AN all-girls Oxford school is throwing open the doors of its new multi-million-pound music block to the public for a week of musical events.
Roxy Music star and producer Brian Eno officially opened the £4.5m building at Headington School, Headington Road, in July.
Now the school is holding a week-long celebration of music, with 16 different events taking place — all open to the public.
Headteacher Anne Coutts said: “It is a chance to show everybody what the music school is like and to hear some of the things that both we and visiting people do.
“We have made opportunities at different times of the day so different people can come to different things, and it is open to whoever wants to come.”
Events start tomorrow with a piano recital and discussion from David Owen Norris.
Throughout the week, there will be tea concerts, lunch concerts, and masterclasses in jazz and brass chamber music.
Many of the events are free, and a family concert on Tuesday at 7.30pm will include performances by parents and siblings of pupils at the school as well as girls currently studying there.
The week will finish with a music concert at the school on Saturday, October 10, which will see nine soloists who study at the school performing alongside experienced musicians.
A choir of 40 girls, their teachers and their parents, has been formed for the occasion, and they will sing Vivaldi’s Gloria together on the night.
Hundreds of pupils will be involved in the music festival.
Mrs Coutts said it was always the intention to make the top-class facilities available to the wider community.
She said: “We have a real variety of music so we can attract all kinds of people.”
fbardsley@oxfordmail.co.uk To find out more or to buy tickets visit headington.org
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here