Birds of Paradise

A veritable aviary of musical birds here, whose natural home is Eden. Vivaldi‘s concerto The Goldfinch mimics the movement, more than the song of the goldfinch. Haydn‘s Lark is a sky-high violin song but (perhaps wisely) not an accurate transcription of a lark’s frenzy. Music’s ultimate bird-fancier Messiaen gives us that great songster the blackbird, almost note-for-note, while Beethoven has nightingale, quail and cuckoo singing over each other. A Catalan folk-song celebrates all birds, and Schumann‘s eerie prophet bird is a messenger from another world.

Vivaldi The cuckoo and The goldfinch
Haydn from string quartet ‘The Lark’
Messiaen Le merle noir (The Blackbird) and Abîme des oiseaux (Abyss of the birds)
Beethoven Scene by the brook arr. sextet
Trad. arr Casals Song of the birds
Schumann Vogel als Prophet (The prophet bird)

Artists: Roy Amotz, Julian Arp, Alena Baeva, Reto Bieri, Sascha Bota, Claude Frochaux, Tetiana Lutsyk, Priya Mitchell, Brian O’Kane, Annette Walther

Every year the Oxford Chamber Music Festival brings together some of the most exciting classical musicians in Europe to live and play together for a week. Creative sparks fly as the players exchange musical partners and tackle the widest variety of sound-worlds.

“a musical miracle” – Daily Telegraph; “world-class by any standards” Time Out

With this year’s special 25th anniversary festival we hope to create a musical Eden in an increasingly troubled world. We celebrate in sound the glories of nature’s garden; explore the music of innocence and of human desire; and offer works which suggest the drama of the Fall, and the journey back to a state of spiritual grace.