THERE will certainly be a sense of occasion on Sunday when Hepworth Band and their guests Honley Male Voice Choir share a concert platform at the newly opened Cathedral House in Huddersfield.
Walk into the light and lofty entrance at Cathedral House and you can’t fail to be impressed by what is on offer at the newest and biggest concert venue of its type in the town.
For Cathedral House, the newly built home of Huddersfield Christian Fellowship, doesn’t just physically dominate its surroundings in St Thomas’ Road, Folly Hall.
Once inside, its vast central hall which will ultimately seat 2,100 people in a sweeping open space, has the potential to give other concert venues a run for their hire rates.
The main body of the hall seats 1,500 people with an uninterrupted view of the staged area. At the rear is a glass fronted balcony which can take a further 600 seats.
Access to the stage from the hall is via two gently rising flights of stairs and from the outside there is direct access on to the platform which means getting instruments and equipment in is hassle free.
Add ample parking, all the additional room space that you could possibly want to accommodate musicians and performers, plus lighting and sound technology and the only box left to be ticked comes under the word acoustics.
The church members are clearly delighted with their new home and only concerts like that to be held on Sunday (May 10) will decide whether the town’s musicians and singers will share their commitment to this striking new facility.
The acoustics at Cathedral House will certainly get a work out on Sunday when Hepworth Band plays a Hymns Of Praise style concert which will include favourite hymns, psalms and works by Salvationist composers.
It is a chance for brass fans to hear a band in concert fresh from its recent success at the Yorkshire Regional Championships where they qualified to represent the county at the finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall in October.
Sunday also offers a chance to hear the Honley choir under its new musical director Keith Roberts.
One of the concert highlights will be the joint performance by band and choir of the world premiere of a specially commissioned new arrangement of the much loved hymn Love Divine (Blaenwern) by Alan Fernie.
The piece will be performed in memory of former choir stalwart Les Clegg who sang with Honley for 30 years until his death in 2002 aged 61.
Les’s son and daughter, David and Linzi, both played for Hepworth Band. The new arrangement was commissioned as a surprise gift for Linzi by her husband, James Cornell.
The concert starts at 7pm. Tickets are £6 on the door.
