Martha Argerich plays Ravel

Martha Argerich is playing at the Sheldonian Theatre on Friday 12 February, her first Oxford date before she heads off on international tour. She's joined by the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, with Annie Dutoit-Argerich narrating and Marios Papadopoulos conducting and playing piano. It's a big name appearing in the city, and the programme is built around Ravel.

Argerich takes the lead on Ravel's jazz-steeped concerto, which they describe as electrifyingly slick and slinky. That's paired with Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals and Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, whose rhythmic propulsion matches the Ravel. It's a night of three distinct works, and the Ravel concerto sits right at the centre of it.

For those who don't know her, Argerich is an Argentine pianist born in Buenos Aires in 1941. She gave her first concert at eight and won the International Chopin Piano Competition in 1965. She moved to Europe as a teenager and studied in Austria with Friedrich Gulda, one of her strongest influences, winning the Geneva and Busoni international competitions at sixteen. Since the 1980s, she's devoted much of her career to collaboration, partnering with artists like Nelson Freire, Mischa Maisky and Gidon Kremer. The Oxford Philharmonic was founded by Marios Papadopoulos in 1998 as the Oxford Philomusica and is the university's orchestra in residence.

The concert starts at 19:00 at the Sheldonian Theatre on Broad Street. Tickets range from £20 to £75, with student prices starting from £5. Both this date and the follow-up at the Barbican in London on Sunday 14 February are sold out.