pavel Haas Quartet is a world-class ensemble renowned for their outstanding concerts and recordings, 'the blend of sound in the group is better than ever'. This is a very special opportunity to hear the Quartet perform in the intimacy of the Holywell Music Room.  

Beethoven's opus 59 quartets were commissioned by his patron Count Razumovsky and the third of these is one of his most radiant and most frequently performed of all his works of this genre. Tchaikovsky's highly expressive third quartet is a work of contrasting moods ending in joyful celebration. He dedicated it to the memory of a virtuoso violinist who was a fellow professor at the Moscow Conservatory.

Pavel Haas Quartet: Veronika Jarůšková & Marek Zwiebel, violins, Jiří Kabát, viola, Peter Jarůšek, cello

See more