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Opening the doors: Fantasia’s role launching the Sohmen Concert Hall
1
October
2026
Back in February, the doors of Oxford’s brand new Sohmen Concert Hall opened for a landmark first evening - and Fantasia Orchestra had the privilege of playing for a very special invited audience.
After first playing in the hall during acoustic testing in November 2025, we returned to the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities to perform for an audience made up of those whose role was crucial building's construction; from major donors through to architects, designers, and contractors.
We were joined on stage by saxophonist Jess Gillam, presenter Clive Myrie, and the Consort of Voices of Magdalen College, Oxford.
It was an evening designed not around one particular musical period or tradition, but around the possibilities of the new space itself.
The programme captured much of what Fantasia loves about making music, placing works from different centuries and traditions alongside one another and finding the connections between them.
This autumn, we return to the Sohmen Concert Hall once again for something entirely new. On 6 and 7 November 2026, we perform the world premiere of Nitin Sawhney: Orbiting Orbital, inspired by Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize-winning novel Orbital.
From acoustic testing and composition workshops through to the hall's first official event and now the premiere of a major commission, it’s been a delight to play our part in the opening in the spectacular Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities - and we hope you can join us for our first fully public performances there this November.
