Every Tuesday - Saturday in August: Promotional evenings featuring ‘Opera Anywhere’ and other performers/musicians who have auditioned and been chosen by Oxford Castle Limited (solo/duo/trio+ and bands), to perform their own material and well known songs, showcasing their talents and promoting their CD’s. Variety of musical genres to suit all.
Performances: 6.00pm - 9.00pm. Venue: The Market Sqaure.

Monday 30th August - Sunday 5th September: The highly acclaimed professional Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company present a week-long run of “The Yeomen of the Guard” with Oxford Castleas its dramatic background. Set in the Tower of London, “The Yeomen of the Guard” is the closest that Gilbert & Sullivan came to Grand Opera and many believe that the musical score is Sullivan’s finest. A cast to match the splendour of the occasion has been assembled including some of Britain’s finest G&S performers.
Performances: 7.30pm. Matinee’s: Sat 4th Sept 2.30pm

(Groups bookings of 10+ have 10% discount) For your information we have arranged accommodation packages including a ticket to the show, various sightseeing and “fun entertainment”.

Tickets: First four rows: £44.00 (including glass of Buck’s Fizz and programme), Middle five rows: £30.00, Rear four rows: £22.00. Book online at www.wegottickets.com/GandS. Tel: 01422323252.

Friday 26th November – Monday 20th December: Come and join us all again at the Castle complex for a magical evening of Christmas music, amazing lights and beautiful Christmas trees as Oxford welcomes winter to the city with Christmas Light Night. Then meander through the Castle walls browsing at over 70 wonderful stalls for that unique Christmas gift until the 20th December.

If you thought Oxford was just about elegant spires and world-class academia then think again! Oxford Castle Unlocked reveals Oxford’s less well known history, one that is rich with tales of great escapes, betrayal and even romance - all within the walls of the ancient castle and prison.

Til Saturday 4th September: An exhibition about Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and some of its past interpretations. Featuring objects, books and framed illustrations from the Lewis Carroll Society as well as work from artists and local schools it is being created in partnership with the Lewis Carroll Society and the Story Museum to celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the story.
Times:10:00am - 4:30pm. Free: Admission.

Autumn: A range of 6-week Beginners and Intermediates courses starring throughout the Autumn, with professional photographer
Michael Betts. For more info visit www.michaelbetts.com/teaching.

Until Tuesday 28th September: Paintings & drawings from the collection of Sir Howard Hodgkin. This temporary display in Gallery 29 presents twenty elephant subjects, dating from about 1570 to 1750, which have been selected from the distinguished collection of the artist Sir Howard Hodgkin. Elephants were highly prized by the Muslim and Hindu rulers of India, for their power in battle and as majestic mounts on ceremonial occasions. The royal elephants were often depicted by court artists, in expressive individual portraits or in scenes of hunting and processions.

Wednesday 29th September - 27th February 2011: Giant spiders, dancing skeletons, winged goblins and hordes of ghostly warriors are among the spooky subjects depicted in this display of 19th century woodblock prints from the Ashmolean’s own collection.
Focusing on works by the renowned artists Kuniyoshi and Yoshitoshi, the display is timed to coincide with Halloween.

Wednesday 15th September - Sunday 5th December: The Ashmolean will inaugurate the major new exhibition programme with a show dedicated to the
Pre-Raphaelites in Italy in the four new temporary exhibition galleries.
Italy, its landscape, literature, art, and history, was a central reference point for the movement known as Pre-Raphaelitism in the 1850s and 1860s. The exhibition will explore the Pre-Raphaelites’ interest in Italian literature and landscape for the first time.

On Now: The principal feature in the reopened gallery will be an extensive new firearms display, uniting this important part of the Museum’s collection with the existing arms and armour displays on the top floor. This wide-ranging display will chart the development of firearms from 15th-century hand-cannons to modern automatic assault rifles. It will explore their use in battle, law-enforcement and self-defence, as well as for hunting and sport, and highlight their diversification around the world.

Until Sunday 21st November 2010:When Emperor Haile Selassie was finally buried in Addis Ababa in 2000, twenty-five years after his death, only a few European journalists and reporters were there to witness it. Renowned Magnum photographer Peter Marlow was one of them.
The 21 photographs in this exhibition document an extraordinary event and its colourful participants, from former soldiers to priests and dignitaries of the Eastern Orthodox Church, dressed in bright robes.

.

Til June 2011: Marking the centenary of the renowned British traveller and writer Sir Wilfred Thesiger’s birth, this major new exhibition will show a wide selection of his photographs – many for the first time. They relate to his life and travels in Africa, and include images from Ethiopia, Sudan, Morocco, Tanzania and Kenya. Also on show will be a selection of objects collected by Thesiger and later donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum. The exhibition will be accompanied by a major new publication by the Pitt Rivers Museum and HarperCollins, Wilfred Thesiger in Africa (to be published May 2010)..

.