Rock star

Jul 4 2008 by Val Javin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

ROCK climbing is not something that you expect a professional violinist to be doing.

But David Greed, leader of the Orchestra of Opera North has been doing just that – and it’s all in the name of art!

Pictures of David standing on top of rocks at Buckstones with the spectacular Marsden Moor as a backdrop make a powerful statement on next season’s orchestral concert series brochure about the ideas behind the programming for concerts due to start in Huddersfield in the autumn.

For David, it was something of a new experience being driven by a photographer out on to the moors above Huddersfield for a photo shoot.

“It was quite early and the moors were almost deserted. There was just one person there who was a paraglider. He looked as if he was just about to launch himself off the rocks and when he saw me get out the violin he sat down again. Perhaps the air currents weren’t right!”

“I spotted this big rock which was about 12 feet off the ground. The photographer had spotted it too but didn’t want to ask me to get up there.

“It did involve a bit of climbing. It was very windy and when I tried to play, the bow was actually lifting off the strings.”

And then comes a confession. “I didn’t take my posh violin. I took my son’s!”

There was much good natured joshing going on between David and Dougie Scarfe, Concerts Director for Opera North as the two talked to a Huddersfield Town Hall audience this week about what is in store for the next orchestral concert season which starts in the autumn and spans both Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

Landmark Performances is the image that Opera North wants to convey with its choice of programme. It has selected four of its musicians to feature in a series of striking images which will be used to promote the season through brochures and poster campaigns.

“We photographed our principal flautist at one of the local reservoirs, our principal trumpet next to Castle Hill and our principal cellist at Emley Moor. The sheep ran away when the cellist started to play,” joked Dougie.

It’s a light-hearted approach to a serious intent on the part of Opera North to continue its commitment to bring strong, accessible and entertaining music to both Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

That policy certainly seems to be paying off. Audiences figures last season were up by more than 30% and last week’s dramatisation of Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream filled the Town Hall and closed the season with a real, emotional flourish.

Dougie hopes that that magic, and the excitement conjured by Saturday’s Prom in the Park, will encourage still more people to support the new concert season which begins in Huddersfield on September 18.

Thirteen major concerts are planned in the months between September and June 2009, nine of them in Huddersfield Town Hall and four in Dewsbury.

The Orchestra of Opera North will play seven of the concerts, slightly fewer than last season due to diary clashes with Town Hall availability and existing commitments for the orchestra. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra returns to play three concerts and Manchester Camerata, the BBC Philharmonic and Northern Sinfonia will play one concert each.

Opera North also remains committed to bringing top notch soloists, including established favourites such as the conductor Jacek Kaspszyk who returns in the opening concert in Huddersfield to conduct a programme of Rachmaninov and Gershwin.

Talented Robin Ticciati conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic when it returns to the town early next year with music by Smetana, Mendelssohn and Strauss.