22 February, 2025

🎶 Sacred Sounds

with the Ashmolean Museum Hosting

We are delighted to collaborate with the University of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum – the holder of one of the richest collections of art, archaeology, and ancient world artefacts.

Sacred Sounds: Linguistic and Cultural Diversity

Set in the glorious Mallett Gallery, this multilingual and multicultural performance introduces a rich tapestry of sacred sounds through melodies, songs, and poetry readings.

(Photo courtesy of Ashmolean Museum)

Indulge your aural senses in this multilingual performance featuring sacred songs, melodies, and devotional poetry readings, presented by members of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Classics, Medieval and Modern Languages, and various communities.

Date: 22 February, 2025

Time: 14:15 – 16:15 GMT

Venue: Gallery 44 | The Mallett Gallery (European Art Gallery) | Ashmolean Museum | Oxford

Programme

The Gift of Love | Sami Yusuf and Andante Records | The World’s First Interfaith Anthem
Based on the Two Commandments of ‘Love of God, and Love of the Neighbour.’
Diliges proximum tuum tamquam te ipsum. ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’. (Mr 12:31)
None of you truly believes until you love for your neighbour what you love for yourself. [A saying of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)]
Kirtan | Sikh Devotional Songs |
Syriac Liturgical Poetry | Prof Sebastian Brock, FBA
Bhajans | Temple instruments: dhol ki, hand cymbals & tambourine | Oxford Hindu Temple
Multilingual Reading | Psalm 23 | Psalm 121 | Aramaic, Catalan, Dutch, French, Georgian, German, Hebrew, Italian, Syriac, etc.
Aramaic Liturgical Songs |
The Prayer | A sung performance of a poem
Greek Orthodox Byzantine Chant | Professor Alexander Lingas with Cappella Romana

ALL Welcome

Photo courtesy of Ashmolean Museum

THE 2024 PERFORMANCE

10 February, 2024

Led by Professor Henrike Lähnemann with St Edmund Consort, set in Cast Galley – one of the oldest and largest collections of casts of Greek and Roman sculpture in the UK – this event presents music from medieval religious illuminated manuscripts from the Bodleian Library. The performance will also feature songs in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, and English for all to join, and will be interspersed with the sound of shofar, shell horn, seaweed horn, etc.

Venue: Gallery 14, Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont St, Oxford. OX1 2PH.