• Oxford Opera
  • HANDEL: HERCULES
  • St John the Evangelist, Iffley Road
  • Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm
  • Tickets: www.herculesopera.com

Love and jealousy are central to this Handel tragedy, performed here by Oxford University’s most talented singers and musicians alongside Christ Church Cathedral choir. Fully staged and sung in English with surtitles, this promises to be a memorable experience.

  • Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra/ Massed Youth Choirs
  • BRITTEN: FRIDAY AFTERNOONS
  • Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
  • Friday, 12.30pm
  • Tickets: 01865 740000

A special celebration of Britten’s legacy to young people in which 300 children from Oxfordshire schools sing Friday Afternoons, a set of 12 songs written by Britten in the 1930s, to be performed simultaneously with thousands of other schoolchildren across the UK. The concert also includes Britten’s Passacaglia and an interview with Professor Robert Saxton, a former pupil of Britten’s. With conductor John Traill.

  • English Chamber Orchestra
  • BRITTEN BIRTHDAY CONCERT
  • Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
  • Friday, 7.30pm
  • Tickets: 01865 244806 or www.musicatoxford.com

Britten in Oxford culminates in this special birthday concert, featuring Britten’s own ‘house’ orchestra performing his Les Illuminations and Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, as well as his arrangement of Purcell’s Chacony in G Minor and music by Mozart and Mahler. With soprano Sophie Bevan and conductor Nicholas Cleobury.

  • Steven Isserlis/Connie Smith
  • CHAMBER RECITAL
  • Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, Oxford
  • Saturday, 8pm
  • Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com

Outstanding cellist and JDP patron Steven Isserlis is joined by pianist Connie Smith for this Britten centenary recital, featuring his Solo Cello Suite No.3 Op.87 and Sonata in C Major Op.65 as well as works by Bridge and Prokofiev.

  • All Saints Singers
  • ADVENT CONCERT
  • All Saints Church, Sutton Courtenay
  • Sunday, 7.30pm
  • Tickets: 01235 848205, 848997 or 522978

Duruflé’s Requiem is the centrepiece of this concert, which also includes works by Beethoven, Bruckner, Lauridsen, Rheinberger and Holst.

With Kate Symonds-Joy (mezzo soprano), Michael Bundy and Christopher Foster (bass baritones) and conductor Gulliver Ralston.