BRINGING SCHUBERT’S VIENNA TO OXFORD
10 October – 1 November 2014
In 2014 Oxford Lieder presents the UK’s first complete performance of Schubert songs in a unique festival featuring a stellar array of the world’s great singers. During his short life – just 31 years – Schubert created a remarkable body of work in his 650 songs and these will form the heart of the Schubert Project. Around this, the city of Oxford will be buzzing with other music and events that will further illuminate the songs and bring to life the world that Schubert himself inhabited.
Singers performing will include Sir Thomas Allen, Ian Bostridge, Sarah Connolly, William Dazeley, James Gilchrist, Robert Holl, Wolfgang Holzmair, Sophie Karthäuser, Angelika Kirchschlager, Stephan Loges, Christopher Maltman, Christoph Prégardien, Birgid Steinberger, Roderick Williams and many more in over 50 recitals. They will be joined by the world’s leading pianists, including Thomas Adés, Eugene Asti, Imogen Cooper, Julius Drake, Graham Johnson, Malcolm Martineau & Roger Vignoles. In addition, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Doric String Quartet and the Schubert Ensemble will be amongst partners for chamber music.
The Bodleian Library will show several Schubert manuscripts; the Ashmolean Museum will host live music events and a display of its exceptional 19th-century drawings; the Botanic Gardens collaborate on a study event looking at Schubert’s relationship with nature; a pop-up theatre event will recreate a famous Schubert gathering; local restaurants will feature Viennese food and wine. Masterclasses, talks and workshops abound, and the Festival stretches to all corners of the city from the Europe’s oldest concert hall – the Holywell Music Room – through to the contemporary setting of the recently restored Ashmolean Museum.