HCS Newsletter 28

to uphold and continually renew our proud tradition of choral singing

Newsletter Issue 28

AUTUMN 2018

Welcome to this autumn 2018 edition of the Huddersfield Choral Society Newsletter Photo: Adrian Lee

As soon as the Prom was out of the way we had just over five weeks to prepare for a Brahms Requiem performance in Liverpool with Vasily Petrenko and a repeat of the Brahms with other works in our autumn subscription concert, conducted by Martyn Brabbins.

In normal circumstances we would then be rehearsing hard for Christmas and Messiah but we had another performance of the Britten with the Huddersfield Philharmonic in the Town Hall on 11 November.

This article is being written in the period that those three events are happening, but I have no doubt that they will be good performances and well received by the audiences.

The choir has been extremely busy over the past six months, following the Caractacus recording and Belshazzar’s Feast with Huddersfield Philharmonic, we recorded a follow up to the very successful Hymns Album in the Town Hall in July. That was not without its problems as the Town Hall organ was well above concert pitch due to the prolonged hot weather. The engineers can bring the whole recording down to concert pitch but the brass players who were to join us in six arrangements

by Darius Battiwalla could not pitch their instruments up. So we recorded the items without brass which will be recorded separately in the near future and dubbed onto the recording. We are assured that you will not tell the difference.

At that time we were working hard on rehearsals for the Britten War Requiem at the BBC Proms, the concert being scheduled for Thursday 6 September.

A detailed account of the Proms week has been kindly provided by Helen Martin and follows later in the Newsletter.

Other articles in this edition include a contribution from our Choral Director, Gregory Batsleer and an introduction to our Vocal Coach, Joyce Tindsley.

The picture above shows the scene inside the Royal Albert Hall.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

At the Annual General Meeting in July, the Society made a few changes to its management structure. The main visible one being a change from a working presidency to a titular president and a chairman.

STEPHEN BROOK Editor

Our outgoing president, Margaret Atkinson, has accepted the role of the first chairman of the Society and we are absolutely delighted that Gwyneth Hughes has accepted the appointment of President. Full details of the new committee and a biography and photograph of Gwyneth are shown on page 2.

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Photo: David Ward

The Society’s new committee elected at the AGM in July is as follows : PRESIDENT (Elected by the Committee subsequently) Gwyneth Hughes CHAIRMAN Margaret Atkinson GENERAL SECRETARY Jeremy Garside TREASURER Adrian Lee CHOIR SECRETARY Mark Taylor

Gwyneth Hughes Gwyneth Hughes was born in London, the daughter of a policeman from North Wales. She studied Russian at Sussex University, before moving north to train as a newspaper reporter on the Sheffield Morning Telegraph.

SUBSCRIBERS’ SECRETARY Jane Armitage

Gwyneth worked on the Yorkshire Television regional news programme, Calendar, and became a Bafta-nominated documentary director specializing in history and true crime. She began her move into drama on episodes of The Bill and Silent Witness. More recent productions include the classic adaptation The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and the original ghost story Remember Me, starring Michael Palin. Her original thriller Five Days, and her Tippi Hedren biopic The Girl, were both nominated for the Baftas and the Golden Globes.

SPONSORSHIP SECRETARY Sir John Harman LIBRARIAN Susan Sandford RECRUITMENT OFFICER Sue Wilde

Currently Gwyneth is writing about honour killing in London, sex slavery in Belfast, and the female outlaws of the Wild West. She has recently finished a new adaptation of Vanity Fair for ITV and Amazon, which has been broadcast in recent weeks to great acclaim. She has now commenced work on an Agatha Christie murder mystery, for Easter 2019 on BBC1.

PUBLICITY & MARKETING OFFICER Vacancy PROGRAMME OFFICER Sue Turnbull

She is married to Chris Brown DL, the chair of Huddersfield University. They live near Keighley, West Yorkshire.

There have been two supper club events since the previous issue; in June at Domenicos in Huddersfield the diners were entertained by Kate Hyland-Collier (soprano) and Pavlina Jeffs (Contralto), both accompanied

by Tim Wilkes, and at the September meeting at Woodsome Golf Club the music was provided by Lucy Bacon (Violin), again accompanied by Tim Wilkes, and also a madrigal group consisting of Louise Alp, Eleanor Cully, Jennifer Dowdell, Ruth Bostock, Roshan Battiwalla, Charles Brook, Stephen Brook, Tim Wilkes, James Beattie and Chris Kneale. The picture shows some of the guests and the madrigal group.

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Photo: Ruth Bostock

SUPPER CLUB

If you are interested in joining the supper club, or want any information about future events, please contact Helen Marshall on 07718746085 or email at helenfenay@aol.com

MEMBERS’ REPRESENTATIVES ^ Helen Martin (Sop) Lucy Pople (Sop) Hilary McLean (Con) Clare Wright (Con) Stephen Brook (Ten) Chris Kneale (Bass) Angus Pogson (Bass) Geoff Priestley (Bass) SUBSCRIBERS’ REPRESENTATIVES Helen Marshall Cynthia Pratt (also Friends’ Secretary) Non Committee Positions ARCHIVIST Malcolm Hinchliffe WELFARE SECRETARY Jean Parker

DO YOU REMEMBER ... - 25?

Friday 5 November 1993 The Kingdom – Elgar Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Jane Glover – Conductor Rita Cullis - Soprano Sally Burgess – Mezzo Maldwyn Davies - Tenor Willard White - Bass Robin Courtenay reporting for the Huddersfield Examiner stated...

The Kingdom keeps the chorus unusually busy, but the singers had clearly been well trained by new Chorus Master, Jonathan Grieves-Smith. Words were crisply articulated, ensemble tight and the hushed pianissimos, a hallmark of this choir, were finely controlled. Even the sopranos’ sound seemed more mobile, less aspirant than of late.

Actor and international operatic bass, Willard White seemed a curious choice for this corner of the repertoire and there were moments of inflexibility. But has the New Faith motif ever been delivered with quite the same floor shaking magical resonance?

Robert Cockroft in the Yorkshire Post commented… … Dr. Glover showed, in concerned, intelligent hands The Kingdom can still rise to deliver an emotional punch of unexpected power. The chorus was incisive, responsive and committed, every word ringing clear.

DO YOU REMEMBER...

- 40?

Friday 10 November 1978 Gloria – Poulenc Carmina Burana - Orff BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra Owain Arwel Hughes – Conductor Sandra Dugdale – Soprano Anthony Roden - Tenor John Lawrenson – Baritone Sydney Crowther writing for the Huddersfield Examiner, stated of Carmina Burana ...

The writing for the chorus provides for grateful singing, and the splendid tone of the choir, their fiery attacks, and unfailing gusto, were evident of a shared enthusiasm with their conductor. It was in all an exciting performance and one in which a warm humanity shone through.

The other work was Poulenc’s Gloria, which in contrast is innocent of earthy humour. The chorus sang well, with a well integrated tone and the orchestra was heard in much beautiful and expressive detail.

Mr. Crowther also reported for the Yorkshire Post in a similar vein.

Cutting down on paper and postage The Society is trying to reduce its costs, both monetarily and environmentally, by sending out fewer paper copies of the newsletter. If you would be willing to receive the newsletter by email from now on, please send your name, address and category (ie Associate Member, Subscriber, Sponsor or Friend) to our editor, Stephen Brook at stephen.brook1@ntlworld.com NB. If you have already informed us due to reading this in a previous edition, there is no need to get in touch again.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT The Society is deeply grateful to all our Partners, Sponsors and Patrons for the help that they give us to support our work in bringing high quality music making to our town, our country and occasionally the world.

This season we are being supported by: PATRONS – HONORARY Ed Anderson, Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire Dame Felicity Lott Joanne Harris MBE Sir John Tomlinson Alan Titchmarsh MBE Brian Kay PATRONS Elizabeth Crowther OBE Diana Franklin Mr & Mrs D Haywood Gerald & Christina Sutton Jane and Alan Pridmore Richard Adkinson Brenda Mosley Neil & Judith Charlesworth John and Ann Denham Julie Kenny MBE Martin and Dorothy Littler Wilkinson Building (Leeds) Ltd SS Components Ltd and an anonymous patron CONCERT SPONSORS R Gledhill Ltd Investec Wealth & Investment Brewin Dolphin Wealth Management Bill Currie and friends Julie Kenny MBE The Greenbank Group

The Society wishes to thank for their continuing support Fantastic Media Helen Marshall Jean Parker Willams & Co BUSINESS VOICE MEMBERS The University of Huddersfield Syngenta Hoyer UK Handelsbanken The Woodman Inn (Leslie Country Inns) Halo CleanTech Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd Ramsden LLP Revell Ward LLP The Sekhon Group Thornhill Estates Harron Homes Ltd Chadwick Lawrence LLP John L Brierley Ltd Huddersfield Giants RLFC Fantastic Media

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Preview notes for spring concert on 12th April 2019 Works by Parry, O’Regan & Adams The Society has pioneered much contemporary choral music throughout its long history. Our usual approach is to introduce a new work as part of a concert featuring more familiar repertoire: readers may recall Macmillan Seven Last Words alongside Mozart Requiem (Harrogate, 2016) or the UK première of Harvey Messages between works by Stravinsky and Bruckner during our 175th anniversary year in 2011. However, our Spring concert next year will be a bold and challenging one for all concerned - the Orchestra of Opera North have even suggested we use organ only accompaniment for Parry Blest Pair of Sirens, so they can make full use of the available rehearsal time for Messrs Adams & O’Regan.

Hubert Parry composed his magnificent choral work to stand alongside Berlioz’ monumental Te Deum at a concert celebrating Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887: setting John Milton’s Ode At a Solemn Music, it has remained a standard part of the choral repertory ever since and was notably performed in Westminster Abbey at William & Kate’s wedding in 2011.

A Celestial Map of the Sky was commissioned by The Manchester Grammar School to celebrate its quincentenary in 2015. Taking as its cue the oldest printed European star charts - Albrecht Dürer’s celebrated woodcut engravings, dating from 1515 (the School’s foundation year) - composer Tarik O’Regan (born 1978) sets a selection of star-inspired poetic texts by writers including Gerard Manley Hopkins, Walt Whitman and others.

This work will also provide a welcome opportunity to hear HCS Junior Choirs singing alongside the Senior Choir in our Town Hall concert series. Our performance will be only the third since the work’s Bridgewater Hall première.

Harmonium, although not strictly contemporary, dating from 1980, is written in an idiom quite unlike anything we have previously essayed: forget any preconceptions of traditional choral singing, as John Adams’ approach to Minimalist composition technique leaves no room for fugues and not much of what we might recognise as melodic writing. So what’s it all about, you may well ask? I clearly recall the composer John Pickard coming to one of our rehearsals before we premièred his Agamemnon’s Tomb in 2008: he explained his choice of text by propounding that, in writing a choral work, the composer has to choose for his subject either love or death…and we had got death! In a way, Mr Adams confirms this hypothesis by offering us a symphonic fusion of both these subjects, whereby the ‘filling’ of Emily Dickinson’s humanistic poem Because I could not stop for Death is sandwiched between Negative Love (an enigmatic early 17th century poem by John Donne which explores different aspects of love) and the unrestrained sexual passion and rapture of Wild Nights (again by Miss Dickinson). For anyone curious about the work’s title, the composer states that it ‘was all that survived from my initial intention to set poems from Wallace Stevens’s collection of the same name’, which begs the question - why keep this seemingly irrelevant title at all? (Answers by briefmail, please!)

Both O’Regan and Adams write for a very large orchestra, including an intriguing variety of percussion - Harmonium even includes an episode reminiscent of Alpine pastures, complete with cow bells - so we can expect a visual, as well as an aural spectacle on a scale rarely experienced in Huddersfield. Advance warning should also be given to alto & bass singing members: Wild Nights take place in an unbelievably stratospheric voice register!

Malcolm Hinchliffe

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BUSINESS

VOICE

Huddersfield Choral Society’s Business Network

In each issue we are asking one of our Business Voice members to introduce themselves. This time we read about Harron Homes.

ABOUT HARRON HOMES: Harron Homes, an established property developer in Yorkshire and the Midlands, has been dedicated to providing customers with luxury homes in the heart of some of Britain’s most breath-taking countryside settings for nearly thirty years now.

Each Harron home epitomises luxury and architectural innovation, boasting high-end features built to the highest standards, with the properties’ clean finishes giving the modern family everything they need from a home.

With eighteen luxury developments spanning across the Yorkshire and North Midlands area, Harron Homes has become the region’s leading property developer when it comes to supplying beautiful and luxurious family homes.

Harron Homes shows no sign of slowing down either, with a further seven developments planned for 2019 in the Midlands, and five in Yorkshire, including a stunning new development in the lovely suburb of Fixby.

HARRON HOMES & THE CHORAL SOCIETY: The Choral Society is one of the most significant organisations in the rapidly-developing town of Huddersfield, and their Business Voice initiative provides a meeting place for companies and organisations which share an interest in promoting the Huddersfield brand nationally and internationally.

Huddersfield is a town close to Harron Homes’ heart, and home to three of our developments. We are proud to be involved in the Business Voice initiative and believe it will benefit not only businesses, but also the local community. It is our aim to leave a positive legacy in all of the communities where we have a presence, and we are happy to be able to show our support to a fantastic community neighbour.

Whilst Harron Homes’ involvement in supporting the Choral Society’s initiative is still in its infancy, we have been made very welcome and have quickly gained a greater insight into how the organisation works and the significant benefits it brings to Huddersfield and the wider community.

To find out more about Harron Homes and our developments, please visit www.harronhomes.com or call 0113 204 4670.

Membership News New Members Recruitment has improved markedly in the past few months and we have admitted thirteen new members into the Society:

We wish them great success and enjoyment with the Society and hope that their stay with us will be a happy and fruitful one.

IN THE LOOP

In this section we will aim to keep everyone up to date with the many facets of the Society’s work.

CHRISTMAS We are delighted that Bob Chilcott accepted our invitation to conduct and present this year’s Christmas Concert. Bob is well known for his many compositions and arrangements of choral music and we will be featuring three of his pieces in the concert. The Youth Choirs are joining in by adding a fourth Chilcott piece, so if you were not familiar with his music previously, you will be after 7 December. Our Messiah performances on 18 and 19 December will be conducted by our Choral Director, Gregory Batsleer.

MONOPOLY Talking of Christmas, if you have not got the present buying sorted out yet, the ideal gift for anyone with Huddersfield connections is the newly released Huddersfield version of Monopoly. The Society feature as a square in the very valuable cultural section of the board. We also have a card in the Community Chest, you have to pay up though because you haven’t paid for your tickets apparently! The board features many other familiar landmarks and features of interest in the town such as Castle Hill, the Town Hall, the Railway Station (they call it the Train Station) and the most famous cat on the internet, Felix, the Huddersfield Station Senior Pest Controller, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on Facebook.

We pass on our condolences to the family and friends of associate members, Marjorie Upson and John McGahey who passed away in May and July respectively.

To which the month of October has added Bob Wilman and former general secretary, Granville Sutton. Also in October we were shocked to hear of the death of active singing member, 1st Tenor, Roy Hirst.

Their devoted service to the Society will be remembered by all who knew and worked with them.

Society and the photograph shows Elaine receiving her 40 year badge from the chairman. The members were delighted to give an ovation to David Hartley on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of his membership. He is shown receiving the congratulations of our new president.

Currently the Society has no reward for such long term devotion to duty, beyond 50 years, other than the applause and admiration of colleagues.

Long Service

Photos: David Ward

Megan Bilsland, Helena Galley and Joanna Williams – 1st Sopranos; Ruth Baddock and Samantha Hopkins – 2nd Sopranos; Emily Bland and Natasha Rudd – 1st Altos; Francesca Drake – 2nd Alto: Ben Drury and Trevor Robson – 2nd Tenors; Joseph Arnott, Adam Robinson and Philip Schweidler – 1st Basses.

Sad Farewells

The Society is deeply grateful to all those members who give of their talents over such long periods of time. They provide a firm foundation onto which those that are able to join us for only a few years can add their valuable contributions. In the past months Soprano, Elaine Lee has completed 40 years’ service with the MRS SUNDERLAND FESTIVAL In the New Year we are working with the Festival on two projects. Firstly on Sunday 3 February our Choral Director, Gregory Batsleer, will taking a Messiah workshop, in which any local singers who would like to attend will be rehearsed during the morning and afternoon for a performance of selections from the oratorio in the early evening. This is designed for anyone interested in singing the most famous oratorio of all and if the day leads to an interest in joining our choir, then so much the better. Secondly, the Festival and the Society have jointly commissioned Will Todd to write a short choral piece which the Choir will sing in the closing concert of the Festival on Saturday 23 February. Will Todd is well known for his jazz style of writing, with his best known piece to date being the Mass in Blue.

THE HUDDERSFIELD CHORAL SOCIETY ACADEMY The Society are very excited to be opening a choral academy. There are details yet to be finalised, but it is hoped to start this wonderful project early in the New Year.

We will be looking to attract singers who perhaps are not quite ready to audition for the choir, but are willing to join with others to sing for pleasure, and at the same time be trained up to a standard where they will be able to join the Society proper in the future.

SPRING CONCERT The Society’s spring 2019 concert will feature two works new to us and an old

favourite. The favourite is Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens together with A Celestial Map of the Sky by Tarik O’Regan and John Adams’ Harmonium. This latter piece is now almost a staple in the choral repertoire having been written in 1980, but the O’Regan work was written three years ago for Manchester Grammar School; our Youth Choir will be joining us to sing this. These pieces together come to app 65 minutes of music, but there is a lot of rehearsal time required and, therefore, we are adding some orchestral music to the programme. It was announced prior to the Subscribers’ ballot, that this would be the dance suite from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. However we have been told by Opera North that, despite a record size stage extension, they cannot fit all the required percussion instruments onto the platform. We are in discussions to replace the Bernstein with other music and are looking to programme an item or items that will enhance your enjoyment of the concert.

FUTURE PLANNING Planning for the 2019/20 season is well underway and we will be looking to provide our audience once again with a mixture of well-known and not so well-known music.

The dates for the annual subscribers’ ticket ballot and the annual general meeting are shown in the diary section.

Finally, a reminder that the list (very long) of the Society’s past performances, going all the way back to 1836 is now available to

view on our website.

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We are delighted to have received this article from our Vocal Coach, Joyce Tindsley.

I have been working with HCS for a year now as Vocal Coach and am greatly enjoying the challenges thrown up by the individual sessions. Can you fix someone’s vocal problems/ technique in 15 minutes? Probably not, but I aim to pinpoint the source of any problems and provide remedies that the singer can practise at home, such as targeted exercises, change of focus or whatever is appropriate (every singer is different!). Many HCS singers know exactly what they should be doing with their singing, so I act almost as a signpost, pointing them in the right direction towards a better sound.

I have always been interested in the different ways singing is taught and during my two years post grad at RNCM (studying for a diploma in Professional Performance with Barbara Robotham) I was lucky enough to be given a bursary to cover my fees in return for accompanying singing lessons. This gave me a very privileged insight into the teaching methods of many of the teachers there at the time - Nick Powell, Paddy McGuigan, April Cantelo, Ava June, Caroline Crawshaw, Chris Underwood.

My professional teaching career began in 1989 with a Workers’ Education Association singing class in my home town of Preston. Someone dropped out, I stepped in and enjoyed teaching so much I stayed! Working both freelance and for the County Council, I began teaching singing to all ages and abilities, from individuals to choirs and everything in between.

HUDDERSFIELD CHORAL

YOUTH CHOIRS The Huddersfield Choral Youth Choirs are having a busy and exciting time just now and it is good to be able to report so many great things to the wider HCS community.

At the end of our 2017-18 Season we held our final concert in the Gledholt Methodist Church on one of the hottest days of the summer. Our audience was treated to excellent performances by the Young Voices, Vocalise and the Youth Choir, as well as several soloists, despite melting in soaring temperatures!

After the summer break the Youth Choirs moved to a new rehearsal venue, and we are now comfortably established at Lindley Methodist Church. We would like to record our huge thanks to Jane Sargent for her many years of support and help at All Hallows CE (VA) Primary School in Almondbury.

The final event of the year will be as guests of Lindley Band at their Christmas Concert in St Paul’s Hall on Friday 21st December.

Next year, 2019, will start with intensive work for the Mrs Sunderland Festival by Young Voices and Vocalise. Music Festivals are a wonderful opportunity for our young singers to perform and listen to other choirs and to hear the wise words of advice and encouragement from the adjudicators.

We will continue to do everything we can to enable the Youth Choir members to take part in these events, locally and nationally.

At the start of the new season there have been some changes to our organising Committee, and we are very pleased to welcome Pat Thompson as our new Chair. We would also like to thank our out-going chairman Steve Kain for his huge contribution over many years, prior to and including the last 12 months as chairman.

This season our first concert took place in All Hallows Church Almondbury, a super start to the season. This was closely followed by the Holmfirth Music Festival, when 39 members of the Young Voices sang; the adjudicator wrote about one of the songs: “what a beautiful opening, disciplined, and with so much warmth. Sense of pitch and treatment of phrases is excellent and so musical”.

Congratulations to all involved as they won first place, as the photos illustrate.

During this special autumn, the Vocalise section of the Youth Choirs is pleased to join the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra and the HCS in a performance of Britten’s War Requiem on Sunday November 11th, Armistice Day, to commemorate the centenary of the end of WW1.

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We are excited by the prospect of the various events taking place to celebrate Christmas. Our own Christmas Concert will take place in Huddersfield Parish Church on Saturday December 1st, and is sponsored by Business Voice. This will be followed by the wonderful opportunity for the Youth Choirs to sing with HCS at their Christmas Concert, conducted by Bob Chilcott. Every Youth Choir concert includes at least one Bob Chilcott song – we are huge fans!

We continue to strengthen our links with other local musical organisations. In March we will be guests of Honley Ladies Choir on Saturday March 23rd and of Lindley Community Choir on Friday March 29th. We are very excited to have been invited to sing with the HCS at the Spring Subscriber Concert on April 12th when Tarik O’Regan’s ‘A Celestial Map of the Sky’ will be performed.

We are delighted that the membership of Young Voices has increased but we are still on the lookout for new members, particularly young men and boys. So if you know anyone that loves to sing, then encourage them to come along so they can be part of our growing success and experience the fun of choral singing.

Alongside my love of teaching has run the love of performing both as a member of a choir and a soloist. I joined the BBC Northern Singers in 1988 and worked with legendary conductors including Charles Groves, Georg Solti, Richard Hickox, taking part in many recordings, live broadcasts and concerts around the country and abroad. In 1993/94 the BBC brought Daily Service to its new base at Emmanuel Church, Didsbury and I greatly enjoyed being part of the programme in a vocal group of 9, 5 or 3 singers, or as a soloist, in those days broadcasting live every day.

As a soloist I have sung in many of the major concert halls and cathedrals in the UK performing with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields amongst others. High points have included Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass with David Willcocks at Coventry Cathedral; Elgar’s The Apostles at King’s College Cambridge for Stephen Cleobury; Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius at The Lighthouse, Poole and the Lake District Summer Music Festival; Tippett’s A Child of Our Time at the Bridgewater Hall, Huddersfield Town Hall and Lichfield Cathedral; and Verdi’s Requiem at Gorton Monastery.

Huddersfield Choral Society is regarded as one of the UK’s leading choral societies striving to uphold and continually renew a proud tradition of choral singing.

I am proud to be playing a part in the team working towards that goal.

BBC Prom No. 72 Britten War Requiem (Thursday 6th September 2018)

From a back-row soprano/deputy bus monitor perspective.

Our 2018 autumn term began in earnest by singing Britten’s War Requiem at the BBC Proms. Not only did this involve travelling to the Royal Albert Hall in London, but also a weekend in Glasgow, rehearsing with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) and Chorus.

Rehearsals had begun in the summer and although I had sung War Requiem before, my strongest memory was pitching that scary first-entry F sharp from the tubular bell. Greg Batsleer, our Choral Director, conducted rehearsals with his usual meticulous and energetic style, ably supported by Daniel Gordon, our Accompanist. Every rehearsal was crammed with new ideas and approaches and my score, along with my fellow back-row sopranos, rapidly filled up with pencil annotations.

Our War Requiem ‘journey’ continued on Saturday 1st September, when we met our Stotts coaches outside Huddersfield Town Hall for a 7am departure. I was assigned the job of bus monitor for coach 2. All worries about pitching F sharps were firmly put at the back of my mind as I realised the responsibility of this new role! However, everyone was soon ticked on the list, and we departed for Glasgow.

When we arrived at the RSNO Centre we were given a seating plan and efficiently guided to our seats by the RSNO Chorus Manager, Christine Walker. We were intermingled with the Glasgow choir, who immediately made us feel very welcome.

After a warm-up led by Vocal Coach, Polly Beck, Greg took the rehearsal with Accompanist, Ed Cohen. Greg and Polly worked very hard at blending the sound of the two choirs and also encouraging us all to take responsibility for our individual contributions and sound. Abi Kitching, the RSNO Sir Alexander Gibson Memorial Fellow, conducted us for a couple of sections, but also took on the role of playing that infamous F sharp on the tubular bell!

By just before 5pm, the rehearsal was at an end, and in two hours’ time we would be performing War Requiem in front of a sell-out Royal Albert Hall and live on BBC Radio 3. The nerves were kept at bay with a picnic at the Albert Memorial, and a gentle stroll and a touch of squirrel-spotting in Hyde Park. However, we were soon back in the dressing rooms and as it was the first airing of the women’s new all-black dress code, there was much comparing and complimenting of each-other’s outfits. It was all going smoothly until we tried to line-up in the corridor. This resulted in utter chaos! We all tried to find the people we had sung next to during rehearsal, whilst battling (albeit gently) through numerous audience members. At the moment when we thought we were never going to get organised, Christine Walker of the RSNO Chorus swept through and took control of the situation, steering us expertly onto the stage with minimal drama. Once in our seats, the promenaders did their customary announcement about money raised for various musical charities and there was an ever-increasing feeling of excitement and expectation. Finally, Maestro Oundjian and the soloists stepped out onto the stage and we all stood to receive the welcoming applause.

For me, the performance certainly lived up to expectation and all the hard work seemed to have paid off. The F sharps even dropped into place! It was an experience which I felt truly privileged to be part of. We received excellent reviews and felt much loved. Not only did we have family, friends and HCS committee members there to support us, Greg Batsleer, Martin Brabbins (HCS Music Director), Gwyneth Hughes (our new President), Francis Cooke (Associate Choral Director), Joyce Tindsley and Polly Beck (vocal coaches) and Dame Felicity Lott (Patron of the Society), were also in the audience. All their support and encouragement was much appreciated, all invaluable support as ‘Team HCS’.

Finally, both as a back-row soprano and as deputy bus monitor, it was mission accomplished! All F sharps correctly pitched and everyone successfully returned to Huddersfield.

Helen Martin, October 2018 Photo: David Ward

After a four-hour rehearsal (not forgetting a very welcome cuppa and chocolate biscuit at half-time), members of the RSNO Chorus took us through to the Green Room for prosecco and sandwiches. Conversation flowed and our Chair, Margaret Atkinson thanked our hosts for their generous and warm hospitality. After the reception, and in true back-row soprano style, a group of us experienced the full culinary offerings of Glasgow including deep-fried Mars Bar and a wee dram of single malt.

be back in the RAH again (the last time for me was two years ago, singing Verdi Requiem). The vastness of the hall, and its significance in the country’s musical heritage made the whole experience extremely special. After some final motivational pointers from Greg, we took our designated seats (mine at the back of course!) behind the orchestra. After the welcomes (and health and safety notices), we proceeded with our ‘dress rehearsal’. Luckily for the sopranos, Simon, the percussionist with the bell (for that infamous F sharp) was directly in front of us (and, incidentally, he played a church bell, not a tubular bell!).

The following morning’s rehearsal was taken by Peter Oundjian (RSNO Music Director and our conductor for the performance) with Ed Cohen on the piano. This was another intense rehearsal in which we worked on particular nuances and details that Maestro Oundjian requested. The RSNO Children’s Choir rehearsed their sections too, sounding amazingly confident and unified, as well as suitably angelic.

The rehearsal concluded in the afternoon with the splendid RSNO orchestra and amazing soloists Erin Wall, Allan Clayton and Russell Braun. We returned home happy, but exhausted.

Four days later, we were back on the coaches, heading for London. When we arrived at the Royal Albert Hall, Greg was there to meet us for an extended warm-up. It was so exciting to

Ladies of both choirs enjoy a break in the rehearsal

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Our Choral Director, Gregory Batsleer sends his latest thoughts Being now well into my third season as Choral Director I am both delighted and proud of what we are beginning to achieve, and remain as excited as ever about how we can still develop.

Ensuring at all times that we are delivering the most phenomenal choral performances and opportunities possible.

The past 12 months have been incredibly busy for the Choral both on the concert platform and behind the scenes. There have been numerous memorable performances and recordings and we have welcomed a healthy number of new members to this wonderful choir. One of the proudest moments of my career to date was seeing and hearing the Choral alongside the RSNO Chorus perform Britten’s War Requiem at the BBC Proms.

It was the first time that I had prepared a full chorus for a Prom and so it was a huge moment for me personally.

The dedication of each member to this performance was remarkable and it’s this dedication and commitment that enables us to perform at such a high level. As I as say to the Choral regularly, ‘we are only as good as our last concert’ and as I write this article I am sat on

the train back home the morning after a stunning performance of Brahms’ ‘Ein Deutches Requiem’ with Martyn Brabbins, which really had some of the finest choral singing I have heard from this ensemble and it was a real sign of the quality we are now producing on a consistent basis.

Since I started the job my top priority has been to ensure that the Choral is performing at the highest possible standard, giving brilliant and engaged performances. This then becomes the backbone for the other requirements of innovation and growth.

As we look ahead over the next stage of our growth, there are a number of crucial developments that we will be working on to ensure the Choral has a vibrant and thrilling future. As ever, we must take collective responsibility for recruitment; this task is never ending.

People today are busier and more committed than ever before, there is also more opportunity to sing than ever before, therefore we all have a responsibility to make joining the choral as attractive and appealing as possible by providing unrivalled choral experiences.

As part of the wider development of the Choral there are many exciting things to look forward to over the next 12 months. We are working harder to bring the Youth Choirs closer to the Choral, and they will be joining us for part of our subscription concert in April.

Our latest Hymns CD, as well as the highly anticipated recording of Elgar’s Caractacus will be released in the New Year. Also within the next 12 months, we will be launching the new Huddersfield Choral Society Academy.

This is a new open access ensemble where singers from the surrounding areas will be welcomed into the Choral family, without audition, to develop some of the important skills such as sight reading, musicianship and singing technique, needed to be part of a large chorus such as the Choral. There will be more information on this over the next few months, but I believe it to be a vital next step in how we both recruit and also place us at the front of innovation within the choral scene.

I look forward to seeing you all at our up and coming concerts and sharing some wonderful musical moments with you.

Diary Sunday 11 November 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall – 3.30pm Hudds Philharmonic Concert – Britten, War Requiem – Hudds Phil. Orchestra, Robert Guy Saturday 1 December 2018 Huddersfield Parish Church – 7pm HCS Youth Choirs Christmas Concert Friday 7 December 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall 7.30pm HCS and HCS Youth Choirs – Christmas Concert, conductor and presenter – Bob Chilcott Tuesday 18 December 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall 7.15pm HCS Messiah, Season Tickets – Royal Northern Sinfonia, Gregory Batsleer

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Wednesday 19 December 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall 7.15pm HCS Messiah, Public Performance – Royal Northern Sinfonia, Gregory Batsleer

Friday 21 December 2018 St Paul’s Hall 7.30pm HCS Youth Choirs – as guests of Lindley Band Sunday 3 February 2019 Huddersfield Town Hall 9am – 6.45pm Mrs Sunderland Music Festival Messiah Workshop – Gregory Batsleer Saturday 23 February 2019 Huddersfield Town Hall Mrs Sunderland, Gala Concert – including the premiere of a commissioned work from Will Todd for Chorus and Jazz Group Saturday 23 March 2019 Huddersfield Town Hall 7.30pm HCS Youth Choirs – as guests of Honley Ladies Choir Friday 29 March 2019 Holy Trinity Parish Church 7pm HCS Youth Choirs – as guests of Lindley Community Choir

Friday 12 April 2019 Huddersfield Town Hall 7.30pm HCS Concert – John Adams, Harmonium – Parry, Blest Pair of Sirens – Tarik O’Regan, Celestial Map of the Sky (with HCS Youth Choirs) Orchestra of Opera North, Paul Daniel Wednesday 12 June 2019 Huddersfield Town Hall 7pm Subscribers’ Annual Ballot Saturday 30 June 2019 Details tbc HCS Youth Choirs – Summer Concert Friday 12 July 2019 Huddersfield Town Hall 7.30pm Annual General Meeting For confirmation and full details of all Youth Choirs concerts please check the HCS Youth Choirs website.