As it nears the end of its third decade, Music at Oxford has really pulled out all the stops this year, with a programme that takes audiences on a journey around some of Oxford’s most stunning concert venues — from the tranquillity of college chapels and the intimacy of the Holywell Music Room to the grandeur of the Sheldonian Theatre and the Town Hall.

The season got off to a good start in October with guitar legends John Williams and John Etheridge, acclaimed vocal ensemble Exaudi and string duo Retorica.

Tomorrow night sees the welcome return of pianist Paul Lewis, who is bringing his popular Schubert series to a close with three of the composer’s final piano sonatas. He will return in December with another great pianist, Imogen Cooper, for a memorable finale, which will include music by Schubert, Brahms and Dvorak.

“We’ve been very lucky in having a relationship with Paul for five years, all the way through the Schubert sonatas and the Beethoven sonatas,” says MAO’s artistic planner, Alison Giles. “We worked with Paul from when he was a relatively young artist, and at a relatively early stage in his career, and now of course he’s an absolute superstar.”

But as one relationship with MAO comes to an end, so another begins. This season sees the start of a three-year programme by the Elias String Quartet, who will gradually work their way through the entire cycle of Beethoven string quartets.

“I’m confident that they have the sort of star quality that Paul had from an early stage, and I think they’re going to get bigger and bigger,” Alison says. “So that’s a really major connecting plank through the season.”

A highlight of the season will be the modern premiere of Rameau’s opera Anacréon, written in 1754 for the court of Louis XV. This baroque gem will be performed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, alongside Vivaldi’s ever-popular Gloria. Another major orchestra making an appearance this season is the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, in a programme that includes Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3 and works by Glinka and Chopin. “I think the CBSO music director, Andris Nelsons, is one of the most exciting conductors both to listen to and watch,” says Alison. “He’s in touch with every member of the orchestra. That’s a magical thing, when you feel that everyone is completely tuned into the conductor and responding to him.”

Perhaps the biggest event on MAO’s calendar is Britten’s intensely emotional War Requiem, to be performed next March by the Oxford Bach Choir and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with conductor Nicholas Cleobury, as part of the Britten in Oxford festival. This event will see MAO making a rare excursion into the Town Hall, to accommodate the extra large forces needed for this massive work.

Other gems include the continuation of MAO’s chapel series, and the traditional Carols at Christ Church.

For full details of the season, visit www.musicatoxford.com