Oxford Harmonic Choir concerts are held in major central Oxford venues:
- Oxford Town Hall
- Sheldonian Theatre
All concerts start at 7.30pm. Doors and venue box office open at 7.00pm. Join our Mailing List to hear about future concerts. See recent performances on our Previous Concerts page. .
Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols;
Josef Rheinberger Star of Bethlehem;
Francesco Manfredini Pastorale per il santissimo natale;
Alessandro Scarlatti Cantata pastorale per la nascita di nostro signore
27 November 2021, Sheldonian Theatre
Join us for a joyful musical celebration of Christmas. The programme consists of two uplifting choral compositions, joined by some beautiful seasonal Baroque music by Manfredini and Alessandro Scarlatti. Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols, for baritone and chorus, weaves together a number of carols into a harmonious sequence, while Rheinberger’s Star of Bethlehem, composed in 1894 for soprano, baritone and chorus, is a wonderfully romantic setting of nine linked poems on the Christmas story written by the composer’s wife, Franziska.
George Frederick Handel Messiah (Sir Andrew Davis version) UK première
26 March 2022, Oxford Town Hall
Oxford Harmonic Choir has a long tradition of performing Messiah and in its hundred and first year has chosen an unusual version: Sir Andrew Davis’s colourfully re-orchestrated new concert edition. In his own words, ‘My aim was to keep Handel’s notes, harmonies, and style intact but to make use of all the colours available from the modern symphony orchestra in order to underline the mood and meaning of individual movements. … Everything I have done instrumentally stems from the enormous respect, even awe, which I feel towards this supreme masterpiece. If any of my ideas should help to illuminate any part of it, I shall be happy.’
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mass in C minor K427; Solemn Vespers K339
25 June 2022, Oxford Town Hall
Our third concert of the season is devoted to two choral works by Mozart. In his lively setting of the Vespers (far from solemn!) he composes in sparkling vein for choir, soloists and orchestra, and summons up all his magic for the much-loved, serenely beautiful, soprano solo in the penultimate movement, Laudate Dominum. The great unfinished Mass in C minor contains some of the composer’s grandest sacred music in the powerful choruses, in combination with the magnificently operatic soprano solos written for his newly-married wife Constanze. Sit back, admire and enjoy!
Future Concerts
The venue for these upcoming concerts will be either Oxford Town Hall or the Sheldonian Theatre.
- 26 November 2022 – Verdi Requiem
- 25 March 2023 – Handel Solomon
