About us
Oxford Millennium Orchestra is Oxford’s premier non-auditioning orchestra. We perform termly concerts in the Sheldonian Theatre, aiming to showcase classics from the orchestral repertoire alongside less commonly performed and often under-appreciated works. We have had the privilege of performing with many world-class soloists, including violinist Magdalena Filipczak who played Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 on the ex-Ida Haendel Stradivarius. The orchestra rehearses every Monday evening during term time, 7-10pm, in the Denis Arnold Hall, Faculty of Music. We are mostly made up of undergraduates and postgraduates at the university of Oxford, although we also welcome members from the wider Oxford community.
Our conductor
Adrian Adlam
The conductor and violinist Adrian Adlam, whose playing has been described by Strad Magazine as ‘florid, lyrical and majestic’, is the artistic director of the Internationale Fredener Musiktage in Germany. He takes annual responsibility for the commissioning of contemporary works for the festival, and over the years this has resulted in a substantial body of new work from composers including Michael Finnissy, Elena Firsova, John Woolrich, and many others.
His varied musical career has led to his appearance as leader with several European orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. Over the years he has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Bernstein, Boulez, Solti, Mehta, Haitink, Tilson-Thomas and Norrington. He has broadcast for both radio and television, while his recordings have included major works by Beethoven, Bartok, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Korngold and Tchaikovsky. His live broadcasts of the Bartok Solo Sonata and the Berg Violin Concerto were enthusiastically received and described as ‘combining mature technical expertise with musical integrity’.
His conducting repertoire spans from the Baroque to the 21st century composers, such as Daniel Ghisi whose latest work for string orchestra and electronics was given its first performance this Summer. He is the principal conductor of the Camerata Freden chamber orchestra, and this has involved numerous broadcasts, recordings and performances of Symphonies by Prokofiev and Haydn, as well as concertos by Shostakovich, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Copland and many others.
For more information, see his website, adrianadlam.com