Think local, folk global! Starling Sessions is a global folk community orchestra, exploring traditional music from around the world through the people of Oxford. Each member of the band brings a song with them to share and together we create a musical mosaic of Oxford. Like the common starling, which makes its home anywhere and has a knack for learning the songs of other birds around it, we learn to sing the songs that have made their home in Oxford.

Impact

  • “These sessions have made me feel like anyone can get to be a musician and express themselves through music, and that has been an incredible and life altering experience.”

    Starling Sessions Participant

  • “The experience of living in a foreign land is alienating….this group does so much to salve that by connecting us to others who find the local stuff strange and by giving us an outlet where we can bring parts of our home alive. You guys have really made Oxford more welcoming and home for all of us.”

    Starling Sessions Participant

  • It’s nice when you don’t feel like you have to hide your home culture in some way in order to fit in. Instead, everyone is celebrating it with you. And then you feel very honestly at home. It’s like, now I am being my real self and not changing who I am, and I have a community that supports and likes that. That’s cool.

    Starling Sessions Participant