It's five months since Kirklees Borough Organist Gordon Stewart feared he would be playing his last season of
Monday lunchtime concerts at town halls in Huddersfield and Dewsbury.
Savage cuts to local authority funding are threatening the arts in
Kirklees and a question mark hung over the future of publicly-supported music events.
However, on the eve of the penultimate concert in the current season, Gordon learned that he is to continue as Borough Organist and the series has been secured for another year.
A spokesman for Kirklees Council said: “He’s not been made redundant and he will be playing next season, although we don’t have details yet of the programme.”
Gordon couldn’t be happier. Speaking after his last-but-one recital in Huddersfield Town Hall he said: “I was allowed to tell the audience today that the season is going ahead next year, and I’m definitely in it.
“I’m relieved for the audiences because this thing that really matters to them and has been part of their lives is going to continue. People were queueing up to say how delighted they were. A lot of my audience don’t go out in the evenings so these lunchtime concerts are important to them.”
The Borough Organist began his concert series 25 years ago and has built up a steady audience of around 250 at the Monday lunchtime town hall recitals.
As well as performing himself, Gordon brings in guest musicians. But he will be at the console for the final spring concert, on Monday, February 29, at Huddersfield Town Hall, and the recital will have a celebratory feel.
The programme for the concert includes two of the most popular works in Gordon’s repertoire, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and Widor’s Toccata from Symphonie V, but he will also play Liszt’s great tribute to Bach, the Prelude and Fugue on Bach; Berceuse and Scherzetto by Yorkshire composer Cockroft and the Buxtehude Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne.
Tickets for the concert, which starts at 1pm, are £4 and £5.50 from the town hall. Lunches are available in the Old Court Room from 11.30am.
It’s also hoped that orchestral concerts at the town halls will continue despite worries that the long-established partnership between the Orchestra of Opera North and Kirklees Town Halls is under financial threat. Phil Boughton, Director of the Orchestra of Opera North, says: “No decisions have been taken to end anything and we continue to work closely with the council to find a way forward to secure the concert series and musical provision in Kirklees. I remain hopeful of a successful outcome and we look forward to being part of the cultural fabric of Kirklees not only for 16/17 but for years to come.”
In the meantime there’s still time to book for the last orchestral concert of the season, with the BBC Philharmonic, on Friday, March 4, 7.30pm at Huddersfield Town Hall. Under its Chief Conductor Juanjo Mena, the orchestra presents a programme of works by three generations of Austro-German masters - Schubert, Strauss, Brahms. Tickets are £10 - £24, (under 13s just £1 and 14-26 year-olds £4.00), from 01484 223200 or www.kirkleestownhalls.co.uk
