The Holywell Music Room is the city of Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

's chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 hall, situated in Holywell Street

Holywell Street

Holywell Street is a street in central Oxford, England. It runs east-west with Broad Street to the west and Longwall Street to the east. About half way along, Mansfield Road adjoins to the north.New College dominates the south side of the street...

 in the city centre, attached to Wadham College. It is said to be the oldest, purpose built music room in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and hence England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

's first concert hall.

It was built in 1748, designed by Dr Thomas Camplin, the vice-principal

Vice-principal

In larger school systems, a principal is often assisted by someone known as a vice-principal or assistant principal. Unlike the principal, the vice-principal does not have quite the decision-making authority that the principal carries...

 of St Edmund Hall

St Edmund Hall, Oxford

St Edmund Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Better known within the University by its nickname, "Teddy Hall", the college has a claim to being "the oldest academical society for the education of undergraduates in any university"...

. Many musicians, including Haydn, have performed classical music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 here. The auditorium includes an organ

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

 and U-shaped raked seating.

The building was Grade II* listed in 1954.

External links

• University of Oxford Faculty of Music
• Pindrop Performances
• Oxford Coffee Concerts
• Jack Gibbons concerts in Oxford
• Information from Daily Information
  Daily Information
  Daily Information is a printed information sheet in Oxford, England, displayed especially around the University colleges and departments, but also in local businesses. It has been in continuous existence since 28 September 1964, mostly as a brightly coloured A2 sheet...
  
  
• Appeal for the extension and renovation of the Holywell Music Room