Linking in with this year’s Kafka centenary celebrations in Oxford, Kaleidoscope’s richly expressive programme explores themes of metamorphosis and transformation through two of the most thrilling chamber works in the repertoire.

Francesca Chiejina (soprano), Elena Urioste (violin), Savitri Grier (violin), Juan-Miguel Hernandez (viola), Edgar Francis (viola), Laura van der Heijden (cello), Tony Rymer (cello), Philip Nelson (Double Bass)

Alexander Zemlinsky – Maiblumen blühten überall for soprano and string sextet
Richard Strauss – Metamorphosen (arr. Rudolf Leopold for string septet)
INTERVAL
Alma Mahler – Four Songs (arr. Tom Poster for soprano and string sextet)
Arnold Schoenberg – Verklärte Nacht for string sextet, Op. 4 Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht is an impassioned depiction of a couple whose lives are transfigured as they walk through the night, while Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen (in its string septet version) is a heart-rending reaction against the destruction of European culture and heritage in the Second World War.

Fast-rising star soprano Francesca Chiejina joins for some exquisite music for voice and strings: Zemlinsky conjures shimmering textures in Maiblumen blühten überall, while four of Alma Mahler’s songs are heard here in sumptuous chamber arrangements by Tom Poster.

This is an evening of emotional extremes, of feverish and ecstatic passions; we can’t wait to share the journey with you.

PRE CONCERT TALK

Join us from 6pm – 6.45pm for a FREE pre-concert talk ‘Kafka and Music’ with Carolin Duttlinger. You will be offered the option to add a ticket to your basket when you purchase your ticket for ‘Transfigured’. Tickets for the talk will also be available on the door

Carolin is Professor of German at the University of Oxford and Co-Director of the Oxford Kafka Research Centre. An international Kafka expert, she has published four books on the author. She is currently leading a major new research project, ‘Kafka’s Transformative Communities’, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and which brings together academics and creative practitioners from a range of artforms and media.