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2023 – 2024 Season
Franz Joseph Haydn Nelson Mass; Felix Mendelssohn Lauda Sion
Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson – Soprano
Heather Jill Burns – Mezzo
Austin Gunn – Tenor
Andri Björn Róbertsson – Bass baritone
Conductor Robert Secret
The Orchestra of Stowe Opera
Saturday 29 June 2024, Oxford Town Hall
The magnificent Nelson Mass is one of Haydn’s six late great masses and, according to H.C. Robbins Landon, ‘arguably Haydn’s greatest single composition’. From the dramatic opening Kyrie, with the soaring soprano solo line, to the exuberant Dona Nobis Pacem, the music pulsates with energy and unflagging vitality. There are many shifts of mood and tone but the final effect is celebratory. It is the work of a composer at the height of his powers. Mendelssohn’s uplifting and lovely Lauda Sion, written to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Feast of Corpus Christi, for the Church of St Martin in Liège, completes the programme. Not to be missed!
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2024-2025 Season
Ticket information for the 2024-2025 Season coming soon!
St. Paul is the first of two oratorios completed by Felix Mendelssohn in his lifetime, the second being the well-known Elijah. St. Paul is just as dramatic and tuneful as its successor. It is a very moving portrait of an influential (and widely misunderstood) figure in early Christianity, with Paul’s conversion and martyrdom as its main points of focus. It displays the composer’s debt to the Baroque era (particularly Bach) much more openly than Elijah does, and at least two of the hymn tunes Mendelssohn quotes in the process are still in popular use today!
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 Flute and Harp Concerto is his only work to feature the harp, and the almost pianistic way he treats the instrument is striking throughout.
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.
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.
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
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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/Row A £tbc
Semi-circle £tbc
Lower gallery £tbc
Upper gallery £tbc
Wheelchair users: Chairs/Row A £tbc
Under 16s: half price any area
Under 18s/students: upper gallery half price, £tbc discount all other areas