Marios Papadopoulous describes how music, as a form of communication and expression, often transcends words

The Power of Music is the title of the first of our Summer Baroque series of concerts — five Saturday evening concerts in high summer featuring the music of that most fruitful and enduring period of classical music, including such musical treasures as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Handel’s great choral work Zadok the Priest.

Nearly 300 years after these great works were composed, I found myself on stage at Oxford’s New Theatre with Nigel Kennedy. As the packed auditorium begged him to pick up his violin and play one more encore, I looked at a sea of almost 1800 faces, all ages, backgrounds and walks of life, and reflected on the essential truth of these words.

Nigel Kennedy is, of course, undoubtedly one of the most famous musicians in the world. Indeed his recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, ground-breaking in its originality and freshness of interpretation, remains the best-selling classical record of all time. Never one to appear suited and booted on stage, dayglo green trainers set the sartorial tone on this occasion, the famously mockney-voiced enfant terrible (now rather beyond enfant-cy) of the classical music world is wonderfully warm, naughty and endearing, and in his five concerts to date with Oxford Philomusica he has not only completely charmed sell-out audiences at each, but had many of our musicians eating out of his hand too. Eager to share the spotlight, he encouraged specific members of the orchestra including, on this occasion, our percussion player and Principal Double Bass Tom Martin to shine and take the applause.

The audience was captivated throughout, and following the virtuoso violinist’s musical journeys away from the conventional via dazzling segues into jazz improv, and loving his conversational asides which drew them into the performance and kept them engaged until the final note faded after many recalls.

As the audience flooded out of the theatre, the sense of joy was palpable: many hundreds of people uplifted, inspired and united by their differing experiences of the music. A favourite quote in my family is that of Prof. Dumbledore of Hogwarts Academy, who says: ‘Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here’.

The power of music has been known, if not fully understood, to humans across the ages and centuries. Music as a form of communication and expression of emotion often transcends words. At Oxford Philomusica we witness this in our outreach programmes time and time again. It has remarkable therapeutic powers which can help those with emotional, physical and cognitive disabilities. Music is the human language that bridges cultures, genders and generations, and little gives me more personal pleasure than to be reminded of this as I was at the end of this concert.

Summer has long been the season for great music. Here in Oxford our joyous Summer Baroque concerts run from the end of June to the end of July and straight into our annual Piano Festival, which attracts the finest new pianistic talent from across the globe plus a panoply of international stars to give masterclasses, recitals and concerts — all open to the public.

And there is much more besides: music-making to suit every taste right here on our doorstep. I hope you feel the power of music this summer.