Engegård Quartet: Oxford Debut
Friday 7 February 2020, 7.30pm
Mozart - String Quartet No.15 in D minor K. 421/417b
Sibelius - 'Voces Intimæ' op. 56
Grieg - String Quartet in G minor op. 27
Formed under the midnight sun in 2006, the Engegård Quartet has rapidly become one of Norway’s most sought after ensembles. Their bold, fresh interpretations of the classical repertoire combined with a deep attachment to their Scandinavian roots has attracted international acclaim; the quartet’s debut CD was praised as ‘breath-taking’ in The Strad.
For their first ever performance in Oxford, they combine Mozart’s much-loved quartet in D minor with works by Grieg and Sibelius. Anyone familiar with orchestral works by these two composers will quickly find idiomatic motifs in these quartets – they are symphonic structures in their own right.
“…Those seeking the Grieg/Sibelius pairing in modern sound would be hard pressed to find better.” - Richard Bratby, Gramophone
End time c. 9.30pm
Tickets £42, £28, £18, £15
Students £5 off | Under 18s 50% off
Bach, the Universe and Everything: The Beauty of Mathematics. Orchestra of the Age Enlightenment
Sunday 23 February 2020, 5:30pm
Music: Bach Der Herr denket an uns (The Lord hath been mindful of us) BWV 196 12’
Speaker: Dr Vicky Neale, Whitehead Lecturer at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
The science: You’ve heard that some people find mathematics as beautiful as Bach’s music, but you’re not really sure why. Dr Vicky Neale is here to convince you it is, as she explores the intoxicating mysteries of prime numbers.
The music: This is one of Bach’s first cantatas, written when he was in his early twenties for a friend’s wedding. It features a striking soprano aria, and an overall theme of ‘partnership’, with two factions of instruments uniting to become one.
End time c. 6.15pm
Tickets £15
Students £5 off | Under 18s 50% off
Fauré Requiem & Bach: Tenebrae & Aurora
Saturday 7 March 2020, 7.30pm
Pre-concert talk: Ian Ritchie 6.30pm
Award-winning choir Tenebrae performs its interpretation of Fauré’s Requiem, described as ‘devastatingly beautiful’ Gramophone Magazine and ‘simply mind-blowing’ The Scotsman, with the virtuosic Aurora Orchestra. Fauré’s Requiem favours serenity, joy and liberation over the dread and terror employed by most composers in settings of the Mass of the Dead. Preceded by Bach’s Partita for Violin No. 2 interspersed with chorales, the pairing of Bach’s intricate writing alongside Fauré’s serene Requiem highlights the overwhelming beauty in these fascinating works.
“There is a hunger for what this finely polished group has to offer” The New York Times
End time c. 9.00pm
Tickets £45, £30, £20, £10
Students £5 off | Under 18s 50% off
Bach and the Danes: Danish National Vocal Ensemble
Friday 27 March 2020, 7.30pm
Director: Marcus Creed
Pre-concert talk: Prof. Daniel Grimley
J S Bach: Der Geist hilft BWV 226
Carl Nielsen: Tre Motetter
Bent Sørensen: Benedictus
Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen: May Decay (UK premiere)
Kaija Saariaho: Nuits adieux.
Denmark is one of the great singing nations of the world, and its choral music – from short hyggelig pieces to be sung in company, through the grand liturgical repertoire developed after the Reformation in the Danish Lutheran church, to the national choral songs and concert music of our own day – is one of the nation’s great cultural treasures, if less well-known than it should be outside Denmark itself.
The Danish National Vocal Ensemble – the professional chamber choir of DR, Denmark’s national broadcaster – presents a broad cross-section of Danish choir music from the Renaissance to the present day, through the works of composers from the time of Christian IV, the longest-reigning and most cultured of all former Danish monarchs, from the father-figure of modern Danish music, Carl Nielsen, to contemporary composers such as Bent Sørensen, Bo Holten and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen UK premiere. Framing the programme, a sensual choral evocation of night-time by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, and a choral masterwork by J S Bach.
This concert is being recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in Concert and will be available in BBC Sounds for 30 days after the broadcast.
End time c. 9.30pm
Tickets £40, £20, £10
Students £5 off | Under 18s 50% off
