Audience members will be astonished by the “absolutely brilliant” and virtuoso accordion music they will hear at the summer concert by Holmfirth Choral Society on Sunday (July 12).
So says the choir’s conductor Geoffrey Lockwood, who has become a big fan of The Kyiv Classic Accordion Duo, who come to Huddersfield every year to raise money for a Ukranian charity that helps those still affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.
For the second year running the Kyiv players, Igor Sayenko and Oleksiy Kolomoiets, will be guests at the choral society’s summer event - last year’s concert raised a total of £700, of which £500 was donated to the Hippokrat charity.
Founded in 1996 in the Chernov region of Ukraine, Hippokrat provides food and medicines for the now young adults who were victims of the fallout from the nuclear reactor meltdown that led to the relocation of more than 35,000 people in the region but affected millions.
Igor and Oleksiy’s home town is close to the site of the nuclear plant, which is why they have chosen to use their considerable musical skills to continue to offer support to people who get little in the way of state aid.
The Kyiv duo come to the UK every year on a fund-raising tour. They have been appearing in Huddersfield for the past 12 years, wowing audiences with their button accordion playing.
“They are absolutely amazing,” says Geoffrey, “they do their own arrangements of classical pieces and particularly like arranging organ music. This year they will be doing Bach’s orchestral suite in B minor, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Rossini’s William Tell Overture and a selection of accordion music that is Russian or Ukranian.”
The two young men are members of National radio orchestras in Ukraine and also play keyboards.
Holmfirth Choral Society, which gives three subscriber concerts a year plus an informal summer concert, was founded 70 years ago as a fundraising group to support those affected by the Whit Monday flood of 1944 so it is particularly apt that seven decades later it is supporting the work of another relief charity. Its 90 singing members will present a programme that includes classic choral works, the operatic chorus of the Hebrew Slaves and spirituals, accompanied by Malcolm Hinchliffe on piano and organ. The concert finale will feature the choir in harmony with the Kyiv duo.
Tickets for the concert, which starts at 7.30pm in New Mill Parish Church, are £5 on the door.
