English Sinfonia return to Oxford on Wednesday February 6th for the first time since the huge success of their inaugural concert as orchestra in residence at the North Wall Arts Centre. From Mozart to minimalism, they mix it up with a typically varied programme that includes John Adams’s modern classic Shaker Loops and showcases their virtuoso string section led by Janice Graham. Audiences have come to expect nothing less from this long established ensemble with a reputation for the highest quality music making and a tradition of breaking down musical boundaries.

The concert begins with two works that show very different sides of Mozart’s personality – the Divertimento in F (K. 138), sparkling with youthful wit and energy is followed by the intense, personal Adagio and Fugue in C minor (K. 546), a much darker piece, full of formal ingenuity and intellectual rigour. American composer John Adams’s Shaker Loops promises to be one of the evening’s many highlights. A dynamic tour de force of modern string writing, this thrilling work is a rollercoaster ride of buzzing rhythms and subtle shifts of colour that has rapidly established itself as a minimalist masterpiece. The Brook Green Suite by Holst finds the mature composer revisiting the folk-inspired lyricism of his youth – a little light before the dark, brooding beauty of Sibelius’s Romance in C. The evening ends with a perennial favourite of audiences and performers alike, Grieg’s Holberg Suite, a set of lively Baroque inspired dances written in 1884 to celebrate the bicentenary of the great playwright for whom it is named.

The orchestra will be directed by Janice Graham and Geoffrey Alexander.

Audience response to the first North Wall concert:

I really enjoyed the concert and thought the orchestra were fantastic. I loved the relaxed atmosphere of the venue and it was so intimate too. ( Lucy Noble, Head of New Programming, Albert Hall.)

We are regular concert goers in Oxford and this was the best concert we have ever been to. (anon.)

Tickets available from The Oxford Playhouse, Beaumont Street, Oxford. Tel: 01865 305305 or online at www.ticketsoxford.com.

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