Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra embarks on 25th anniversary season

The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra (OPO) will mark the beginning of its 25^th season with a Silver Jubilee concert at the Barbican on 6 February. The concert kicks off a year of celebrations, including a German tour with pianist Martha Argerich and the orchestras debut at Vienna’s Musikverein.

Next month’s anniversary concert, led by OPO founder and music director Marios Papadopoulos, will feature Brahms’s Academic Festival Overture and Second Symphony, as well as Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with a guest appearance from violinist and former OPO artist in residence Maxim Vengerov. The orchestra will also join Vengerov at the Royal Albert Hall in April for a belated celebration of the violinist’s 40^th year on the stage.

Papadopoulos said: ‘In 2023, we combine music old and new, known and unknown, punctuating the season with large-scale legacy pieces specifically to introduce our younger audience to the masterpieces of the repertoire. Once again, we will be joined by choirs that have helped make Oxford famous as a centre of musical as well as academic excellence.’

The orchestra will be joined by the Choir of The Queen’s College, The Boys of Radley College Choir and a range of soloists to celebrate the Easter weekend with a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. Later in April, the OPO will collaborate with soloists Mhairi Lawson, Thomas Elwin, Jonathan Brown and the Choir of Merton College in a performance of Haydn’s Creation at the orchestra’s Oxford home, the Sheldonian Theatre.

After a visit to Dubai in February, the orchestra makes its debut at the Musikverein on 9 March as part of an Austro-German tour, returning for a second German tour on 2 and 3 April. On 23 May, the Oxford Philharmonic will return to Cadogan Hall with a programme of Mozart and Beethoven and later in the year, the OPO will embark on a UK tour with violinist Nigel Kennedy to Saffron Hall, Barbican and Malvern.