concert season guide SEPTEMBER 2019–JUNE 2020 St Stephen’s House, a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford concert season concert 2019–JUNE 2020 SEPTEMBER Welcome Location and access St John the Evangelist church is on Iffley Road, between Marston Street and This year’s SJE International Piano Series will be our 7th and it starts James Street and opposite the University Sports Ground. No. 3 bus from 4th October with the young British-Turkish pianist Lara Melda central Oxford stops directly outside the church; Oxford Bus Company’s Ömeroğlu who won the BBC Young Musician competition in 2010 PickMeUp service will transport you from a location near your home (for details aged 16. Ten concerts in total, some old favourites and some new see pickmeup.oxfordbus.co.uk) and for London-Oxford travel, the coach stop faces, hailing from ten different countries and, once again, there is at St Clement’s is just 10 minutes’ walk away. 7TH SJE ARTS INTERNATIONAL PIANO SERIES the opportunity to purchase a heavily discounted season ticket. Friday 4 October 2019, 7.30 pm The SJE Arts Next Generation Series continues into its 4th year, with Tickets an opening performance 11th February 2019 by the Royal College of Lara Melda Tickets for SJE Arts events are on sale through Tickets Oxford at Oxford Playhouse. Music Baroque Orchestra & Chamber Choir and Jess Gillam will be Outside promoters/groups performing at SJE Arts may use different agencies. Chopin: back on 6th March. For each event featured on the SJE Arts website, the ‘Buy Tickets’ tab will link you Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60 Nocturnes, Op. 9 nos. 1, 2 & 3 As well as our own concerts, we have many more to offer you: through to the appropriate outlet. Rachmaninov: Étude tableaux Op. 33 nos. 7 & 8 Scandinavian and other artists brought to us by Music at Oxford, Thursday 26 September 2019, 7.30 pm Prokofiev: from Romeo and Juliet Op. 75, nos. 5–8 seven days’ of Oxford Lieder Festival concerts; recitals in the Oxford Refreshments KOTTOS Interval Philharmonic Beethoven Festival; Oxford Contemporary Music; On site licensed bar. All profits go to the church restoration fund. Oxford debut Lyadov: Barcarolle in F Sharp minor, Op. 44 Oxford May Music and not forgetting our many regulars such as Rachmaninov: Preludes Op. 23 nos. 4 & 5 The Sixteen, Commotio, Oxford Bach Choir, Instruments of Time Programme includes: Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58 and Truth and Corona Strings. Up to date details are on our website Further information Vivaldi: La Folia Winner of the BBC Young Musician competition 2010 www.sje-oxford.org and tickets for most events can be purchased Bartok: Romanian Folk Dances, Sz.56 For full details of all events please see the website www.sje-oxford.org. and still in her mid-20s, British-Turkish pianist Lara through Tickets Oxford and the Oxford Playhouse. Piazzolla: Fuga y misterio Melda has already performed with conductors such For enquiries either email [email protected] or call SJE Arts on Grieg: Norwegian Dance in D minor, Op. 35 01865 613507. as Kirill Karabits and Nicholas Collon and made her We are always very grateful for sponsorship, especially for the Next Vaughan Williams: 6 Studies in English Folk Song Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall debuts. Praised Generation Series. If you are interested please contact me about the KOTTOS’ electrifying and eclectic performances are not to be missed. Players of particularly for her Chopin interpretations, Lara’s possibilities, including for making the event personal – for instance a recorders, accordion, cello and guitar, their vibrant arrangements – often of dances and programme for tonight also explores the Russian special reception for your guests to complement the concert. folk songs by well-known composers – have met with critical acclaim, and their launch repertoire, including a barcarolle by the Romantic album was awarded Danish Radio’s classical station’s Listeners’ Prize. 2019 has already Lyadov, a master of polished piano gems, and seen the group accompanying Danish Queen Margrethe on a state visit to Argentina and four pieces portraying contrasting passions from completing a successful 10-day concert tour in China; now Music at Oxford is delighted Prokofiev’s superb Romeo and Juliet suite. to welcome them! Michèle Smith, Director, SJE Arts Photography: Amalia Bastos, Marco Borggreve, Sim Canetty-Clarke, Janice Carissa, Robin Clewley, Ends: 9.15 pm Benjamin Ealovega, Bernd Eberle, Lino Lategan McGregor, Ira Polyarna, Simon Jay Price, Raphaelle Photography, Ends: c. 9.15 pm Tickets: £30, £26, £17; under 25s £10 reduction. Martin Mydtskov Rønne. Illustration, page 4: Patricia Drew. Prints pictured on page 18 (clockwise from top Tickets: £42, £28, £18, £15, students £5 off, under 18s 50% off. Series season tickets available at near 50% discount. www.sje-oxford.org right): Alex Williams, Uniz Chuey, Chris Otley, Catriona Brodribb. www.sje-oxford.org Sunday 10 November 2019, 4.00 pm Alexander Taras De Sina, piano recital Bach/Busoni: Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639 Bach: WTK II. G minor, BWV 885 Boulez: 12 Notations Beethoven: Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, ‘Appassionata’ Interval Verdi/Liszt: Paraphrase de concert on Rigoletto Wagner/Liszt: Transcription of Isoldes Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante, Fantasia quasi sonata Praised for his elegant and philosophical aesthetic, pianist Alexander Taras De Sina holds Roderick Williams a unique place in the rising generation of classical soloists, acclaimed as “a master of orig- inal interpretation…”. In his Oxford debut and in honour of Remembrance Sunday, De 11–26 October 2019 Sina presents a programme exploring themes of love, loss, and longing. In conjunction with recitation of his own poetry inspired by the works, he curates a journey through our Oxford Lieder Festival darkest anguish towards redemption in the striving of our human spirit itself. Tales of Beyond: Ends: 6.00 pm 2–27 October 2019 Magic, Myths and Mortals Tickets: £15, £13, £10, under 25s £5. Open Wednesday to Sunday 10.00 am–5.00 pm Sunday 13 October, 5.00 pm: Ivana Gavrić Oxford Art Society Sunday 13 October, 7.30 pm: Christoph Prégardien and Sholto Kynoch Saturday 19 October, 5.15 pm and 10.00 pm: Imogen Cooper Open Exhibition and Young Artists Saturday 19 October, 7.30 pm: Roderick Williams and Christopher Glynn Competition 2019 Monday 21 October, 8.00 pm: Roderick Williams and Christopher Glynn Wednesday 23 October, 8.00 pm: Roderick Williams and Christopher Glynn The Oxford Art Society was formed in 1891 and holds annual Members and Open Thursday 24 October, 8.00 pm: Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton Exhibitions. Non-members are encouraged to submit work to the Annual Open Friday 25 October, 7.45 pm: Dorothea Röschmann and Malcolm Martineau Exhibition for selection. It is from this exhibition that new members are invited to join Friday 25 October, 10.00 pm: Gweneth Ann Rand and Simon Lepper the Society. Saturday 26 October, 7.30 pm: Louise Alder, Nikolay Borchev and Sholto Kynoch The exhibition will fill the SJE Arts Cloister Gallery with paintings, prints, sculpture Festival Suppers in St Stephen’s House Dining Room on all dates except 24 October, and ceramics. £15/£13pp. Advance booking is essential. Entrance is free and most of the artworks will be for sale. Tickets: £42–£10, see www.oxfordlieder.co.uk for specific event. www.sje-oxford.org www.sje-oxford.org Saturday 7 December 2019, 7.30 pm Commotio Saturday 30 November 2019, 7.30 pm Choral Music for Advent and Christmas Opus 48 Works by Britten, Inness, Maxwell Davies, McDowall, Rose, Tippett Unaccompanied Choral Masterpieces Commotio returns to SJE for their annual Advent and Christmas concert which features seasonal choral works all written in the past 90 years. The centrepiece of the programme Director: David Crown is Christ’s Nativity written by a 17-year old Benjamin Britten in 1931. Commotio will also Verdi: from Four Sacred Pieces perform rarely heard works by Peter Inness, Peter Maxwell Davies, Bernard Rose and Tippett: Spirituals from A Child of Our Time Michael Tippett, as well as recent works by Cecilia McDowall. Howells: Requiem Ends: 9.15 pm Duruflé: Four Motets Tickets: £12, concessions £10 and £8. Vaughan Williams: Shakespeare songs Pärt: Magnificat Following a critically acclaimed first year, Oxfordshire’s newest choral society and their Music Director David Crown launch their second season with a concert of stunning Thursday 14 November 2019, 7.30 pm unaccompanied choral masterpieces. Weimar Republic Centenary: From the haunting spirituals taken from Tippett’s A Child of Our Time to Howells’ delicate and mesmeric Requiem, alongside beautiful music by Arvo Pärt, Verdi, Duruflé Sunday 15 December 2019, 7.30 pm from Richard Strauss to Kurt Weill and Vaughan Williams, this will truly be an evening to remember. Sarah Gabriel: soprano and actor Ends: 9.45 pm A Ceremony of Carols Iain Farrington: piano Tickets: £20, £10 concessions. vOx Chamber Choir The centenary of the Weimar Republic marks Germany’s first democratic but flawed constitution, arguably one of the most liberal and progressive ever penned. However, David Crown: conductor its weaknesses also aided Hitler in his rise to power in 1933. Jenny Broome: harp In the Berlin of the time, artists in underground nightclubs satirised and dissected the Written on his return home across the Atlantic from exile in the States in 1942, Britten’s political maelstrom in the streets above and captured the febrile human condition of the A Ceremony of Carols was set for children’s chorus, receiving its Wigmore Hall premiere moment. Placing well-known songs and music by composers such as Weill, Hollaender in December 1943.