LMH Music students Matthew Eldridge and Tom Kirby will travel to Northern Italy from 9th-17th March for the Oxford University Orchestra Tour.
Accompanied by conductor Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey, 60 members of the OUO will travel between Milan, Bergamo, Cremona, Bologna, and Parma, performing five public concerts. They will also collaborate with the choir of Bologna University, hold an open rehearsal for school groups, and perform a chamber music concert in a retirement home.
Matthew Eldridge, LMH’s Junior Organ Scholar, has been a member of OUO since his first term at Oxford in 2021, and has performed several times at the Sheldonian over the course of his time here. He often leads or conducts the LMH Chapel and Chamber choirs for their regular performances in College. Matthew hopes the tour will be “A wonderful experience and opportunity to collaborate with a number of musical ensembles and institutions in Italy, and to explore music-making across different languages and cultures”.
First-year oboist and cor anglaise player Tom Kirby joined OUO at the start of this year and is also a member of Orchestra VOC, Ensemble Isis and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra side-by-side programme. He recently took part in the Alternative Canon Project, playing a solo recital at Somerville of music written exclusively by female composers. He says of the tour: “I’m really looking forward to playing in some world-class concert halls and doing some exciting rep – especially Ruth Gipps Symphony No. 2, because I’m extremely passionate about diversifying the classical repertoire”.
The Oxford University Orchestra are seeking support for their tour, and for their wider work in Oxford. You can find out more about how to support the OUO on their website.