Marios Papadopoulos conducts the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra with violinist María Dueñas in Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1.
The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra are at the Sheldonian Theatre on Thursday 5 November, with Marios Papadopoulos taking the podium for his first concert of the season. It's a full evening of orchestral music, and the programme runs from a 1947 British overture through to Tchaikovsky's Fifth.
The night opens with Doreen Carwithen's ODTAA Overture, a swashbuckling piece she wrote when she was just 23. The title comes from John Masefield's novel One Damn Thing After Another, and that same spirit carries through the music. After that, the focus shifts to the violin: Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, with María Dueñas on the solo part. It's a work that mixes tenderness with biting sarcasm, and Dueñas has been credited with capturing the zeitgeist in her performances like none other.
The second half belongs to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor, a deeply personal piece described as an essay on inner demons, the torment of love and the irrepressible strength of the human spirit. It's the big, emotional weight of the evening, and it's the work that gives the concert its name. The whole night sits within the Ertegun Series, sponsored by The Ioana Maria Banu Ertegun Trust, and the Carwithen overture is supported by the William Alwyn Foundation.
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The concert starts at 19:30, with a pre-concert recital at 18:30 for anyone who wants to arrive early and settle in. The whole thing runs for about 120 minutes. Tickets are £18, £30, £32, £42, and £58, with student prices starting from £5.
