Music at Oxford offers a season to delight

8:30am Thursday 27th September 2007

Glancing through Music at Oxford's forthcoming programme, which opens on October 6, the most noticeable thing about it is the sheer variety. Established stars rub shoulders with emerging talent. Seven different venues are featured, from the intimacy of the Holywell Music Room to the splendour of the Sheldonian Theatre and the magnificence of Christ Church Cathedral. There is music by familiar composers to the not-so-familiar, and performances range from one-man recitals to full orchestral concerts.

"It's a continuation of the programme I started last year, trying to expand from the safer things that we've done in the past," says Tamsyn Howell Sprent, now in her second year as the artistic programme manager. "We're still focusing on having big stars from the classical music world, but nurturing young talent as well."

A major innovation this season is the Young Artists' Platform, which has been developed in association with the Jacqueline de Pré Music Building, and supported by funding from Oxford City Council and the National Lottery. The event, to take place at the JDP next May, will take the form of a day of short concerts and masterclasses, led by pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Levon Chilingirian, with a recital in the evening. It is a project that Tamsyn is particularly excited about.

"It's an opportunity for audiences in and around Oxford to come and listen to young musicians on the bridge of their careers. The young artists will benefit from working with each other and with top stars, and being able to communicate with the audience. We are also going to have a question and answer session. So it's all about getting behind the music a bit more.

"We've started off with just one day, but it would be lovely if we could extend it into a full weekend, and involve other professional musicians. We've spoken to quite a few, who were all very interested."

Another exciting development is the establishment of that ever-popular choir, The Sixteen, as this season's Artists in Residence. "They were based in Oxford, and really like performing here," says Tamsyn. "So they're doing three concerts throughout the year, which are very different programmes, enabling audiences to see one group approaching things in a very different way. I thought that would be quite interesting. And the residence idea is one that I like, so we'll see if it works!"

The Sixteen's three concerts are indeed diverse, encompassing a range of musical styles and moods. The first, on November 16, explores the theme of Streams of Tears (the tears shed for Christ on the cross), and pays tribute to the influence of Spain and Portugal during the mid-17th to mid-18th centuries, with music by Domenico Scarlatti, Padilla, Melgas and Fernando de Almeida.

d=3,3,1On April 25, they will feature three little-known Tudor composers - Christopher Tye, Robert Parsons and Robert White - and on June 21 they bring the season to a close with a buoyant programme of Handel's popular Coronation Anthems. This concert is also the last in the Sheldonian before the building is closed for the replacement of its ceiling frescoes.

Elsewhere in the season, there is the customary raft of big names, including legendary pianist Alfred Brendel, organist Dame Gillian Weir, tenor James Gilchrist, pianist Paul Lewis and clarinettist Emma Johnson, while French Connections on June 6 has the starry line-up of Melvyn Tan, Tasmin Little, Colin Carr and Dimitri Ashkenazy. Needless to say, Tamsyn is delighted with this billing.

"It'll be a lovely evening," she says of French Connections. "They're all great friends and they enjoy playing together, but don't get the opportunity very often.

"The Alfred Brendel concert will be a very special occasion, a big highlight of the year. And having Dame Gillian Weir is good. I always thought there would be more organ recitals in Oxford, but there aren't really, so I was quite keen to try that because I think there's a really big audience for it. Also, she's possibly one of the best there is. We've also got the Leopold String Trio with Paul Lewis, which ties into his Beethoven cycle that he did over the last couple of years. It's nice to bring him back the same year that we've got Alfred Brendel. He taught Paul Lewis, so there's a connection there."

The season also focuses on the French composer Olivier Messiaen, as 2008 marks the centenary of his birth.

"It's not the kind of programming we normally go for," admits Tamsyn, "but we managed to put him into a couple of concerts. One of them is the Gillian Weir recital - he's one of her specialities, so she's really keen to do that. And the French Connections programme will include his Quartet for the End of Time."

The season opens in fine style with Philharmonia Orchestra in a programme of Sibelius, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky, and will feature BBC New Generation artist Alina Ibragimova. There will also be the traditional carols at Christ Church in December.

For full details of the programme, visit www.musicatoxford.com; to book tickets call 0870 750 0659.

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