Any regular piano festival-goers looking through this year’s brochure will instantly notice something different — it is now on for ten glorious days, the longest festival yet.

“As it’s the 15th, we thought we‘d make a bit of a splash,” explains Marios Papadopoulos, who instigated the festival in 1999. “So it’s going to be bigger than ever.”

One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the basic ethos of the festival — to celebrate both piano and pianist in their various guises.

“We’re still looking at the pianist, the accompanist, the chamber music player, teacher, conductor, virtuoso – all those things we set out to do 15 years ago are still very much the central focus of the festival.”

Marios is delighted that the festival has run for so many years, and become such a huge international success.

“Fifteen years means 15 very individual experiences,” he says. “Just looking at our first, second and third years, we have so many wonderful memories of some amazing talent, so one accumulates after the other to form an amazing series of experiences.”

A major feature of the festival, as always, is the contrast between the concerts by established artists and the participation of emerging talent in the Summer Academy. Legendary performers appearing this year include the likes of András Schiff, Stephen Kovacevich, Mahan Esfahani, Peter Frankl and Menahem Pressler, while many more starry names will be giving lectures and masterclasses – Yoheved Kaplinsky, Dame Fanny Waterman and Tessa Nicholson, to name but a few.

An interesting inclusion is recent Leeds International Piano Competition winner Federico Colli, who will be performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the Oxford Philomusica in a concert that also includes Brahms’ Symphony No.2 in D major.

In a festival first, there will be a vocal recital, featuring Menahem Pressler accomp-anying tenor Christoph Prégardien in Schubert’s Winterreise. “It’s showing the pianist in a different guise, and I think that’s very important,” Marios says.

Another novelty is Mahan Esfahani’s baroque-themed evening: “This shows the pianist as harpsichord player, which will be very interesting, I’m sure, for piano players to witness.”

The biggest innovation this year, though, is a new link with the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, formed in 2008 to make classical music more accessible to children and to nurture young talent.

“They are sending three of their scholars, 8- to 10-year-old whiz kids, so that’s going to be interesting. Lang Lang is taking a very keen interest in the festival, having been introduced to Oxford a couple of years ago playing with the Philomusica, so that’s something we’re looking forward to.”

 

Various venues
July 28 to August 6
01865 980980 or oxfordphil.com