Founded in 1842 by William Thomson (Fellow from 1840, Chaplain, Provost 1855–62, Archbishop of York 1863–90), The Eglesfield Musical Society is the oldest music society in Oxford. We run over 60 events during the year and nearly all of them are open to the general public for free. Our events include two recitals per week during term time, concerts featuring our ensembles (EMS Orchestra and EMS A C
appella), jazz nights, and an outdoor musical in Trinity term. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive, university-wide society. Our ensembles and end-of-term concerts are non-auditioned and we welcome everyone to attend our concerts and perform with us. The coronavirus pandemic necessitated a considerable restructuring of our activities from Trinity Term 2020. Since then, our ensembles have been suspended until further notice, and all our recitals since Trinity Term 2020 have been recorded and published online (these can be viewed on this page). In Michaelmas Term 2020, we had the pleasure of collaborating with Magdalen College Music Society to host a series of lunchtime virtual recitals. We hope to be able to operate more fully in Trinity Term 2021 as restrictions gradually lift, but many of our regular Trinity events remain postponed or cancelled.
