French horn blasts and a distinct piccolo It’s a fair way from a chilly, damp winter evening on Oxford’s High Street to perhaps a spring morning at St Mark’s Basilica, Venice. But in both churches, music was and is fundamental, even paramount in 1500s St Mark’s, since the spoken parts of the Mass would be […]
Judith Weir blog loved our March concert
When my old college friend George Caird told me that he was planning to perform my piece Heroic Strokes of the Bow with an amateur orchestra, my initial thought was “is that wise?” Recently I had shown the score to the conductor of a good student orchestra, and after a while he closed the cover, saying sagely “Sorry,it’s too […]
Copland Appalachian Spring from 2017 concert
Listen here to Copland Appalachian Spring, from an Oxford Sinfonia concert in April 2017 conducted by Cayenna Ponchione
Zelenka Trio Sonata – broadcast on BBC Radio Three
Listen here to Zelenka Trio Sonata, from an Oxford Sinfonia chamber concert This excerpt was broadcast on BBC Radio Three in 2017
OUP choir 10 November
Joseph Haydn: Insanae et Vanae Curae Malcolm Pearce: A Wreathèd Garland Cecilia McDowall: Magnificat W.A.Mozart: Exsultate Jubilate Antonio Vivaldi: Gloria Vivaldi’s lively distillation of the Italian musical style had a strong influence upon his contemporaries, even those as exalted as Bach and Handel. His setting of the Gloria provides a wonderful demonstration of this, ranging […]
Maggie Faultless directs Baroque Masterpieces
Maggie Faultless directs our next concert, Baroque Classics, in September. Margaret Faultless is an internationally renowned specialist in historical performance practice, both as a violinist and a director. Performing music from Monteverdi to the present day, she is now best known as an in terpreter of eighteenth-century repertoire. Early in her career she specialised in […]
Nielsen – a triumph
<a href=”https://soundcloud.com/simon-payne-16/copland-appalachian-spring” target=”_blank”>Listen to Appalachian Spring</a> <a href=”https://soundcloud.com/simon-payne-16/nielsen-symphony-6-movt-3″ target=”_blank”>Listen to Nielsen Symphony 6 Movt 3</a> Audience feedback from our April concert: “Just a note to thank you for a terrific concert last night. The orchestra sounded in top form to me, although perhaps in Nielsen Symphony 6 it was not possible at times to […]
Mahler review from Daily Info
Conductor David Crown was an unshowy figure with the baton, avoiding expansive gestures but attending to each section of his band and with care to the requirements of the marked tempo. There was never that feeling of rush which can be tempting for an amateur orchestra when confronted by an extended piece like this. http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/feature/12447/mahler-1-and-mozart-clarinet-concerto#review65756
Brilliant Mahler 1
I have heard it a few times but your precision and clarity were outstanding. Congratulations from a happy Mahlerian. Bill