2024-25
Thursday 14th November at 8pm at The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford University Orchestra and Rémy Ballot presented:
Schubert - Symphony No. 8 'Unfinished'
Ravel - Mother Goose Suite
Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade
Leader: Ella McLoughlin
in collaboration with Professor Martyn Harry at the University Music Faculty, and supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum
The Oxford University Orchestra was joined by celebrated conductor Rémy Ballot in an evening of some of the most enduring favourites of audiences and musicians alike.
Celebrated worldwide for his interpretations of the 10 Bruckner symphonies and much more, Ballot – the last student of Sergiu Celidibache – led the orchestra in a programme that takes the listener on a musical journey between Austria, France, and Russia, and across almost an entire century.
The orchestra performed Schubert’s famously (and mysteriously) unfinished Symphony No. 8, which survives in just two movements. The journey continued in Paris with Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye: originally 5 children’s pieces for piano duet based on a collection of French children’s tales. The tales continued with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, which evokes the ‘fairytale wonders’ of The 1001 Nights. A recurring solo violin melody portrays the clever bride who, with captivating tales of sailors and shipwrecks, princes and princesses, keeps her husband the Sultan under her spell.
Friday 22nd November at 7pm at the University Church, OUSinfonietta:
The Oxford University Sinfonietta with conductor James Norton presented an exciting programme for its Michaelmas Term 2024 concert. The repertoire included Emilie Mayer's dramatic Faust Overture, Maurice Ravel’s delicate but haunting Pavane pour une infante défunte, Darius Milhaud’s whimsical Le Boeuf sur le toit, and finally, Johannes Brahms’ monumental Symphony No. 1. This dynamic selection showcased a rich diversity of musical styles, an engaging and captivating performance for the audience.
Saturday 15th February at 7.30pm at The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford University Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa:
OUO’s long-time Principal Guest Conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa returned to the Sheldonian Theatre in a concert that featured Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 as its centrepiece, continuing the successful relation that Luis-Bassa and OUO have established with Mahler’s symphonies over the years. As the composer once said, a symphony must be like the world, and his Fifth falls nothing short of that. A blockbuster journey of self-revelation from darkness to light, told in funeral marches, Viennese waltzes, and one of music’s sweetest love-letters, the Adagietto. The symphony featured Tommaso Rusconi playing the horn obligato, Guy Barwell as principal trumpet, and the orchestra was led by Ella McLoughlin
The concert also featured Debussy’s iconic Prelude à l’aprés-midi d’un faune, whose idyllic flute solo sets the scene for Mallarmé’s poem, and Anna Clyne’s exuberant Masquerade, which evokes the lively promenade concerts of London’s 18th-century pleasure gardens.
