You’ve waved your parents goodbye, your room’s unpacked and you’re ready to face Fresher’s Week. With friends to make, societies to join and a jam-packed term ahead of you, it’s hard to know where to start. Oxford is a bustling hub for music of every sort, but its classical scene is internationally renowned. Whether you’re keen to play yourself or happy to take in the wealth of concerts available, there are plenty of opportunities for all.
It might be worth having a listen to your fellow students. In the last couple of years, the previous BBC Young Musician of the Year winners Jennifer Pike and Mark Simpson have graduated from Oxford. If you watched this year’s Last Night of the Proms, you will have seen Mark Simpson’s piece spark open this landmark concert to an international audience of millions. Student ensembles such as the Oxford University Orchestra (the pinnacle of orchestral playing) and the Oxford University String Ensemble perform termly concerts in venues such as the grand Sheldonian Theatre. Less common fare may be heard in the concerts of the Oxford University Sinfonietta, who frequently perform eclectic and wide-ranging repertoire. These are only a few of the groups who fall under the bracket of OUMS, who hold auditions at the end of Fresher’s week.
The choral offerings are equally rich, especially the music which frequently echoes through college chapels and across the city. The choirs of New, Christ Church and Magdalen are widely regarded as the ‘trinity’ of choral institutions, although all of the college choirs have an individual character and sound. Outside of the chapel choir sphere, Schola Cantorum is undoubtedly Oxford’s most renowned choir. A collection of singers at a professional level, they often feature in TV documentaries and flit about the globe on various engagements.
However, from the Arcadian Singers to the Oxford University Student Chorus, there is something for everyone. I haven’t even mentioned the ‘scratch’ concerts which are put together last-minute. These have proved to be the most memorable experiences of my concert life in Oxford so far, from Arvo Part’s Stabat mater by candlelight in the Univ chapel to a wind-swept performance of Thomas Tallis’ Spem in Alium (pre-Fifty Shades fame) around the Worcester quad. These concerts are often organised at short notice, so watch out on Facebook and for posters in your college lodge.
Oxford also plays host to internationally-renowned artists, from Daniel Barenboim to Lang Lang. For these, Music at Oxford is definitely worth a look, with concerts taking place in venues from the intimacy of the Holywell Music Room to atmospheric chapel performances. This term, the Oxford Chamber Music Festival and the Oxford Lieder Festival bring names such as Maxim Rysanov, Vilde Frang, Alice Coote and Sarah Connolly to the city of dreaming spires.
From the buskers lining Cornmarket Street to the strains of music drifting out of rooms around college, there is always something going on. The only problem is deciding which concert to go to. With cheap or free student tickets, what’s stopping you?
