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2024-2025 Season
Rossini Stabat Mater
Mozart Coronation Mass
Conductor Robert Secret
The Orchestra of Stowe Opera
Sunday 23 March 2025, 7.30pm
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century meditation on the anguish the Virgin Mary would have felt on witnessing Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. This text has inspired some of the most memorable and imaginative choral music ever written, from the Renaissance into the present day. Rossini’s 1841 setting is no exception. It is cut from the same cloth as the later Verdi Requiem, in that it lays the text’s raw emotion bare using Italian opera techniques. It also makes extraordinary demands on the soloists, which is probably why it is rarely performed!
Mozart’s Coronation Mass is one of his most popular settings of the Mass. Composed in Salzburg after he was appointed court organist and composer at Salzburg Cathedral, it is celebratory throughout. The soprano solo Agnus Dei bears a striking resemblance to the Countess’s aria Dove Sono from Figaro.
Coleridge-Taylor Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast
Vaughan Williams Toward the Unknown Region; The Lark Ascending
Conductor Robert Secret
The Orchestra of Stowe Opera
Sunday 29 June 2025, 7.30pm
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was one of the very few Black classical composers to achieve large-scale renown! His most popular work by far, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast owes its success to its rhythmic vitality, at times sounding like a pre-echo of the American music that would soon emerge in the early 20th century. Contrasting this is the ethereal fluidity of two of Vaughan Williams’ loveliest works. His 1906 setting of Walt Whitman’s poem Toward the Unknown Region is a hidden gem with two very imposing climaxes, while the famous The Lark Ascending is timeless.
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Full details of all ticket prices (including concessions) are shown with the venue seating plans below. All tickets are unreserved (i.e. for anywhere within a particular seating area, not for a specific individual seat).
Where to buy tickets
Click on the Buy Tickets button for a specific concert, or phone Oxford Playhouse on 01865 305305.
Via choir members, and from 7.00pm at the venue box office.
Discounts
Wheelchair discount tickets and Group discount tickets (for groups of 10+) are not available via Tickets Oxford and must be booked via Caroline Butler.
Discounts are also available for students / under 18s via all outlets (proof of status required).
VENUES AND SEATING PLANS
Click on the map to see the venue locations.
Oxford Town Hall
Arena and back gallery £25
Side gallery £20
Wheelchair users arena £23 (includes free carer/companion)
Under 18s/students £12.50
Sheldonian Theatre
Chairs £30
Lower gallery £25
Semi-circle £20
Upper gallery £15
Wheelchair users may bring a companion/carer for free
Under 18s/students: Half price in the Semi-circle and Upper gallery only
