Opening with the rousing Overture to William Tell by Rossini, Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra’s major spring concert tomorrow night has a knock-out programme of inspirational music.

Joined by the choir of Hipperholme Grammar School, the orchestra will also perform Gustav Holst’s Planets; the final choruses of Handel’s Messiah and Verdi’s Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.

Tomorrow’s concert will be conducted by Robert Guy, who is Artistic Director and co-founder of NEW Sinfonia, based in North Wales, and also principal conductor of the Orchestra of the Square Chapel in Halifax and Musical Director of Cantorion Rhos Choir.

As a violist, Robert has worked for the Orchestra of Opera North, Northern Ballet and Sinfona Cymru.

Hipperholme Grammar School, while one of the region’s smaller secondary schools, has no fewer than four choirs and upwards of 50 pupils who regularly attend rehearsals.

Last year the chamber choir participated in a joint evensong with the choir of Bradford Cathedral - several members of the cathedral choir are choral scholarship pupils of the school.

The Huddersfield Town Hall concert was to have welcomed back international soprano Cressida Sharp, who first appeared with the orchestra last year in the Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.

However, due to ill health she was forced to pull out of the weekend’s engagement at the last minute.

The orchestra is now searching for a replacement soloist to perform Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss.

Tickets for the concert are £5 to £15, with details on late availability from Kirklees Box Office 01484 223200 or www.huddersfield-phil.org.uk

American-born soprano Paula Sides has just been confirmed as the eleventh hour replacement for Cressida Sharp. The former Royal College of Music student, who has sung with Opera North and is currently with English Touring Opera, has stepped in to sing The Four Last Songs. The Strauss piece will be part of her repertoire with the Birmingham Sinfonia this summer.

Paula, who is from Tennessee, has sung many operatic roles - from Despina in Cosi Fan Tutti and Pamina in The Magic Flute, to Gilda in Rigoletto and Mimi in La Boheme.

Paula Sides, soprano
 

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