News

Entry to the Museum is free

Supported by Jaymount Investments Ltd, an affiliate of the Onassis Foundation.

In a special late night opening the Ashmolean celebrates the Museum’s Greek season with an evening of antiquity, theatre, dance and live music. As part of the events series accompanying the landmark exhibition Heracles to Alexander the Great , the evening will debut Pots and Plays produced by the Onassis Programme and Oxford Playhouse, and a programme of live music featuring Kyla La Grange and Black Discs (Eliot Sumner and Age Salajoe), presented by the Notting Hill Arts Club.

The Museum’s opens up its permanent collections for the public to explore afterhours. To learn more about the history of early Greece, join Dr Yannis Galanakis on a tour of the Aegean World Gallery (7.15 – 8pm, tour limited to 20 people).

Throughout the evening, enjoy the performances of Pots and Plays in galleries across the Museum (7 – 9pm). The Onassis Programme and Oxford Playhouse have commissioned writers, choreographers and composers to create new works in response to the Ashmolean collection of pots and antiquities from ancient Greece, bringing the artefacts to life. Highlights include the premiers of two new mini operas by Glyn Maxwell, Russell Heppelwhite, Colin Teevan and Alex Silverman; a new dance piece choreographed by Marie-Louise Crawley; a poetry performance from Live Canon; and 6 new digital plays to listen to on MP3s around the Museum, including works by Inua Ellams, Lydia Prior and Ben Musgrave. All the performances are free.

Take the opportunity to see the groundbreaking exhibition Heracles to Alexander the Great: Treasures from the Royal Capital of Macedon, a Hellenic Kingdom in the Age of Democracy. Over five hundred treasures made of gold, silver and bronze recently found in the royal burial tombs and the palace of Aegae, the ancient capital of Macedon, are on display for the very first time. These extraordinary new discoveries re-write the history of early Greece and tell the story of the royal court and the kings and queens who governed Macedon, from the descendants of Heracles to the ruling dynasty of Alexander the Great.
(Exhibition tickets: £8 / £6 concessions, book now exhibitions/tickets)

In need of refreshment? Share the new menu of Greek Mezze with friends at the Ashmolean Dining Room, where the rooftop restaurant and terrace will be transformed into a bar with live DJs.

At 10pm the Museum will close and the vaulted Café on the lower-ground will open until the early hours for three hundred lucky people to party the night away with the Notting Hill Arts Club. In their first collaboration with the Ashmolean, the Arts Club have called on their friends from Oxford and London to provide a fitting finale to a memorable evening, featuring music by Kyle La Grange and guests, and on the decks, Black Discs (Eliot Sumner and Age Salajoe).
(Tickets: £10, book now http://www.bigwheeltickets.com/show.php?id=110)

Pots and Plays produced by Oxford Playhouse and the Onassis Programme
The production of Pots and Plays will carry on across the weekend of 7 & 8 May at the Ashmolean together with the special performances of Pick ‘n’ Myths, suitable for children aged 3 to 6.
For more information visit: http://www.onassis.ox.ac.uk/Homepage.html or www.oxfordplayhouse.com  

Notting Hill Arts Club
The Notting Hill Arts Club is a small venue in west London dedicated to providing quality music and art to a discerning audience. For more information visit: http://www.nottinghillartsclub.com/

I Blame Coco's excellent debut album, 'The Constant', was released in November 2010, featuring tracks like 'Self Machine', 'In Spirit Golden' and 'Caesar'. Coco Sumner regularly DJs with Age Salajoe as Black Discs at their monthly rock, indie and electro-driven night, Noir, at the Notting Hill Arts Club. I Blame Coco: http://www.iblamecoco.co.uk  

Kyla La Grange, who supported I Blame Coco late last year, recently delivered a real anthem in 'Walk Through Walls'. "Walk Through Walls - released as a double A-side with Courage - starts off fairly innocuously, with big guitar riffs over Be My Baby drums, before La Grange's gorgeous voice steers the song suddenly into a soaring chorus, the kind that makes your heart swell a little bit. Stirring stuff." The Guardian Kyla La Grange: http://www.myspace.com/kylalagrange  

HERACLES TO ALEXANDER THE GREAT: TREASURES FROM THE ROYAL CAPITAL OF MACEDON, A HELLENIC KINGDOM IN THE AGE OF DEMOCRACY, until 29 August
This exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture And Tourism, 17th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities.

Lead supporter:
The George Economou Collection

Supporters:
Aegean Airlines
The A.G. Leventis Foundation
Classical Hotels
Coutts & Co
Mr and Mrs Nicholas Egon
Friends of the Ashmolean Museum
Greek National Tourism Organisation
The Hellenic Centre, London
The Hellenic Foundation
Jaymount Investments Ltd, an affiliate of the
Onassis Foundation
Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation
Meyvaert Glass Engineering