Oxford May Music – Day 2
The festival that celebrates science and the arts, founded and directed by violinist Jack Liebeck and particle physicist Professor Brian Foster.
2-3.15 pm
Concert 2 – The Horn of Plenty
Mozart Horn Quintet in E flat major, K407
Britten Canticle III “Still Falls the Rain”, Op. 55
Schubert Quartettsatz in C minor, D703
Schubert “Auf den Strom”, D943
Korth “Midnight Rain”
Nicholas Korth, horn
The Festival Players
An eclectic mix of works mostly starring the horn begins our matinée concerts. The first of two Mozart pieces new to the Festival, the horn quintet, precedes a beautiful Britten song for tenor, horn and piano. Two pieces of Schubert take us into a world premier – Nicholas Korth’s work for tenor, horn, string quartet and keyboard was commissioned by the London Chamber Orchestra and the Guild of Horn Players in 2020.
5.30-6.30 pm
The Eccentricity of Chalk-Making Bugs
Professor Rosalind Rickaby, FRS, University of Oxford
Microscopic photosynthetic algae in the ocean, coccolithophores, have single-handedly generated the kilometres of chalk evident at the earth’s surface and conducive to champagne production. This chalk has acted as a key buffer of the acidity of the ocean for the last 200 million years, such that these algae are a crucial component of the carbon cycle, setting our atmospheric composition. But what controls how much chalk gets made? Are these algae (and their associated buffering) in peril in future acidified oceans? This talk will explore these questions as well as the recent intriguing discovery that the evolutionary tempo of these algae resonates with the cyclic motion of the earth around the sun.
8-10.30 pm
Concert 3 – String Quartet Night
Shaw Entr’acte
Haydn String Quartet in B minor, Op. 64 No. 2
Interval
Montgomery Strum
Schubert String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D810 “Death and the Maiden”
The Sacconi Quartet
Ben Hancox violin, Hannah Dawson violin, Robin Ashwell viola, Cara Berridge cello
A feast of string quartets from an ensemble who have been making music together for even longer than Oxford May Music has existed. It is a pleasure to welcome them to the Festival with a programme including that great favourite which we last heard in the Festival in 2010, Schubert’s quartet “Death and the Maiden”.
