Nicola Lisle discovers delights of this year’s Oxford May Music Festival

Women are taking centre stage at this year’s Oxford May Music Festival, which is returning for its ninth consecutive year

The six-day event - a unique fusion of music and science - opens on April 27th and throws the spotlight on female composers from the 19th and 20th centuries.

There is also a focus on darkness, and the two themes thread their way through the packed programme of concerts and lectures, sometimes intertwining and sometimes pursuing their own path.

The idea of having themes is a new departure for the festival. “I think it’s alright to have a theme now and again, but we wouldn’t want to have one every year,” says administrative director Brian Foster, who co-founded the festival in 2008 with violinist Jack Liebeck.

“It’s nice, thought, because there’s a lot of new pieces and new composers that I’d never heard of, so when I was writing the programme notes I had all sorts of fun in finding out about these various people. So it’s an angle that we haven’t used before, which is always good when you’ve been doing something for a long time. It’s good to refresh things occasionally.”

The two themes come together for the first evening concert, Something of the Night, which features works by Fanny Mendelssohn and Lili Boulanger, as well as night-themed pieces by Boccherini, Borodin, Chopin and Schoenberg.

Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio Op.17 features later in the festival alongside works by Tchaikovsky and Poulenc, and on the Saturday afternoon there is a chance to hear music by the 19th century French composer Cecile Chaminade, whose works have now largely fallen into obscurity.

American composer Amy Beach and English 20th century composer Rebecca Clarke also feature in the festival.

On the Sunday night there is another new departure for the festival - its first-ever jazz concert, courtesy of the Phronesis Jazz Trio.

The concert is perhaps not for the faint-hearted as it will be given in total darkness, allowing the audience to explore the effect of darkness on the listening experience.

It will be preceded by a lecture on the effects of darkness on the natural world by Professor Russell Foster of the University of Oxford and Professor Ron Douglas of City University.

For those looking for lighter entertainment, funny man Rainer Hersch is back on the Saturday night with a hilarious re-telling of the life of pianist and comedian Victor Borge. The show was a sellout at the Edinburgh Festival, leading the Scotsman to describe it as a “tearstreamingly funny tribute”.

As always, the concerts are interspersed with lectures by leading experts in their fields.

“I think we’ve finished up with a very good set of lecturers,” says Brian. “The final day is Stephen Johnson talking about female composers, which will wrap the whole thing up. We always try to have one lecture which isn’t scientific, so that’s the one this time.”

The festival ends with the traditional Festival Finale, which this year features star harpist Catrin Finch, former harpist to Prince Charles. Catrin will play in pieces by Saint-Saens with festival co-founder Jack Liebeck, and in works by French composer André Caplet with the Goldner String Quartet.

The concert ends with Mozart’s exhilarating Clarinet Quintet, bringing this year’s festival to a stunning finale.

  • Oxford May Music Festival
  • April 27 to May 2, various times
  • Holywell Music Room & St John the Evangelist
  • Tickets & further info: www. oxfordmaymusic.co.uk