A star in the East! And here, in the heart of West Yorkshire, music … and Christmas hats, jingle-bells, audience-participation and more, writes Suzanne Smelt.
The award-winning Halifax Young Singers (HYS) shared their love of singing with a capacity audience on this grey December day.
Furthermore, instrumental sounds from the tremendous Musica Youth Orchestra (formerly Kirklees Youth Symphony Orchestra) warmed the air.
Opening this concert with a striking unison start to Gaudemus (Traditional) the HYS continued to stun us with beautifully blended harmonies in Do You Hear What I Hear? (arr. Winter).
This choir, which achieved triple success in February’s Huddersfield Mrs Sunderland Music Festival, responded well to Lynn Hudson’s expressive and precise directions with ‘heads up’ and eyes on the boss!
After an inspiring performance of My Lord Has Come (Todd), with its radiant high-altitude outbursts in choral textures otherwise dominated by feather-light singing of challenging harmonies, I thought ‘now that was the show-stopper.’
And then came Baba Yetu! This featured young tenor Bertie Yates.
Bertie put the ‘awe’ into awesome with a passionate rendition of this African prayer. Accompanied by driving rhythms this gutsy performance raised the roof. What a voice!
When the spotlight shone on the outstanding young musicians in the Musica Youth Orchestra we heard a selection-box of Christmas musical treats, including a fun-filled 12 Days of Christmas with the choir and audience. Film favourites and classics also featured.
Mussorgsky’s fast and furious Night on a Bare Mountain showcased not only the players’ individual talents but also the professional level of orchestral discipline.
Additionally, for a youth orchestra to be able to present robust sectional ensembles from within its ranks is impressive. The Symphonic Brass wowed us with their quirky Sleigh Ride (Anderson) and I was blown away by the strings’ accomplished and undirected performance of The Arrival of The Queen of Sheba (Handel).
Financial times are tough and for this area to continue to boast a youth orchestra of such strength and skill, is testimony to the sheer hard work of conductor Thom Meredith, Principal of Musica Kirklees, and his team of instrumental tutors.
Christmas time, a time for giving.
Well, thank you to all these young people for sharing their love of music with us this afternoon in an annual concert which one singer considers to be ‘their best concert of the year’. Agreed!
