Bizet’s Carmen, Weber - Die Freischutz, Rossini – The Barber of Seville & The Thievish Magpie, Verdi – Aida, La Traviata and Rigoletto, Delibes – Lakme, Puccini – Turandot, Tosca & La Boheme, Mascagni – Cavalleria Rusticana,  Saint-Saens – Samson & Delilah, Ponchiella – Dance of the Hours.

Guest Soloists:

Catherine Bouchier (soprano)

Flora McIntosh (mezzo-soprano)

Nick Ransley (tenor)

Leader: Mary Barber

Principal Conductor: Nick Smith

Huddersfield Philharmonic is proudly celebrating its 150th anniversary and the dinner at Huddersfield Town Hall was well-deserved recognition of its rich contribution to the life of the town.

The Mayor rightly remarked on the pride felt in the town at the achievements of the Phil and applauded its encouragement and promotion of local soloists and choirs. Last year, Huddersfield Choral Society was awarded a similar honour to mark its 175th anniversary.

It is perhaps fitting then that these two enduring musical organisations should combine their talents in a concert in the heart of Huddersfield later this month. They provide a remarkable example of how music really can become a lifetime commitment and how its legacy can be to enrich the lives of others and of the whole community for generations to come.

From Huddersfield Daily Examiner, Saturday 10 March 2012

The 150th anniversary of Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra was marked with a civic reception. About 200 people attended the event at Huddersfield Town Hall, including past and present conductors and most of the current orchestra.

There were speeches from the orchestra’s longest-serving member, cellist Paul Michelson, who has been a member for almost 56 years, current president Peter Lewis, and Kirklees Mayor Clr Eric Firth.

The orchestra can trace its roots back to 1862, when a Unitarian Minister based in Fitzwilliam Street, the Rev J H Thomas, formed what became known as Mr Thomas’ Band. It then changed its name to the Fitzwilliam Street Orchestra,  later giving its first concert as Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra, in that name, on February 7, 1885.

Clr Firth said: “Last year my predecessor as mayor hosted a similar event to mark the 175th anniversary of Huddersfield Choral. How lucky we are to have two wonderful amateur organisations whose reputation extends well beyond the Kirklees boundary and of whom we can be so rightly proud. The Phil’s history is marked by firsts. It has encouraged and promoted local soloists and choirs. It continues to provide an opportunity for many of the talented young musicians. Through concerts and recordings, the Phil has gained a worldwide reputation.”

The orchestra will be joined by Huddersfield Choral Society for a concert in Huddersfield Town Hall on Saturday, April 28, at 7.30pm. They will perform Beethoven’s Choral Symphony No 9 and the world première of Arthur Butterworth’s Symphony No 7. Mr Butterworth was the orchestra’s conductor for 30 years, until 1993.

Huddersfield Daily Examiner 6 February 2012

The second half of this concert consisted of the music from Act Two of Tchaikovsky‘s Nutcracker ballet – possibly the most familiar sequence of much-loved melodies and instrumental colourations in the entire repertoire.

Our principle conductor Nicholas Smith

The first half, by contrast, featured Lutoslawsksi‘s Concerto for Orchestra, possibly never performed in Huddersfield before. The balance between familiarity and new musical territory was therefore a very good one. Or did the name of Lutoslawski on the programme tip it too far in the latter direction?

That might help explain the unusually small audience at the Town Hall on Saturday, although a more likely deterrent was the prediction of severe weather.

If anyone had been put off by the Lutoslawski – which dates from 1954 – they would have made an error of judgement. It is a difficult work technically, to be sure, and has its quotient of fairly astringent modernism (as it was in the 1950s), but it is also busting with atmosphere, energy, rhythmic verve and attractive, angular melodies.

The Huddersfield Phil, under the baton of Nicholas Smith, deserves very  great credit for tackling and programming this complex work and, ultimately, giving a highly persuasive performance. At the very start it seemed as if the orchestra had stepped too far out of its comfort zone, for there was a slight lack of cogency, but the performance soon got into its stride with assertive contributions from the brass section restoring order, although it was a shame that a badly tuned chord rather spoiled the end of the first movement. Such scrunches were few and far between, however.

Being a concerto for orchestra, the three-movement piece offered plenty of opportunity for soloists and sections to showcase themselves. For example, the first movement had some beautifully played melodic material on instruments that included flute and clarinet.

When the finale began, with a rather groovy plucked passage on double basses, the atmosphere was redolent of 1950s film noir and , again, there were some excellent contributions from the cor anglais for example. The climax was exciting and it is hard to imagine that there was anybody in the audience who was not glad to have been introduced to a rather thrilling contribution to the orchestral repertoire.

Programme:

• Handel: Coronation Anthem – Zadok the Priest
• Arthur Butterworth: Symphony 7 (world premiere)
• Beethoven: Symphony No 9

Soloists:

• Jayne Carpenter (soprano)
• Flora McIntosh (mezzo-soprano)
• Nick Hardy (tenor)
• Samuel Evans (baritone)

We are delighted to be welcoming as Special Guests:

Huddersfield Choral Society Choir

Organist: Dr Geoff Lockwood

Leader: Mary Barber

Principal Conductor: Nicholas Smith

• Verdi: Overture – La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny)
• Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
• Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker – Act 2

Leader: Mary Barber

From Mary Barber:

I (as deputy leader) sat next to Mary Rafferty for 20 years in Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra, in the Valley Sinfonia (the orchestra that accompanies the Holmfirth Choral) and in the orchestra for the Huddersfield Gilbert and Sullivan’s annual production at the LBT.

She was a brilliant person to have as leader: encouraging, supportive, positive and smiling, and she never appeared to get stressed on the big occasions. Her solos were always played to perfection: never a wobble or an out-of-tune note…She had a really good relationship with all the players in the orchestra, and worked hard to encourage new players and support the established players.

Mary and I had a lot of fun together, both musically and socially. We spent many happy times together: playing music, sharing lifts to rehearsals and performances, and generally trying to put the world to rights.

She taught piano to our daughter Sarah anad violin to my husband Nick, the lessons always involving focussed tuition, interspersed with fun and laughter (not to mention the coffee afterwards).

We will miss her greatly both as a musician and as a friend.

Derri and Margaret O’Sullivan’s contribution:

Mary’s Saturday morning visits to teach all four children piano and music theory are a vivid and pleasant memory. She was interested in everyone, always pleasant and would calmly proceed to teach whatever the mood or attire, one sleepy teenager would regularly appear in a dressing gown. The lessons were always punctuated by morning coffee, sometimes alfresco, and it was always a pleasure for everyone to be in her encouraging and enlightened company.

From Julie Townend:

Known for her efficient and professional leadership; apart from rehearsing and performing, Mary spent very many hours bowing parts for the orchestra and attending meetings.

She worked as a peripatetic music teacher for Kirklees and later Barnsley Instrumental Music Service and the Performing Arts Development Service (PADS). Following massive cuts in the funding of music, she continued to teach across the full age range, developing instrumental group tuition. She supported class music in Barnsley Primary Schools with the introduction of the National Curriculum and also worked with a number of Music Centre groups, including Wentworth Strings. Such was her popularity, that a number of ex-students travelled from Barnsley to play at her funeral reception. Her piano skills were much in demand, especially at Associated Board examination time, and she continued to teach privately up until a few days of her entering the hospice. I often had to remind myself of the seriousness of her illness – her energy and enthusiasm was boundless, and her approach stoical.

Mary loved her garden. She had amazing green fingers. I never saw any of her plants in anything but peak condition. She loved cooking, cross-stitch, decoupage and jigsaws – the bigger and harder the better!

She was a great friend, generous, a good listener and excellent company. Birthdays were never forgotten and we always  received a postcard from her travels. We are going to miss her enormously but feel privileged to have known her.  She will not be forgotten.

Review by William Marshall of

Concert in Huddersfield Town Hall on Saturday 12 November 2011

Extravagant folk music-infected compositions by Khachaturian and Borodin began and ended this concert and between them was the Brahms Violin Concerto in D major.

So this was not a concert that could easily be labelled with one of the thematic umbrella titles that orchestras like to devise whenever possible. On the other hand, the music of Brahms – for all its poise and classicism – often has traces of popular music and gipsy fiddling and these can be detected in the concerto.

Not that the young Martyn Jackson is a player who is given to wild extroversion. He is a massively talented violinist with an exquisite tone, displayed to especially beautiful effect – along with immaculate technique and tuning – in the lengthy solo cadenza in the first movement of the concerto.  But he is a relatively introverted, self-contained player without the big, burnished tone of some soloists. Therefore, there were some imbalances between the orchestra and the solo violin. Conductor Nicholas Smith could have backed off the Huddersfield Philharmonic on occasions so that the  solo part emerged with more clarity.

That said, the orchestra executed its parts well and there was a high standard of playing too in the Masquerade Suite by Khachaturian – which opens and closes with real swagger – and in the orchestral workout of Borodin’s Symphony No 2. This presents almost all sections with a range of technical challenges, most of them overcome with panache with a brief sag in the tuning during the slow movement being the only disconcerting moment of a demanding concert which showed that the Phil is on good form.

The concert had begun with an affecting performance of Sibeluis’s Valse Triste played as a memorial to the orchestra’s former leader, Mary Rafferty, who died in July. Held in great affection, she was widely regarded as one of the most inspirational and generous figures on the Huddersfield music scene and she would surely have been delighted by the cascade of sonorous string tone which the Phil produced in her memory. 

(See our musicians page for a full tribute to Mary Rafferty as published in the concert programme for this concert.)

Dates booked for the Huddersfield Town Hall (“subscriber” season 2011-12) are as follows, with the musical programmes as indicated – all subject to finalisation and confirmation. 

• Saturday 12th November 2011
  • Khachaturian:  Three movements from the Masquerade Suite
  • Brahms: Violin Concerto. Soloist Martyn Jackson
  • Borodin: Symphony No 2

• Saturday 4th February 2012   
  • Verdi: Overture – The Force of Destiny
  • Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
  • Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker – Act 2

• Saturday 28th April 2012
  • Handel: Coronation Anthem – Zadok the Priest
  • Butterworth: Symphony No 7 (world premiere)
  • Beethoven: Symphony No 9

with  warmly anticipated special guests the Huddersfield Choral Society

• Saturday 23rd June 2012
  • Gala Opera Night (details of programme and soloists to be confirmed)

The subscriber prospectus will be available in July 2011 from for example local libraries and tourist information offices. Also on-line, available to down-load and print off.  See Prospectus Brochure, now posted on this website. 2011-12 Prospectus Brochure

Subscribers registered already will receive a copy by post and / or email direct. Alternatively please contact the Ticket Secretary Chris Leyland direct (see Contact Us).  Applications for subscriber season tickets will close on 24th Septmber 2011.