10 July 2026 | 7:30 pm | Festival Hall Fresh from their acclaimed Sky Arts show 100 Years of Big Bands, the LP Swing Orchestra brings a brand-new celebration of swing to Oxford! Under the musical direction of vocalist Georgina Jackson—the UK’s only female commercial Big Band leader—and joined by the sensational voices of Nicola Emmanuelle and Julia Sullivan, this reimagined Rat Pack-style trio takes you on a journey back to the golden age of Read more
15 April 2026 | 7:30 pm | Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford Join us for an unforgettable evening as world-renowned violinist Nicola Benedetti performs Elgar’s deeply expressive Violin Concerto in B minor, a work hailed as one of the greatest in the repertoire. The concert also features Elgar’s iconic Enigma Variations, a dazzling orchestral masterpiece full of mystery and emotion. Conducted by Marios Papadopoulos, this performance promises passion, virtuosity, and the very best of English music. Pre-concert Read more
Oxford Festival of the Arts is proud to announce SIMPLY SWING night at the New Theatre on 13 July with the BBC Big Band directed by the inimitable Barry Forgie, and one of the UK’s finest jazz and big band vocalists, Iain Mackenzie. [Iain Mackenzie] knows how to swing a band to rude health – Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club World-class musicians … a brilliant musical force – The Telegraph Join us for the last night Read more
Oxford Festival of the Arts is thrilled to be announcing that award-winning saxophonist, rapper, and BBC Jazz Presenter, Soweto Kinch (who also read History at Oxford!) will be performing his new album: SOUNDTRACK TO THE APOCALYPSE for our final Friday Night in Festival Hall on July 11 with this trio. Soweto Kinch melds jazz and beat-based hip-hop in this album that completes a trilogy with Black Peril and White JuJu. All three works are political, Read more
Haydn came to Oxford in 1791, where he was conferred with a Doctorate from the University of Oxford. A ‘Grand Music Festival’ in the Sheldonian was fully reported in The Gentleman’s Magazine. ‘When Haydn appeared, and, grateful for the applause he received, seized hold of, and displayed, the gown he wore as a mark of the honour that had in the morning been conferred on him, the silent emphasis with which he thus expressed his Read more
We are delighted to announce that Oxford Festival of the Arts is embracing “Disappearance of Worlds”, an exhibition by Chantal Meza – a Mexican painter living and working in the UK, whose work for the past decade has confronted the violence, terror, and the complexities of disappearance in both a human and ecological context – within this year’s edition of the festival. This project is collaboration with Pembroke JCR Art; Pembroke College Oxford, University of Oxford; Read more
We are proud to present Songs of Bulbul, a captivating new dance performance by Aakash Odedra inspired by the ancient Sufi myth of a caged songbird, in collaboration with the Oxford Playhouse. Featuring choreography by Rani Khanam and music by Rushil Ranjan, this exquisite performance is an immersive dialogue between the intense physicality of Kathak and the spiritual journey of Sufism, merging music, dance, and poetry traditions, renowned for precise rhythm and storytelling. Nightingales, or ‘bulbuls’, hold a special Read more
We are excited to announce our first ever event in London! Who Tells the Story? Journalism in an Age of Disruption – a panel discussion featuring three alumni of Magdalen College School, now working on the front line of journalism. Following our hugely successful discussion between award-winning journalist and author, Misha Glenny, specialising in central and eastern Europe, global organised crime, and cybersecurity, together with BBC political correspondent Rob Watson, and your valued feedback for more such events, we Read more
We are delighted to unveil our first performance for Oxford Festival of the Arts 2025! A spectacular concert – Fire and Water – with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra at the ‘magnificent’ Sheldonian Theatre on July 12 at 7.30pm. Linked to our theme – Magnificent Oxford – the performance will be featuring the city’s Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, with the music of Handel, who, in 1733, spent a week in Oxford at the invitation of the Vice-Chancellor, directing a festival of his own Read more
Oxford Festival of the Arts is pleased to announce an open call for photographic works on the theme “What is your Oxford?”. “What is your Oxford?” will be an exhibition at Pembroke College Art Gallery curated from chosen photographs received in answer to the brief. We are asking for still photos that capture what our city means, or is, to you, or as seen through your eyes. Stills can be abstract, figurative, or -scape. They Read more
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