Marios Papadopoulos

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
2025-03-13 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, United Kingdom
Bach Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
Mendelssohn Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 107, ‘Reformation’
Anthony Robb flute
Antje Weithaas violin
Marios Papadopoulos conductor
After its pious opening, Mendelssohn’s ‘Reformation’ Symphony explodes into a declaration of faith and equality – an image of the Lutheran Reformation as one of fortitude, industry, democratisation and joy, all of which permeate the composer’s best-kept symphonic secret. Before the embracing energy of Mendelssohn’s symphony comes the composer’s supremely elegant Violin Concerto in the sensitive hands of Antje Weithaas and music by Mendelssohn’s beloved Bach: the standout Orchestral Suite No. 2, with its modish flute solos.

Dvořák Eight
2025-04-10 19:30 - 21:30 | Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, United Kingdom
Humperdinck Prelude from Hansel and Gretel
Wieniawski Fantaisie brilliante, on themes from Gounod’s Faust, Op. 20
Waxman Carmen Fantasy
Dvořák Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88
Bomsori Kim violin
Marios Papadopoulos conductor
Winner of the Concerto Prize at the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Awards, Bomsori Kim brings her virtuosic storytelling to two spellbinding violin works distilled from great operas: Waxman’s famous Carmen Fantasy and Wieniawski’s wickedly entertaining fantasy on themes from Gounod’s Faust. Complementing these performances, Marios Papadopoulos conducts Humperdinck’s glowing prelude to Hänsel and Gretel and Dvořák’s thrilling Symphony No. 8, a supreme marriage of immediacy and architectural brilliance.

Mahler One
2025-05-10 19:00 - 21:30 | Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate's, Oxford, OX1 1BX, United Kingdom
Palazzo Sisyphus world premiere*
Shor Piano Concerto No. 1
Mahler Symphony No. 1 in D major, ‘Titan’
Behzod Abduraimov piano
Marios Papadopoulos conductor
Marcello Palazzo conductor*
Mahler’s symphonies are his spiritual autobiographies, laying out his experiences and suffering for all to hear. His strikingly confident Symphony No. 1 of 1889 is cast in two parts: first the optimism and energy of youth; then the crisis of rejection and death. Yet Mahler’s symphony powers towards an exultant conclusion, overtly popular in style and imbued with a new confidence – the confidence of life itself. Marios Papadopoulos conducts Mahler’s Titanic symphony here after the world premiere of Sisyphus by University of Oxford and OPO Composers’ Workshop alumnus Marcello Palazzo and another work from our Composer-in-Residence Alexey Shor: with unexpected twists in its traditional structure, Shor’s Piano Concerto No. 1 blends nostalgia and exhilaration, and features the remarkable soloist Behzod Abduraimov.
Young Artists’ Platform
Pre-concert recital 18:00

Beethoven Seven
2025-05-22 19:30 - 21:30 | Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, United Kingdom
Beethoven Overture ‘Coriolan’, Op. 62
Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 6
Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
Carmine Lauri violin
Marios Papadopoulos conductor
Marios Papadopoulos takes the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra through the momentous symphonic dance that is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, a work whose pounding, marching and pirouetting permanently realigned western music’s fundamental relationship between rhythm and harmony. Another of our own musicians, Concertmaster Carmine Lauri, is the soloist in the most lyrical and operatic violin concerto by the great guru of virtuosity, Niccolò Paganini, a work that will fill the Sheldonian Theatre with rococo elegance. To open, all the ferocity and impact of one of Beethoven’s most striking orchestral overtures, ‘Coriolan’.

Angela Gheorghiu
2025-06-19 19:30 - 21:30 | Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, United Kingdom
Strauss II Overture Die Fledermaus
Mascagni Prelude & Intermezzo Cavalleria Rusticana
Puccini Preludio sinfonico
Lehár Overture The Merry Widow
Verdi La Traviata Prelude Act I
Puccini ‘In quelle trine morbide’ from Manon Lescaut, Act II
Puccini ‘Donde lieta usci’ from La bohème, Act III
Puccini Manon Lescaut Intermezzo Act III
Puccini ‘Un bel di vedremo’ from Madama Butterfly, Act III
Puccini ‘O mio babbino caro’ from Gianni Schicchi
Angela Gheorghiu soprano
Marios Papadopoulos conductor
Angela Gheorghiu, one of the most glamorous and gifted opera singers of our time, returns to perform with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra to close the season at the Sheldonian Theatre. Together, they will celebrate a composer to whom she has dedicated a lifetime: Puccini. After landmark appearances as his heroines Tosca and Madama Butterfly on the world’s greatest opera stages, Gheorghiu performs the most beloved arias from Puccini’s operas, while the orchestra brings its storytelling talents to bear in enchanting overtures and tragic intermezzos from favourite operas and operettas.
