Family Cushion Concerts

Family Cushion Concerts are back at the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building on Sunday 18 October, with two sessions at 10.00am and 11.00am. Each one runs for 40 minutes, and the doors open 20 minutes before each start, so you've got a choice of morning slots to fit around your Sunday.

Soprano Becca Marriott is leading the season, and for this particular session she's joined by soprano Maryam Wocial and pianist Archie Bonham. It's a small, focused line-up — two voices and a piano — which keeps things intimate and easy for little ones to follow.

The concerts are part of the building's monthly Cushion Concert series, run in collaboration with the Oxford International Song Festival. They're pitched as a relaxed introduction to different styles of music and instruments for children and their families, and the name gives the format away: you're encouraged to bring cushions to sit on, and the kids are welcome to use their singing voices, dancing feet and clapping hands rather than sitting still and quiet. It's designed to be a welcoming way for them to get a feel for how music works.

Beyond the regular programme, the series stages a special Christmas show, The Night Before Christmas, an interactive classical show for children aged 0-6 that includes a ten-minute post-show touch tour where they can get close to the instruments and even try playing them. The whole series is supported by Jane and Nick Broughton-Perry and funded by Arts Council England, Oxford Council, the University of Oxford, St John's College and UK Theatre.

Tickets are £7 single or £25 for a family of four, and under-1s go free. The venue is the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building at St Hilda's College, Cowley Place, Oxford OX4 1DY.