Come and celebrate the end of Lower 6th and the impending summer with other L6 parents in the Abingdon School Café.  The intimate atmosphere of the Café by night is very different to other Abingdon School venues and is just right for an L6 reunion. There will be a cash bar as usual and some surprises too!

Tickets are £20 each to include starter, main and pudding. The menu can be viewed here.

Dress: summer casual

Please don’t forget to  complete the attached Google Form as ASPA needs this information to plan the occasion.

A final event of their school careers for our Upper Sixth musicians, this concert will, again, feature our senior ensembles in a concert of toe-tapping light music. Come expecting to hear ABBA, Bacharach, Mancini, Glenn Miller and the rest and enjoy some refreshments in the summer sunshine, English weather permitting. We look forward to seeing you there!

John Mason School, just round the corner from Abingdon School, has taken on a whole new venture this year – a production of Henry Purcell’s 1689 opera, Dido and Aeneas. They have a talented and dedicated cast of 20 students who have been working hard since the spring to bring alive Purcell’s wonderful story of Dido – the queen of Carthage who falls in love with the dashing Aeneas, who is then duped by the evil sorceress into thinking the gods wish him to leave his new found love. Unfortunately it doesn’t end well for Dido! The music is stunning with the most glorious melodies and harmonies. The first half of the evening will be a number of solo performances from our most talented instrumentalists and singers.

Tickets are £4 / £3 and are available from Students Services at John Mason School or by calling 01235 524664.

Discover the history of electricity and witness some of the earliest historical demonstrations of how electricity could be harnessed, developed by scientists Faraday and Davy.

From explanations of static electricity to modern day use of generators and how magnetism and electricity work together, this electrifying show involves live demos and audience interaction.

America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.

Andrew Garfield (Silence, Hacksaw Ridge) plays Prior Walter along with a cast including Denise Gough (People, Places and Things), Nathan Lane (The Producers), James McArdle (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Russell Tovey (The Pass).

This new staging of Tony Kushner's multi-award winning two-part play is directed by Olivier and Tony award winning director Marianne Elliott (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and War Horse).

Part Two: Perestroika, will also be broadcast live on 27 July 2017.

For more information about the performance, please go to the National Theatre Live website.

Known to millions as ‘The King of Waltz’, André Rieu is one of the world’s most popular music artists. His legendary annual Maastricht concert is the most eagerly anticipated cinema event of the year, last year setting new box office records in several countries.

Set against the stunning medieval backdrop of the town square in André’s Dutch hometown, the spectacular Maastricht concert features the maestro in his element, along with his 60-piece Johann Strauss Orchestra, sopranos, tenors and very special guests. André delivers an unforgettable musical experience full of humor, fun and emotion for all ages.

This presentation of André Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert in cinemas features host Charlotte Hawkins, who conducts an interview with André Rieu the moment he steps off stage, exclusively for cinema audiences.

This year is a very special year because it is exactly 30 years ago that André Rieu started his Johann Strauss Orchestra in his home town of Maastricht. From a small group of musicians rehearsing in the classroom of André’s son’s primary school to stadiums and concert halls around the world - what a journey it has been!

Take a front row seat and experience this spectacular musical event on the big screen. Enjoy backstage access, interviews with André and his special guests, musical favourites and much, much more, exclusive to cinema.

America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.

Andrew Garfield (Silence, Hacksaw Ridge) plays Prior Walter along with a cast including Denise Gough (People, Places and Things), Nathan Lane (The Producers), James McArdle (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Russell Tovey (The Pass).

This new staging of Tony Kushner's multi-award winning two-part play is directed by Olivier and Tony award winning director Marianne Elliott (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and War Horse). Part One: Millennium Approaches was first performed at the National Theatre in 1992 and was followed by Part Two: Perestroika the following year.

Part One: Millennium Approaches will be broadcast live on 20 July 2017.

For more information about the performance, please go to the National Theatre Live website.

Enjoy a fun swim session in our superb swimming pool followed by an aquatic-themed movie in the Amey Theatre. The morning begins with swimming from 9.00am-10.30am at the Abingdon School Sports Centre and the film will begin promptly at 11.00am. Snacks and refreshments are available to purchase at both the Sports Centre and Amey Theatre.

Two separate film and splash days available:

29 July - Finding Dory (PG)

26 August - Moana (PG)

The decay of Rome reaches violent depths in Shakespeare's most bloody play.

Titus is a ruler exhausted by war and loss, who relinquishes power but leaves Rome in disorder. Rape, cannibalism and severed body parts fill the moral void at the heart of this corrupt society.

Shakespeare's gory revenge tragedy presents us with murder as entertainment, and, as the body count piles up, poses questions about the nature of sexuality, family, class and society.

Blanche McIntyre returns to the RSC to direct Shakespeare's brutal revenge tragedy after her debut directing The Two Noble Kinsmen (2016).

For more information about the performance, please go to the RSC website.

The incredible Billie Piper (Penny Dreadful, Great Britain) returns in her Evening Standard Best Actress award-winning role. A young woman is driven to the unthinkable by her desperate desire to have a child in Simon Stone's radical production of Lorca's achingly powerful masterpiece.

The unmissable theatre phenomenon sold out at the Young Vic and critics call it 'an extraordinary theatrical triumph' (The Times) and 'stunning, searing, unmissable' (Mail on Sunday). Billie Piper's lead performance is described as 'spellbinding' (The Evening Standard), 'astonishing' (iNews) and 'devastatingly powerful' (The Daily Telegraph). Set in contemporary London, Piper's portrayal of a woman in her thirties desperate to conceive builds with elemental force to a staggering, shocking, climax.

Please note that this broadcast does not have an interval.

For more information about the performance, please go to the National Theatre Live website.

Calling all ocean lovers! The annual Ocean Film Festival is sweeping towards Edinburgh with a brand new selection of the world’s most amazing ocean films, from both above and below the surface.

Brought to you by the team behind the Banff Film Festival UK Tour, this collection of short films celebrates divers, paddlers, surfers and oceanographers who live for the sea’s salt spray. Be wowed at the mind blowing marine life; exhilarated by the power of the waves, and inspired by the characters who dedicate their lives to answering the call of the ocean.

Visit Ocean Film Festival Website for more information and tickets.

Photo credit: Perrin James

Julia Jones conducts the Royal Opera's spellbinding production of Mozart's The Magic Flute with a wonderful cast including Roderick Williams as Papageno.

Mozart’s glorious opera The Magic Flute is brought enchantingly to life in David McVicar’s production with beautiful sets by John Macfarlane. Prince Tamino promises the Queen of the Night that he will rescue her daughter Pamina from the enchanter Sarastro. He begins his quest, accompanied by the bird-catcher Papageno – but all is not as it seems...

David McVicar’s classic production embraces both the seriousness and comedy of Mozart’s work. The audience is transported to a fantastical world of dancing animals, flying machines and dazzlingly starry skies. The setting provides a wonderful backdrop for Mozart’s kaleidoscopic score, from the Queen of the Night’s coloratura fireworks to Tamino and Pamina’s lyrical love duets and Papageno’s hearty, folksong-like arias.

Sung in German with English surtitles.

Professors Gusto and Hitch study hard in the Laboratory of Curiosity to answer questions about how Earth’s forces work; How do birds stay in the air? Why don’t the stars fall from the sky? Where does the moon go in the daytime? But there are some questions that can’t be answered by experiments alone.

When Gusto remembers a trip to the circus, it’s just the breakthrough they need. The gravity defying tricks of the Flying Atom sisters help to explain the forces in action.

Flying Atoms is a playful, interactive family show that brings to life the basic principles of physics through a fantastical show that explores the forces and matter. The performance will wow audiences young and old alike with high-flying aerial dance, a magical soundtrack and stunning design.

Brought to Oxford by Powys Dance, Flying Atoms has toured schools and venues around the country since 2016. Read more about the show here dawnspowysdance.org/flying-atoms/

For more information and tickets please visit the Science Oxford website.

Puccini's passionate opera is conducted by Antonio Pappano and stars a superb young cast including Nicole Car, Michael Fabiano and Mariusz Kwiecien, in a new production by Richard Jones.

When Rodolfo, a penniless poet, meets Mimì, a seamstress, they fall instantly in love. But their happiness is threatened when Rodolfo learns that Mimì is gravely ill.

Puccini’s romantic depiction of bohemian Paris, with memorable music and a love story drawn from everyday life, has captivated audiences around the world, making La Bohème one of the best-loved of all operas.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

The first solo concert platform is preceded by the brief AGM of ASMS, Abingdon School Music Society, the parental group that supports the work of the music department by serving refreshments at concerts and raising funds for our many activities. This is a great opportunity to hear some of Abingdon's musical talent in solo performance.

Admission is free.

A full-throttle war play that revels in the sweat of the battlefield, Coriolanus transports us back to the emergence of the republic of Rome.

Caius Martius Coriolanus is a fearless soldier but a reluctant leader. His ambitious mother attempts to carve him a path to political power, but he struggles to change his nature and do what is required to achieve greatness. In this new city state struggling to find its feet, where the gap between rich and poor is widening every day, Coriolanus must decide who he really is and where his allegiances lie.

Rome Season Director, Angus Jackson, completes the Royal Shakespeare Company’s collection of Shakespeare’s Roman plays with a visceral production which sees Sope Dirisu (One Night in Miami, Donmar Warehouse, 2016) take on the title role.

For more information about the performance, please go to the RSC website.

Wildlife presenter and cameraman Gordon Buchanan has spent 20 years filming in some of the most remote parts of the world.  Having a developed a reputation for taking on tough and dangerous assignments he’s behind some of the most memorable wildlife scenes in recent years; from filming the night-time leopard hunt in Mumbai for Planet Earth II, to coming face to face with a polar bear in the highly-acclaimed “The Polar Bear Family & Me” series.

With remarkable stories from around the globe, Gordon’s talk delves into his world of weird, wild and wonderful wildlife all illustrated with his own film footage and photography.

Tickets are available on the Horizon Lectures Website.

Now in its third year, the senior solo competition pitches together the best of Abingdon's senior solo talent. Previous winners have been pianists, Leon Wu (2015) and Didier Delgorge (2016). Former Principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire and OA parent, George Caird, is our illustrious adjudicator and we fully expect this to be an exciting evening of music making.

As our thoughts turn to our First Orchestra and Big Band Tour to Japan, the Abingdon Music Society are combining their fund-raising activities with a social event, a meal and a musical quiz. The quiz will embrace music of all genres, and from classical to pop and it is rumoured that our quizmaster could well be a member of Abingdon Royalty, perhaps even the King!. This event is sure to be great fun - please join us!

Our second Solo Platform provides a new batch of our performers, ready to perform their latest pieces.

Admission is free.

Our JCS, Joint Schools' Choral Society, comprises boys, girls, parents and staff from both Abingdon and the School of St Helen and St Katharine in a large choir and orchestra under the baton, this time, of Dr Jason Preece. Dr Preece has chosen a balanced and contrasting programme of Mozart and John Rutter, which we feel sure our performers and audience will enjoy. Please join us!

Half a dozen of our most able woodwind players will each be "taught" in a 20 minute lesson in front of a public audience. Always a fascinating insight into the learning process, and in the presence of a leading member of the woodwind performing and teaching profession, this is a must for a woodwind players and their parents.

A young girl's enchanted present leads her on a wonderful Christmas adventure in this beautiful classical ballet, danced to Tchaikovsky's magnificent score.

The young Clara creeps downstairs on Christmas Eve to play with her favourite present – a Nutcracker doll. But the mysterious magician Drosselmeyer is waiting to sweep her off on a magical adventure. After defeating the Mouse King, the Nutcracker and Clara travel through the Land of Snow to the Kingdom of Sweets, where the Sugar Plum Fairy treats them to a wonderful display of dances. Back home, Clara thinks she must have been dreaming – but doesn’t she recognize Drosselmeyer’s nephew?

Peter Wright’s nigh-on definitive production for The Royal Ballet ranks as one of the most enduring and enchanting versions of The Nutcracker. With its festive period setting, dancing snowflakes and enchanting stage magic, Lev Ivanov’s 1892 ballet has become the perfect Christmas entertainment, with Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous, sugar-spun music the most recognizable of all ballet scores.

Our two Christmas Concerts constitute the musical highlight of the Michaelmas Term and bring together the best of Abingdon's larger ensembles in a programme which is repeated on consecutive nights. All the senior bands, orchestras and choirs will be singing, including the entire First Year, in music of an often Christmas flavour. Come and join us for a celebration of musical talent at the end of term!

Rory Kinnear (The Threepenny Opera, Penny Dreadful, Othello) is Marx and Oliver Chris (Twelfth Night, Green Wing) is Engels, in this new comedy written by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman. Broadcast live from The Bridge Theatre, London, the production is directed by Nicholas Hytner and reunites the creative team behind Broadway and West End hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors.

1850, and Europe’s most feared terrorist is hiding in Dean Street, Soho. Broke, restless and horny, the thirty-two- year-old revolutionary is a frothing combination of intellectual brilliance, invective, satiric wit, and child-like emotional illiteracy.

Creditors, spies, rival revolutionary factions and prospective seducers of his beautiful wife all circle like vultures. His writing blocked, his marriage dying, his friend Engels in despair at his wasted genius, his only hope is a job on the railway. But there’s still no one in the capital who can show you a better night on the piss than Karl Heinrich Marx.

For more information about this performance, please go to the NT Live website.

David McVicar's acclaimed production of Verdi's potent and tragic opera is conducted by Alexander Joel, with an excellent cast led by Dimitri Platanias, Lucy Corwe and Michael Fabiano.

The corruption of innocence is at the heart of Verdi’s potent tragedy in David McVicar’s production for The Royal Opera. Rigoletto, court jester to the libertine Duke of Mantua, is cursed by the father of one of the Duke’s victims for his irreverent laughter. When the Duke seduces Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda, it seems the curse is taking effect...

David McVicar’s production highlights the cruelty at the heart of the court of Mantua. Richly dressed courtiers engage in orgies and revelries to Verdi’s heady, spirited dances. The opera’s many musical highlights include the ebullient ‘La donna è mobile’, in which the Duke boasts of his disregard for women; Gilda’s exquisite, plangent duets with Rigoletto and the Duke; and the gorgeous Act III quartet that beautifully weaves the voices together as the story quickens to its shattering conclusion.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Drama, passion and fabulous music - Puccini's operatic thriller is one of the great opera experiences. Dan Ettinger conducts a star cast led by Adrianne Pieczonka, Joseph Calleja and Gerald Finley.

Tosca is one of the great evenings of opera, and from its strident opening chords conjures up a world of political instability and menace. Jonathan Kent’s production for The Royal Opera captures the dangerous political turbulence of Rome in 1800. The Chief of Police, Scarpia – one of the most malevolent villains in opera – ruthlessly pursues and tortures enemies of the state. His dark, demonic music contrasts with the expansive melodies of the idealistic lovers, Tosca and Cavaradossi, who express their passion in sublime arias, including ‘Vissi d’arte’ and ‘E lucevan le stelle’.

Puccini’s meticulously researched score is infused with the same authentic detail, from distant cannon fire during the Act I Te Deum to tolling church bells and the sounds of a firing squad.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

'I am all the daughters of my father's house,

And all the brothers too.'

Twelfth Night is a tale of unrequited love – hilarious and heartbreaking. Two twins are separated in a shipwreck, and forced to fend for themselves in a strange land. The first twin, Viola, falls in love with Orsino, who dotes on OIivia, who falls for Viola but is idolised by Malvolio. Enter Sebastian, who is the spitting image of his twin sister...

Christopher Luscombe, Director of the ‘glorious’ (Daily Telegraph) Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing (2014 and 2016), returns to the Royal Shakespeare Company to tackle Shakespeare’s greatest comedy, a brilliantly bittersweet account of "the whirligig of time".

For more information about the performance, please go to the RSC website.

Shakespeare's tale of love and loss becomes compelling dance drama in Christopher Wheeldon's ballet adaption, with music by Joby Talbot.

The story follows the destruction of a marriage through consuming jealousy, the abandonment of a child and a seemingly hopeless love. Yet, through remorse and regret – and after a seemingly miraculous return to life – the ending is one of forgiveness and reconciliation.

With powerful designs by Bob Crowley and atmospheric music by Joby Talbot, The Winter’s Tale is a masterful modern narrative ballet.

Bizet's classic French opera stars Anna Goryachova in Barrie Kosky's intense production.

Carmen is the best-known work by French composer Georges Bizet, and one of the most famous operas in the entire art form – numbers such as the Habanera and the Toreador Song have permeated the popular consciousness as little else has.

This ever-popular opera is given a fresh point of view in Barrie Kosky’s highly physical production, originally created for Frankfurt Opera. The Australian director is one of the world’s most sought-after opera directors, whose Royal Opera debut with Shostakovich’s The Nose in 2016 was greeted with delight. For Carmen he has devised a far-from-traditional version, incorporating music written by Bizet for the score but not usually heard, and giving a new voice to the opera’s endlessly fascinating central character.

Sung in French with English surtitles.

Ben Whishaw (The Danish Girl, Skyfall, Hamlet) and Michelle Fairley (Fortitude, Game of Thrones) play Brutus and Cassius, David Calder (The Lost City of Z, The Hatton Garden Job) plays Caesar and David Morrissey (The Missing, Hangmen, The Walking Dead) is Mark Antony. Broadcast live from The Bridge Theatre, London.

Caesar returns in triumph to Rome and the people pour out of their homes to celebrate. Alarmed by the autocrat’s popularity, the educated élite conspire to bring him down. After his assassination, civil war erupts on the streets of the capital.

Nicholas Hytner’s production will thrust the audience into the street party that greets Caesar’s return, the congress that witnesses his murder, the rally that assembles for his funeral and the chaos that explodes in its wake.

For more information on this performance, please go to the NT Live website.

The Royal Ballet celebrates the centenary of Leonard Bernstein's birth with an all-Bernstein programme from choreographers Wayne McGregor, Liam Scarkett and Christopher Wheeldon.

Leonard Bernstein was one of the first classical composers in America to achieve both popular and critical acclaim. He was eclectic in his sources – drawing on jazz and modernism, the traditions of Jewish music and the Broadway musical – and many of Bernstein’s scores are remarkably well suited to dance.

He was particularly associated with Jerome Robbins, their credits together including Fancy Free and West Side Story.

To celebrate the centenary year of the composer’s birth, The Royal Ballet has united all three of its associate choreographers to celebrate the dynamic range and danceability of Bernstein’s music.The programme includes two world premieres by Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor and Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon, marking each artist’s first foray into Bernstein. At the heart of the programme is the first revival of Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett’s The Age of Anxiety, created in 2014 to Bernstein’s soul-searching Second Symphony. Both symphony and ballet are inspired by W.H. Auden’s masterful modernist poem, itself written in response to the atmosphere of disillusionment and uncertainty that followed the end of World War II.

Verdi's opera on Shakespeare's tragedy is conducted by Antonio Pappano, with magnificent cast including Anna Netrebko, Željko Lucic and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo.

Verdi’s life-long love affair with Shakespeare’s works began with Macbeth, a play he considered to be ‘one of the greatest creations of man’. With his librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, Verdi set out to create ‘something out of the ordinary’. Their success is borne out in every bar of a score that sees Verdi at his most theatrical: it bristles with demonic energy.

The warrior Macbeth fights on the side of the King of Scotland – but when a coven of witches prophesy that he shall become king himself, a ruthless ambition drives Macbeth and his wife to horrific acts. Murder makes Macbeth king, and intrigue and butchery are the hallmarks of his brief, doomed reign. The witches make another prediction, which also comes true: Macbeth and his lady lose their lives, and justice is restored.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

The Royal Ballet presents a new production of Tchaikovsky's magnificent classical ballet, with additional choreography by Liam Scarlett and designs by John MacFarlane.

Swan Lake has had a special role in the repertory of The Royal Ballet since 1934. This Season The Royal Ballet creates a new production with additional choreography by Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett. While remaining faithful to the Petipa-Ivanov text, Scarlett will bring fresh eyes to the staging of this classic ballet, in collaboration with his long-term designer John Macfarlane.

Prince Siegfried chances upon a flock of swans while out hunting. When one of the swans turns into a beautiful woman, Odette, he is enraptured. But she is under a spell that holds her captive, allowing her to regain her human form only at night.