Oxford Lieder: Song at Wolfson

TRISTAN HAMBLETON, BASS-BARITONE

Wolfson College

Thursday, 6pm

Tickets: 01865 591276 or www.oxfordlieder.co.uk

Get into the weekend mood a day early with this latest concert in the Song at Wolfson series. Acclaimed young bass-baritone Tristan Hambleton joins pianist/Oxford Lieder Festival founder Sholto Kynoch for Schubert’s Schwanengesang (‘Swan-song), a collection of 14 songs based on the texts of poets Ludwig Rellstab, Heinrich Heine and Johann Gabriel Seidl. Finish your evening with a meal at the nearby Cherwell Boathouse, where your ticket will nab you a complimentary glass of Gusborne Estate sparkling wine. 

Instruments of Time & Truth

HANDEL’S YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE

Holywell Music Room, Oxford

Friday, 7.30pm

Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com

We’re hearing a lot about Beethoven’s birthday this year, but this weekend it’s Handel’s turn. It’s the great man’s 335th birthday on Sunday, and Instruments of Time and Truth – named after Handel’s 1757 oratorio of the same name – is anticipating the day with this joyful celebration of some of his early compositions. Directed by harpsichordist Christopher Bucknall and featuring Irish soprano Anna Devin – acclaimed by Opera magazine as ‘an ideal interpreter of Handel’s “sex-kitten” roles’ – the concert features the glorious cantata Il Delirio as well as instrumental pieces by Handel and his teacher, Arcangelo Corelli.

Sansara/The White Rose Project

THE WHITE ROSE: VOICES FROM THE GERMAN RESISTANCE

University church of St Mary the Virgin

Saturday, 7.30pm

Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com

This week's classical music round-up includes.........

Award-winning vocal ensemble Sansara has collaborated with The White Rose Project to help raise awareness of The White Rose, a group formed at the University of Munich to campaign against Hitler’s Nazi regime. In February 1943, three core members of the group – siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst – were arrested, tried and executed. Other members of the group were also later arrested and either imprisoned or sentenced to death. In this poignant programme, Sansara performs Philip Moore’s Three Prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Rudolf Mauersberger’s Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst and Arvo Pärt’s Da pacem Domine, interspersed with readings from the White Rose Group’s letters and diaries. 

For anyone interested in finding out more about The White Rose Project, there is an hour-long talk at the Weston Library at 1pm by Dr Alexandra Lloyd (University of Oxford). Admission is free, but booking essential (http://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/the-white-rose-resistance-in-their-own-words)

Oxford Coffee Concerts

ADDERBURY ENSEMBLE

Holywell Music Room

Sunday, 11.15am

Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com

Martyn Jackson directs this popular local ensemble in an hour-long concert that includes Grieg’s String Quartet No.1 in G minor Op.27 – described by the composer as one that “strives towards breadth, soaring flight and above all resonance for the instruments for which it is written” – and a Mozart string quartet still to be announced. Don’t forget to grab a coffee first, from The Vaults and Garden Café (from 9am) or The King’s Arms (from 10.30am). 

Händel Festival Choir/Verdandi Camerata

HANDEL: MESSIAH

Sheldonian Theatre

Sunday, 5pm

Tickets: 01749 672522 or info@timeconcerts.co.uk

A London-based orchestra and a 100-strong choir from Japan come together to celebrate Handel’s birthday with a performance of his most famous oratorio. The concert also features the world premiere of Majora Canamus by Japanese composer Akane Nakanishi. Professional soloists from the UK and Japan include Naomi Satake (soprano), Louise Innes (alto), Hirohisa Tsuji (tenor) and Adam Green (baritone). Hideyuki Tsuji conducts. Tickets are free but reservation is essential, and donations of £10 are requested in aid of Asylum Welcome.

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

THE BEAUTY OF MATHEMATICS

Mathematical Institute

Sunday, 5.30pm

Tickets: 01865 244806 or www.musicatoxford.com

If you hated maths at school you might think this concert isn’t for you – but think again! This is the OAE’s third concert in its Bach, the Universe and Everything trilogy, in which the orchestra and guest speakers explore the links between Bach and mathematics. Dr Vicky Neale, Whitehead Lecturer at the Mathematical Institute, talks here about why maths is as beautiful as Bach’s music, and there will be a performance of Bach’s Der Herr denket an uns (The Lord hath been mindful of us) BWV 196 – with audience participation. Not convinced? Well, the café will be open, so there will also be tea and cake. What’s not to like?

NICOLA LISLE