Huddersfield Choral Society Autumn Concert 2021

Looking forward to the Autumn Concert? So are we! Read on to find out what is in store when HCS returns to the town hall stage. Preview written by Sue Turnbull, Programme Officer. Purchase the full programme on the night of the concert for more in depth musical analysis and artist biographies.

The Music

The concert opens with the famous and rousing choral anthem, I Was Glad, by C.Hubert H.Parry. The anthem was specially composed for, and performed at, the coronation of Edward VII and has been performed at every coronation since.

This is followed by two pieces new to us – Cloudburst by American composer, Eric Whitacre and How can I keep from Singing? by Canadian composer, Sarah Quartel.

Cloudburst was first published in 1995, has piano and percussion accompaniment and was inspired by the composer’s experience of a desert thunderstorm.

How can I keep from Singing? was written by the composer in 2017 and is a moving unaccompanied choral arrangement of a hymn tune first published in 1869 and sung by the sopranos, accompanied by altos, tenors and basses.

Go, Song of Mine is thought by many to be Elgar’s greatest part song, composed in 1909 and premiered that year at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford.

Our programme concludes with Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. We are singing the version with harp, organ and percussion accompaniment.

Our professionals

Our concert tonight is conducted by our inspirational Choral Director, Gregory Batsleer, widely regarded as one of the most innovative choral conductors of his generation.

The wonderful Father Willis town hall organ and the piano are played tonight by Leeds City Organist and our good friend, Darius Battiwalla.

The harpist tonight is internationally renowned Lucy Nolan, a graduate of Oxford University and the Royal Northern College of Music and a finalist in the RNCM’s Gold Medal weekend.

Finally, on percussion, we welcome the innovative Delia Stevens, who has co-founded the Aurora Percussion Duo, world music collective, Kabantu and, in 2021, launched ConunDrums, a ‘counter-concert’ series.