The Oxford International Song Festival marks its 25th anniversary with a thrilling and wide-ranging programme, this year centred on the theme of love. Spanning 59 events, the Festival explores love in its myriad forms: its joys, complexities, and heartbreaks expressed through music and poetry, and considers its creative force as witnessed through the lives of
composers and poets.
Each autumn, audiences from around the world are drawn to Oxford for the Festival’s outstanding artistic quality and the city’s unique atmosphere. Performances take place in a range of venues, including the historic Holywell Music Room – Europe’s oldest purpose-built concert hall – as well as the Levine Building, The Olivier Hall, Garsington Studios at the Wormsley Estate, and – for the first time – spaces within the Schwarzman Centre, where the Festival will open with a recital by Dame Sarah Connolly, marking the Festival’s first event at the newly opened buildings.
Making his Festival debut, internationally renowned baritone Matthias Goerne will be at The Olivier Hall on 10 October with a performance of Schubert’s Winterreise. Other featured singers include Carolyn Sampson, Benjamin Appl, Katie Bray, Roderick Williams, Alice Coote, Konstantin Krimmel, Christian Immler, Camilla Tilling, Sarah Maria Sun, Anna Prohaska and Christoph Prégardien.
They are joined by pianists including Joseph Middleton, Tamara Stefanovich, James Baillieu and Pauliina Tukiainen, among many others – including the Festival’s Artistic Director, Sholto Kynoch.
The programme promises several exciting world premieres: Nardus Williams performs Marriage of…?, a new work by Associate Composer Emily Hazrati and librettist Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambahksh. Katy Thomson and Rustam Khanmurzin will be premiering a new work by John Webb, exploring the corrupting nature of power, and Anna Dennis and John Reid present The Silent Songs of Josefine, a bold new Kafka-inspired work by Can Bilir.
The central weekend of the event (17–18 October) is devoted to the music of Franz Schubert. Graham Johnson continues his landmark exploration of the composer’s final years, 200 years on. Other highlights include Camilla Tilling, with Schubert’s Rückert settings, and Helen Charlston performing Die schöne Müllerin (both with Sholto Kynoch). Further, Sarah Maria Sun will be performing ‘Der Hirt auf dem Felsen’ with pianist Jan Philip Schulze and clarinettist Julian Bliss.
On Wednesday 21 October, the New Generation Day will showcase three concerts in partnership with the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme; all to be recorded for future broadcast. Performers include baritone Andrew Hamilton and pianist Michael Pandya; soprano Erika Baikoff with Sholto Kynoch; and Konstantin Krimmel with Ammiel Bushakevitz, presenting a programme that includes Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel.
Other highlights include Louise Alder and Joseph Middleton exploring the passing of the year in a programme featuring Helen Grime’s Seasons which written for them in 2025. Alice Coote and Julius Drake offering us an imaginative recital blending repertoire from David Bowie to Mozart, and renowned pianist Dame Imogen Cooper performing Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch as part of her final concert season before retirement. Juliane Banse, who returns with pianist Alexander Krichel, dancer István Simon and choreographer Andreas Heise will be presenting a danced performance of Mozart songs and piano music.
Instrumentals include appearances by the Carducci String Quartet, performing the Mozart Quintet with Julian Bliss, and Alec Roth’s Seven Elements with James Gilchrist, guitarists Bryan Brenner and Václav Fuksa, and accordionist Murray Grainger.
Finally, look out for the eight Oxford Song Young Artist duos, each of whom will give short showcase slots at the start of headline evening recitals in the first week of the Festival. In the second week, they immerse themselves in the residential Mastercourse, led by Jan Philip Schulze, with daily public masterclasses.
