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	Jack Gibbons has been giving highly acclaimed recitals in the university city of Oxford for the last 20 years, all concerts taking place in the historic Holywell Music Room (Europe's oldest purpose-built concert hall, opened in 1748, where both Handel and Haydn performed). Special discounted concert E-tickets are available from this site: E-tickets for Jack Gibbons' Oxford concerts can be purchased on-line direct from this website at special discount on-line prices. You can also join our mailing list free of charge to receive details of future concerts by Jack Gibbons, including priority booking and discount ticket offers; to join please e-mail your details (e-mail address or snail mail address or both) to mailing@jackgibbons.com.
	Holywell Music Room, Oxford, July and August 2008 JACK GIBBONS' 21st annual Summer Piano Series Ten concerts, beginning Sunday 13th July 2008, featuring the lives of the great composers in a series of unique "concert biographies" and more.   The Life of Beethoven The Life of Gershwin The Life of Mozart The Life of Chopin The Life of Liszt The Life of J.S. Bach A Chopin Soirée A Gershwin Party The Lives of Debussy & Ravel Farewell Piano Party   TICKETS Advance tickets for Jack Gibbons' 2008 Summer Piano Series are on sale at the discount rate of £15 each direct from this website up to 24 hours before each concert A special season ticket for all 10 concerts can be also be purchased for only £50 direct from this website (just £5 a ticket if attending all 10 concerts) Tickets at the above rates can also be purchased in person (or by phone or internet) from Tickets Oxford, Oxford Playhouse, Oxford (tel 01865 305305) Full price tickets will also be on sale on the door of the Holywell Music Room from 7.15PM on concert days (£18 full price, £15 concessions) Scroll down for more information on each concert and to purchase tickets...   CONCERT 1 THE LIFE OF BEETHOVEN Holywell Music Room, Oxford Sunday 13th July 2008 at 8PM       Award-winning virtuoso pianist Jack Gibbons opens the 21st annual season of his acclaimed Summer Piano Series with the first of his unique concert biographies. Tonight's programme focuses on the dramatic events of Beethoven’s life and includes some of his finest music including the Moonlight, Pathétique & Appassionata Sonatas.     "Jack Gibbons opened his 18th summer season at the Holywell last week amid a mild outbreak of Gibbons-mania. The start of the concert was delayed by ten minutes as staff struggled to cope with the demand for seats. Gibbons' affinity with Beethoven's music is such that he transcends mere recital; rather, he becomes one with the composer, absorbing his moods and passions, and recreating his bravura technique." Oxford Times       CONCERT 2 THE LIFE OF GERSHWIN Holywell Music Room, Oxford Sunday 20th July 2008 at 8PM       Jack Gibbons, described by Classic FM as “one of the world’s greatest Gershwin exponents”, tells the unique story of Gershwin’s life through words and the original breathtaking virtuoso piano music of George Gershwin (including note-for-note reconstructions of the composer’s original recordings of Rhapsody in Blue, I Got Rhythm, The Man I Love, Porgy and Bess Suite, etc.     "Jack Gibbons is THE Gershwin pianist of our time" BBC       CONCERT 3 THE LIFE OF MOZART Holywell Music Room, Oxford Sunday 27th July 2008 at 8PM       Jack Gibbons traces the amazing, but all too brief  life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through words and music in this one-off concert biography. The programme includes some of Mozart’s most exquisite piano music, including Sonata alla Turca, Sonata in A minor, K.310, Variations on "Ah, vous dirai-je, maman" and excerpts from his beautiful concertos.     "Jack Gibbons won a rapturous ovation from the audience for playing that demonstrated a formidable technique, true musicianship and sheer poetry" Oxford Times review of Gibbons playing Mozart's K.488     Buy e-tickets for this concert at the on-line discount price of £15 each: Buy a season ticket to all 10 Summer Piano Series concerts for just £50:        CONCERT 4 THE LIFE OF CHOPIN Holywell Music Room, Oxford Wednesday 30th July 2008 at 8PM       A musical biography of one of the great geniuses in music, Frederic Chopin, featuring some of the composer's most beautiful and passionate music including the ‘Heroic’ Polonaise, ‘Revolutionary’ Study,  Scherzo no.2, Fantaisie-Impromptu, Ballade no.1, plus Waltzes, Mazurkas, Preludes, etc interspersed with contemporary anecdotes, and extracts from the composer's letters.     "As I listened, enthralled, to his glorious playing – now melting, now almost terrifying in its ferocity there flashed across my mind that much quoted remark of Schumann's concerning Chopin: 'Hats off, gentlemen, genius. 'Surely there was more than a touch of genius in Jack Gibbons." Croydon Advertiser     Buy e-tickets for this concert at the on-line discount price of £15 each: Buy a season ticket to all 10 Summer Piano Series concerts for just £50:        CONCERT 5 THE LIFE OF LISZT Holywell Music Room, Oxford Sunday 10th August 2008 at 8PM       Liszt has been described as the first classical musician to enjoy a rock star life style. Tonight’s concert biography features some of his best loved music, interspersed with anecdotes and contemporary recollections. Liszt’s supremely romantic music includes Hungarian Rhapsodies nos.2 & 12; Leibestraume; Un Sospiro; Funérailles, Consolation; Tarantella; Sonata in B minor, etc.     "Staggering... this ranks among the most exhilarating feats of pianism I've heard ... Gibbons is an Alkan interpreter of exceptional authority" The Gramophone     Buy e-tickets for this concert at the on-line discount price of £15 each: Buy a season ticket to all 10 Summer Piano Series concerts for just £50:        CONCERT 6 THE LIFE OF J. S. BACH Holywell Music Room, Oxford Wednesday 13th August 2008 at 8PM       A special concert biography of one of the greatest of all composers, with readings of contemporary anecdotes and letters, a demonstration of how to write a fugue, and music drawn from throughout Bach’s life including Preludes and Fugues, Partita no.1, Chaconne (arr. Busoni) and the dazzling Goldberg Variations.     "Gibbons' revealed a freshness of manner [in his performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations], everything he did making a musically valid point" The Times     Buy e-tickets for this concert at the on-line discount price of £15 each: Buy a season ticket to all 10 Summer Piano Series concerts for just £50:        CONCERT 7 A CHOPIN SOIRÉE Holywell Music Room, Oxford Sunday 17th August 2008 at 8PM       Jack Gibbons recreates the special atmosphere of the soirées where Chopin performed in Paris in the 1830s and 40s, with music by both Chopin and his contemporaries (Liszt, Alkan, Schumann, Paganini, etc)     "Jack Gibbons himself is a pianist of genius, with an endearing Jimmy Stewart-like awkwardness, a charming smile and about forty hands. His delight in and enthusiasm for the music is almost tangible in the haze of nervous energy that radiates from him." Daily Information, Oxford     Buy e-tickets for this concert at the on-line discount price of £15 each: Buy a season ticket to all 10 Summer Piano Series concerts for just £50:        CONCERT 8 A GERSHWIN PARTY Holywell Music Room, Oxford Wednesday 20th August 2008 at 8PM       Jack Gibbons, “THE Gershwin pianist of our time” (BBC), recreates the heady mix of music played at Gershwin's legendary parties in New York and Paris in the 1920s and 30s, with music by Gershwin and his friends Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, etc., the party culminating in the Rhapsody in Blue.     "A remarkable recreation of Gershwin's unique style. Hearing Jack Gibbons perform is like being with Gershwin" Edward Jablonski, biographer of Gershwin, New York, 1998     Buy e-tickets for this concert at the on-line discount price of £15 each: Buy a season ticket to all 10 Summer Piano Series concerts for just £50:        CONCERT 9 LIVES OF DEBUSSY & RAVEL: THE IMPRESSIONISTS Holywell Music Room, Oxford Sunday 24th August 2008 at 8PM       Jack Gibbons traces the lives of France’s two greatest composers in this unique dual concert biography. Music includes Debussy’s Children’s Corner, Preludes (‘Girl with the flaxen hair’, ‘Submerged cathedral’, etc) & Ravel’s Pavane & Gaspard de la nuit     "Jack Gibbons is an outstanding pianist.. scintillating performance, by far the finest I have yet heard" Edward Greenfield, Penguin Good CD Guide     Buy e-tickets for this concert at the on-line discount price of £15 each: Buy a season ticket to all 10 Summer Piano Series concerts for just £50:        CONCERT 10 JACK GIBBONS' FAREWELL PIANO PARTY Holywell Music Room, Oxford Wednesday 27th August 2008 at 8PM       Jack Gibbons concludes his 21st annual Summer Piano Series with his traditional end of summer mix of both serious and light hearted music, including requests chosen on the night by the audience. Music to include works by Scarlatti, Bach, Chopin, Alkan, Debussy, Ravel, Gershwin & Gibbons himself!     "Gibbons' enthusiasm was evident from the start and made all the more clear in his interesting and at times humorous commentary. They gave the performances a stamp of authority that made the evening memorable." Worcester Telegram & Gazette, USA     Buy e-tickets for this concert at the on-line discount price of £15 each: Buy a season ticket to all 10 Summer Piano Series concerts for just £50:
	HOW TO FIND THE CONCERT HALLS IN OXFORD: The map below shows the location of popular concert locations in the city including the historic Holywell Music Room, as well as the location of the Oxford Playhouse's Tickets Oxford box office. The Holywell Music Room is well served by nearby pubs, being a few yards from both the Kings Arms and Turf Tavern pubs (see second image below).
		CLICK ON THE IMAGE ON THE LEFT TO ENTER THE PRESS ROOM AND FIND OXFORD TIMES REVIEWS OF PAST OXFORD CONCERTS

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