Do join us for the first of two Christmas Concerts taking place in the Amey Theatre. Tonight’s concert will focus on a lighter programme of music as the First Year Choir, Concert Band, Big Band and other smaller ensembles showcase their musical talents.

Our final concert of term sees our orchestras take to the stage to perform. The Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia and Symphony Orchestra will all perform their term’s work alongside some smaller chamber ensembles. Do join us for a wonderful evening of music making to round off the term’s musical activities.

Dress Code: Black tie

Menu:

Starter:

Sun-blushed tomato & mozzarella salad finished with nut-free pesto and focaccia bread

Main course:

Confit chicken breast with sweet potato mash, braised savoy cabbage and a rich red wine jus

Vegetarian option:

Grilled cauliflower steak glazed in a pomegranate molasse and served with sweet potato mash and braised savoy cabbage.

Dessert:

Cranberry & white chocolate cheesecake

A reception will be held in the Charles Maude Room before dining in the Dining Hall.

Janice Burns and Jon Doran are an Anglo-Scottish duo who came together after discovering a shared love of traditional music. They find their songs in archives that span the depths of our history – songs that tell vivid stories about the nature of life and our place in the world.

Please note, on the door prices will be £17.

Join Clara at a delightful Christmas Eve party that becomes a magical adventure once everyone else is tucked up in bed. Marvel at the brilliance of Tchaikovsky’s score, as Clara and her enchanted Nutcracker fight the Mouse King and visit the Sugar Plum Fairy in the glittering Kingdom of Sweets. Peter Wright’s much-loved production for The Royal Ballet, with gorgeous period designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman, keeps true to the spirit of this festive ballet classic, combining the thrill of the fairy tale with spectacular dancing.

This autumn programme showcases composers from Czechia, France and Spain and has a festive and celebratory feel with a distinct Spanish flavour.

A  Bohemian river journey and the exciting dance rhythms of regional Spain fill the first half, while a macabre tale and a haunting, flamenco-inspired rhapsody make up the second. All leads to a thrilling finale with plenty of fiery Spanish sounds to warm the winter months.

Get ready to be taken on a journey through time, as American Dance School presents, "Rewind". The ultimate time dilation through music, movie, memories and moves, from Brian May's electrifying guitar solos to Tina Turners iconic tunes! This show is bursting with idols of all different ages, from disco to rock to Elton and the Temptations. The children and performers can't wait to show you what they got, Who knows, we may even take you back to the future, oh "Great Scott"!

Patrick Ness’s best-selling novel A Monster Calls is brought vividly to life by playwright and director Sally Cookson in this moving and imaginative adaptation. First performed in 2018 by The Old Vic in London in association with the Bristol Old Vic, it is now being performed by our Senior School students.

This is a story about love, loss and hope. Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mum became ill.  Then, one night, Conor is woken by something at his window. A monster has come walking. It’s elemental, a force of nature, and it wants something from Conor. It wants the truth.

Please note that this production deals with the sensitive issue of terminal illness.

Age recommendation: 11+

This production is raising money for the fantastic work of Sobell House Hospice.

ASPA would like to invite you to a Burns Night Dinner and Ceilidh Music is provided by Guerilla Ceilidh Oxford who will do two sets of one hour of dancing.

Enjoy a drink on arrival, three course meal and live dancing in Abingdon's new pavilion

Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale) plays Gareth Southgate in James Graham’s (Sherwood) gripping examination of nation and game.

The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t England’s men win at their own game? With the worst track record for penalties in the world, Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt, to take team and country back to the promised land.

Filmed live on stage at the National Theatre, Rupert Goold (Judy) directs this spectacular new play.

"One of the oldest and most fierce rivalries in Rugby Union is the fixture between England and Wales. Just a few days before the two countries meet head to head at Twickenham in the Six Nations, we have a special preview evening with two of the best players ever to don their country's colours.

World Cup winner Lewis Moody and Wales' record try scorer Shane Williams will chat about the forthcoming game as well as remembering some of the classic games that they have been involved in for what we are sure will be a fantastic evening of entertainment. There will also be an opportunity for an audience Q&A in the second half.

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Tickets are available direct from the theatre box office priced at £22.50 plus booking fee. In addition, there are a small number of VIP Meet and Greet tickets available which give you seats near the stage, entry to the post-show Meet & Greet, a photo opportunity with both the guests plus ONE signature from each too.

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It promises to be an evening not to forget for any rugby fan.

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NOTE: THERE MAY BE STRONG LANGUAGE"

This adaptation of Abbé Prévost’s novel embodies Kenneth MacMillan at his best, his acute insight into human psychology and his mastery of narrative choreography finding full expression in the impassioned duets of the central couple, visceral and urgent in their desire. The heroine’s struggle to escape poverty make Manon one of the most dramatic and devastating of ballets, emphasized by Nicholas Georgiadis’ evocative designs that reflect the juxtaposition between Manon’s impoverished origins and the lavish world she longs to inhabit. The 2023/24 Season celebrates the centenary of Nicholas Georgiadis.

Expect “initial touches of baroque fusing with modern day folk” (FATEA) as The Finn Collinson Band returns to the stage in 2024. Comprising three of English folk’s leading virtuosos of their respective instruments, they will introduce new material, along with favourites from critically-acclaimed studio albums The Threshold (2022) and Call To Mind (2019).

Although fundamentally folk in approach, Finn often draws on elements of early music to sculpt his distinctive sound. Traditional dance tunes meet melodies by the likes of Purcell and Van Eyck, shaken up in striking new arrangements and brought up to date with Finn’s own compositions and trademark recorder style. As RNR observes, Finn “has both the chops and the vision to take his music in many directions.

Andrew Scott (Fleabag) brings multiple characters to life in Simon Stephens’ (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) radical new version of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.

Hopes, dreams, and regrets are thrust into sharp focus in this one-man adaptation which explores the complexities of human emotions.

Filmed live during its sold-out run in London’s West End, Vanya will be playing exclusively in cinemas in 2024.

Moonrakers is an Oxford-based group of four musicians who pride themselves in having brought traditional and contemporary folk music to new audiences in village halls, churches, arts centres and festivals across the UK. The fact that the band "just OOZES quality" (Living Tradition) is down to the careful arrangements and selection of tunes and songs, presenting “exquisite music” (BBC). The material is a combination of traditional Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English music and their own contemporary songs and tunes, still very much 'in the idiom'.

Emily Portman and Rob Harbron both have award-winning reputations as performers, composers and recording artists. Now they have formed an inspired new collaboration in which they delve into English folk traditions, creating a boldly exposed and intricately woven contemporary folk sound.

Emily (voice, banjo and piano) is best known as an original songwriter and for her work with the acclaimed folk band The Furrow Collective. Rob (concertina, guitar and voice) tours with Leveret, Fay Hield, Jon Boden and many more, being in great demand as one the finest multi-instrumentalists in the UK.

When the young geisha, Cio-Cio-San, marries American Naval Officer Pinkerton, she believes she is entering a real, binding marriage for life. Forsaking her religion and community, she learns all too late that for Pinkerton, their marriage is merely an illusion – with tragic consequences.

With a score that includes Butterfly’s aria, 'Un bel dì, vedremo' (‘One fine day’) and the Humming Chorus, Giacomo Puccini’s opera is entrancing and ultimately heart-breaking. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s exquisite production takes inspiration from 19th-century European images of Japan. Asmik Grigorian performs the role of Cio-Cio-San, with Kevin John Edusei conducting

Danses Concertantes, commissioned by Ninette de Valois in 1955, was MacMillan’s first major work. An early sign of the incredible artistic output that would follow, the work’s critical success spurred MacMillan to abandon performing in favour of choreography. It is followed by Different Drummer, MacMillan’s complex and haunting balletic interpretation of Woyzeck, Georg Büchner's play about a soldier’s descent into madness. The mixed programme concludes with Requiem, his 1976 work for Stuttgart Ballet, created in memory of its late artistic director, MacMillan’s friend and former Royal Ballet dancer and choreographer John Cranko.

Out hunting, Prince Siegfried chances upon a flock of swans. One among them transforms into the beautiful human Odette and he is immediately enamoured. But Odette is bound by a spell which keeps her captive as a swan during the day. Can Siegfried free her?

Tchaikovsky’s sensational score combines with the evocative imagination of choreographer Liam Scarlett and designer John Macfarlane to heighten the dramatic pathos of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s quintessential ballet classic. Swan Lake remains to this day one of the best-loved works in the classical ballet canon.

Created to celebrate 200 years since Clara Wieck Schumann’s birth in 1819, I, Clara tells her extraordinary life story in her own words. It is the sixth Composer Portrait created by Lucy Parham, receiving its London premiere at Kings Place in October 2019. Lucy Parham is joined for this special performance by internationally acclaimed actor Dame Harriet Walter

Damiano Michieletto's sizzling new production evokes all the passion and heat of Bizet's score, which features Carmen’s sultry Habanera and the rousing Toreador song. Antonello Manacorda conducts an exciting international cast, with Aigul Akhmetshina performing the title role.

King Leontes of Sicilia is crippled with an all-consuming jealousy when his friend, King Polixenes of Bohemia, stays with him and his wife Hermione. What follows is a tale where a marriage is destroyed, a child is abandoned and all hope is seemingly lost for two lovers.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary, The Winter's Tale is an award winning modern ballet classic, packed with emotional turmoil heightened by Joby Talbot’s compelling score and Bob Crowley’s atmospheric designs.

The peaceful village of Bebko is alive with joyous celebrations. Suddenly, under attack, everything changes forever. Three siblings, Leto, Mati and Tana, must embark on perilous journeys in order to survive.

Message In A Bottle is a spectacular new dance-theatre show from five-time Olivier Award nominee, Kate Prince, inspired by and set to the iconic hits of 17-time Grammy Award- winning artist Sting, including Every Breath You Take, Roxanne, Walking On The Moon and more. With a mix of exhilarating dance styles, high-energy footwork and breath-taking athleticism, Message In A Bottle tells a unifying and uplifting story of humanity and hope.

Message In A Bottle is the latest masterpiece from the ground breaking creator behind West End hits Some Like it Hip Hop, Into the Hoods, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (choreography) and SYLVIA (Old Vic), and features the astonishing talents of dance storytelling powerhouse, ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company.

At a glittering party in 18th-century Paris, the poet Andréa Chenier delivers an impassioned denunciation of Louis XVI. Five years later, the Revolution has given way to the Terror, transforming the power balance between Chénier, his beloved Maddalena, and Gérard, the man who could destroy him...

Jonas Kaufmann headlines David McVicar’s spectacular staging, under the baton of long-time collaborator Antonio Pappano – who conducts Giordano’s epic historical drama of revolution and forbidden love in his last production as Music Director of The Royal Opera.

Melbourne sister duo Charm of Finches deliver intricate folk-pop that is simultaneously graceful and darkly bewitching. Their seamless blood harmonies traverse melancholy and wonder in equal measure.

Come and see it!

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