Bach’s Doubles and Triples

Announcement: Rachel Podger is sadly unwell and is unable to perform tonight. However, we are excited to announce that we have Bojan Čičić taking her place. Bojan recorded Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins with Rachel Podger in 2013 and the recording was named the best available recording of the work by BBC Music Magazine. He is the leader of the Academy of Ancient Music and Florilegium, and is professor of baroque violin at the Royal College of Music.

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We are so pleased to welcome Baroque specialists the Irish Baroque Orchestra with internationally renowned violinist, Rachel Podger. Presenting a programme of ‘Bach’s Doubles and Triples’, Rachel and the orchestra will perform concerti that showcase different combinations of instruments including the violin, flute, oboe and harpsichord. The programme starts with a contrapuntal tour-de-force and one of Bach’s most successful works, his Concerto for Two Violins in D minor BWV 1043, and ends with his Concerto for Three Violins in D major BWV 1064R, originally written for three harpsichords.

This is the Yvonne Pye Memorial concert, in memory of Music at Oxford’s beloved Life President, who died in January 2021.

The Irish Baroque Orchestra is acclaimed as Ireland’s flagship period music ensemble and delivers historically-informed performances to the highest standards across Ireland and abroad. Under the artistic direction of Peter Whelan, scholarship and musical excellence converge in a unique way through the IBO’s work. This creates an original offering like no other organisation on the Irish classical music scene. Through this integration of research and practice the very idea of an orchestra is defined afresh, providing an unusual and enriching experience for today’s audiences.

Rachel Podger, “the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin” (The Times), has established herself as a leading interpreter of the Baroque and Classical music periods. She was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Prize in October 2015, Gramophone Artist of the Year 2018, and Ambassador for REMA’s Early Music Day 2020.

Do make sure you check out the videos of Rachel and the orchestra below.

‘The 11-piece orchestra imbues the action with unceasingly inventive dancing rhythms’
Fiona Charleton, The Sunday Times (February 2022)

‘Like a pared back, acoustic version of a rock classic, the Irish Baroque Orchestra use original instruments to (re)create and enrich the listening experience…frequently creating moments that are timeless’
Chris O’Rourke, The Arts Review (February 2022)