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Culture, Art, Music

Magnificent Oxford

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The annual Oxford Festival of the Arts is once again taking place with an exciting programme following the theme, Magnificent Oxford. We spoke with the Festival’s Director, Dr Michelle Castelletti, to discover more about this year’s events and how it honours all aspects of this diverse city.

How did the Festival come about?

Magdalen College School launched the first festival in 2009. Then Master, Dr Tim Hands, said at the time: “The school has long been strong on theatre and music, and decided to launch further into the local community by staging an arts festival. People liked it and said: Let’s do it again.”

In 2018, the current Master, Ms Helen Pike realised there was potential for this festival to develop and become ever more integrated with the growing partnerships and community engagement programme of the school: “MCS pupils enjoy unique cultural and creative experiences and make a contribution to their city and county which extends far beyond our gates. It makes sense for us to be the lead sponsors of a Festival which both commemorates and inspires our wider world.” Thus, a new post for a dedicated director was created, I was appointed and The Oxford Festival of the Arts as we know it today was born.

Since 2010, the Festival has grown in scope, duration, and artistic ambition but its founding remit of excellence, public engagement, and the creation of opportunity remains. It is my great privilege to programme this wonderful celebration of the arts.

It must form a significant part of Magdalen College School’s work within the community.

MCS remains the Festival’s lead sponsor and greatest supporter and it is one of the key elements of the school’s community partnerships work: only last year the school won the Independent Schools of the Year Award in the category of Contribution to Social Mobility.

Oxford Festival of the Arts is proud to be the city’s arts festival. With the Festival office situated in OX4, just off Magdalen Bridge, it acts as a metaphoric bridge between town and gown: fostering partnerships with local schools and the diverse communities in Oxford, whilst creating unique experiences and commissioning new work, with public engagement at its core.

Who is involved in selecting the programme each year, and how did you settle on the theme: Magnificent Oxford?

There is always excitement around the choice of theme for the Festival. The Master and I discuss it at length and we thought that, although the Festival always showcases our city, it was time to honour this fully with a programme dedicated to the city of dreaming spires.

The Festival this year is therefore attempting to present the multi-layered world that is Oxford, through its scholars, its artists, its treasures, its peoples. We are opening doors, and we are broadening our reach, embracing our city and its surroundings. We have all made this city our home. How lucky are we?

How much of an impact do you think ‘town’ - rather than ‘gown’ - has on local and on national culture?

The ‘town’ of any place is the beating heart. We rejoice in this in the exhibition What is Your Oxford?, currently on at Pembroke College. It gives great insight into what Oxford means to those who live, work in or visit the city and its surrounds. A few of my favourite photographs include a lady who always feeds a particular pigeon (with a missing leg) at Gloucester Green market. Another is of a skateboarded seemingly flying in the air. There is the Ashmolean; punting on the river; people soaking the sun on Broad Street; parks and graffiti.

Last year, the Festival had a special asylum exhibition to showcase the diverse cultures all cradled in the city. The year before that, we worked with 600 children from local schools to create a musical performance in eight different languages. Recently thousands of people came together to observe May Morning and a couple of weeks later those same streets will teem with runners in the Town and Gown 10k race. This is a city that is diverse, and home to multiple identities; and that is celebrated by embracing both town and gown.

Haydn in Oxford

As part of the Magnificent Oxford theme, on 27 June Oxford Festival of the Arts will bring violinist Jennifer Pike together with conductor Steven Devine in an event at the Sheldonian entitled Haydn in Oxford, a celebration of Haydn’s relationship with the city. These two exceptional musicians, who have studied in Oxford, will be playing alongside the elegance and brilliance of the English Haydn Orchestra on their first visit to the city. The programme will include both Haydn’s Symphony No 92 in G major (The ‘Oxford’ Symphony) and his ‘London’ Symphony, No 104 in D major.

Steven Devine comments: “It’s always lovely to be in Oxford and I really enjoy coming back – particularly to work and stay in the City. This year I will also be conducting an opera, Salieri’s La Scuola de' Gelosi, in New College for New Chamber Opera at the same time so I feel doubly lucky. Sadly that means I’m going to be very busy during my time here but just being surrounded by the inspiring architecture and buzzing vibe of the place will be wonderful. Because of where I will be based, I will be renewing my acquaintance with the King’s Arms and the Turf on a regular basis, but I also love going to Christ Church Meadows when I have a moment.”

Haydn came to Oxford in 1791 where he was conferred with a Doctorate from the University of Oxford. A ‘Grand Music Festival’ in the Sheldonian was fully reported in The Gentleman’s Magazine. The Oxford Symphony was received with great acclaim, as ‘one of the most striking compositions ever heard’.

I have much to thank this doctor’s degree in England; indeed, I might say everything; as a result of it, I gained acquaintance of the first men in the land and had entrance into the greatest houses. — Joseph Haydn

Oxford Festival of the Arts takes place from May to July. For more information, including full listings, visit artsfestivaloxford.org

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