Music would never be the same after Igor Stravinsky unleashed The Firebird in 1910 – a ballet score that would herald the pictorial powers with which the composer would shock and enchant generations of theatregoers. Stravinsky found the perfect subject matter in the collision of the evil magician Kaschchei with the just and irrepressible Firebird. The suite of music from the ballet ends in an infernal dance ripe for Stravinsky’s own brand of violent syncopation. Marios Papadopoulos conducts it here, alongside wickedly entertaining music from Saint-Saëns, and an atmospheric mountain climb from Mussorgsky. The concert is complete with the virtuosic and lyrical concerto for violin and viola by Alexey Shor, our Composer-in-Residence, highlighting the instruments’ poetic qualities while seamlessly blending their technical brilliance and emotional depth.

The Firebird

The Sheldonian Theatre

Mahler’s symphonies are his spiritual autobiographies, laying out his experiences and suffering for all to hear. His strikingly confident Symphony No. 1 of 1889 is cast in two parts: first the optimism and energy of youth; then the crisis of rejection and death. Yet Mahler’s symphony powers towards an exultant conclusion, overtly popular in style and imbued with a new confidence – the confidence of life itself. Marios Papadopoulos conducts Mahler’s Titanic symphony here after the world premiere of Sisyphus by University of Oxford and OPO Composers' Workshop alumnus Marcello Palazzo and another work from our Composer-in-Residence Alexey Shor: with unexpected twists in its traditional structure, Shor’s Piano Concerto No. 1 blends nostalgia and exhilaration, and features the remarkable soloist Behzod Abduraimov.

Shor

Events

Upcoming events

May 10, 2025

Mahler One · Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra

Past events

Oct 31, 2024

The Firebird · Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra

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