Davidoff Piano Trio

Davidoff Piano Trio play the Holywell Music Room on Sunday 25 October, as part of the Oxford Coffee Concerts. It's a morning slot, with the music starting at 11:15 and running for about an hour, so it's one of those Sunday things you can fit in before the rest of the day takes over.

The programme pulls from three different corners. They open with Haydn's Piano Trio no 32 in A major, op 36 no 1, a bright, classical piece that fits the morning hour. In the middle is Give Me Phoenix Wings to Fly by Murphy, and they close with Dvořák's Piano Trio no 4 in E minor, op 90, better known as the Dumky — a set of contrasting movements that shift between slow, brooding sections and faster, more dance-like ones.

The concert is part of the Oxford Coffee Concerts, a chamber series that's been running since 1986 and fills the room every Sunday morning. The name isn't just a label; the series encourages a coffee at a local pub before the performance, which is a nice way to ease into a Sunday.

The venue itself is something of a local landmark. The Holywell Music Room, in Wadham College, is the world's oldest purpose-built concert hall still in use. It was designed by Thomas Camplin and likely the brainchild of William Hayes, then Professor of Music at the University; it was funded by a public subscription set up in 1742 and opened to the public in 1748. It celebrated its 250th anniversary in the summer of 1998. After centuries of concerts, it was used for auctions and exhibitions from 1836, then became the rehearsal home of the Oxford Philharmonic Society in the 1870s, before the Oxford University Musical Union secured the lease after 1910. Restored and refitted in 1959-60, the Grade I-listed room has since hosted hundreds of recitals and retains strong ties to Haydn.

Tickets are £8.50 to £17.00, with the £8.50 price for 11-17 year olds and full-time students, and free for children aged 5-10 when accompanied. Doors open at 11:00, and the music starts at 11:15.