We pick out some of the best classical music events in Oxford and across Oxfordshire that you can’t afford to miss in the weeks and months ahead. There is something for everyone, from splendid chamber music to superb operas – head to any of the performances below, and you’ll be in for a treat. You’ll find a growing diary of Classical Music, Opera & Ballet events in Oxford and across Oxfordshire in the ‘What’s on’ section.
Featuring new compositions by Afghan composers living in exile, this concert celebrates the rich history of traditional Afghan music and explores how that tradition can be maintained and expanded globally at a time when making music in Afghanistan is forbidden.
For this culmination of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s season at the Sheldonian Theatre, Marios Papadopoulos conducts Bruckner’s symphony here after Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 – actually the composer’s first full-length orchestral work, and an imposingly assertive one at that.
The Oxford Piano Festival was founded in 1999 by Marios Papadopoulos, renowned pianist and Music Director of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. Each year, the Festival welcomes piano players and pedagogues, experts and enthusiasts, to some of Oxford’s most historic venues, such as Sir Christopher Wren’s Sheldonian Theatre, the Holywell Music Room, and Christ Church Cathedral.
2023 is a momentous year for the Waterperry Opera Festival, with eight productions this summer, including revivals of the critically acclaimed productions of Mansfield Park (Dove) and Peter Rabbit’s Musical Adventures (Haydn/Potter). Headlining the festival are brand new productions of Carmen (Bizet) and WOF’s first double-bill, Acis and Galatea (Handel) / Dido and Aeneas (Purcell). These are not to be missed.