As Oxford Philomusica's Summer Baroque returns for a fourth series, Nicola Lisle talks to soloist Peter Adams

There’s something about summer and baroque music — the two dovetail together as neatly as Wimbledon and strawberries or cricket on the village green.

The Oxford Philomusica’s annual Summer Baroque series, which opens at the Sheldonian on Saturday, is a mouth-watering feast of chamber works by the likes of Vivaldi, Handel and Purcell, and provides a perfect showcase for the orchestra’s soloists.

“Marios [Papadopoulos] has put together a varied programme of baroque concerts with some very well-known pieces like The Four Seasons and some lesser-known works as well,” says cellist Peter Adams.

“In The Four Seasons, which we’re doing on Saturday, instead of the usual one soloist for the entire piece, he uses four soloists, one for each of the concer-tos, which is quite an interesting slant.

“In that concert we’re also doing Brandenburg 3, which shows off all the strings, and I’m playing one of the many Vivaldi cello concertos, but a slightly more unusual one. I think there are 27 in total, but I’m doing one of the A minor ones, which is not often heard.”

Peter has an impressive pedigree as a baroque musician. He was appointed Professor of viola da gamba and baroque cello at the Royal Academy of Music when he was 21, becoming the youngest professor in the academy’s history. This achievement is all the more astonishing considering he started playing the cello at the relatively late age of 13.

“I learnt the piano to start with, but I didn’t like it very much and it didn’t like me either! Then my parents took me to a concert on the South Bank, and it was a string orchestra, and after that I said, ‘I want to play the cello. That’s the sound I want to make’.”

At just 16 Peter was playing in the orchestra of the London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet), and later became principal cello with the London String Orchestra and London City Ballet, as well as pursuing further studies at Indiana University.

He has been playing with Oxford Philomusica since 2007, and relishes the opportunities to play both orchestral and chamber repertoire.

“I enjoy both, obviously for different reasons. I have a particular affinity with the baroque repertoire and it’s lovely to play it in the Sheldonian, which by its nature suits a small ensemble very well.”

So what will be his personal highlights in the baroque series? “I’m looking forward to the Vivaldi cello concerto. I’m also looking forward to the Zelenka trio sonata that we’re doing at Christ Church, which is lovely to do as well.

“The cello line, the so-called continuo line, is one of the most exciting things to play, so I look forward to all of the concerts.”

Next week the soloists are joined by the Choir of The Queen’s College for an exhilarating evening of Handel‘s choral and orchestral works, including Zadok the Priest, The King Shall Rejoice, Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Later in the series there is an evening of Telemann, Rutter and Bach, with guest harpsichord soloist Mahan Esfahani. This is followed by a concert of ceremonial trumpet music by Handel, Gabrieli, Britten and John Williams, with an evening of European baroque music bringing the series to a close on July 26.

Summer Baroque
Various venues
June 28 until July 26, 8pm
For tickets and further details, visit oxfordphil.com