BOTH have an international reputation. Martyn Brabbins as a top flight conductor. Huddersfield Choral Society as one of the country’s most renowned choirs.

News then that Martyn Brabbins has been appointed as music director of the Choral is as exciting as it is significant.

Many will see this as a bold move from the choir which is clearly looking to build on its formidable reputation for choral singing.

Martyn Brabbins will be familiar to anyone who has heard the Choral sing in recent years.

He has had a long and fruitful relationship with the choir since 1996 including eight years as Principal Conductor and subsequently as Conductor Laureate.

This new appointment marks a subtle but significant development of the choir’s relationship with the conductor.

He is a busy musician, much in demand internationally for his conducting skills and his musical insight.

Martyn is Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic and Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic.

Recent highlights of this highly regarded conductor’s career include debuts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, at La Scala Milan, and last year at the First Night of the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

All that experience has enabled Martyn to help enrich the Choral’s repertoire with works such as the Rachmaninov Vespers – performed at the Flaneries Festival in Reims and the Cheltenham International Festival of Music – Kodaly’s Psalmus Hungaricus, plus several recordings.

Those have included a world première recording of choral works by Sir Arnold Bax and a live recording of the BBC Proms performance of Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony in 2011.

Martyn’s five year appointment as music director signals a gear shift in that relationship and promises still more exciting times ahead.

“My own life has been enriched these past 17 years by my proud association with the Huddersfield Choral Society.

“I very much look forward to renewing our formal relationship and developing the choir’s strong musical tradition,” he said.

“ The Society has recently adopted a new statement which, to me, sums up exactly why I want to be a closer part of their musical life: ‘To uphold and continually renew a proud tradition of choral singing’ – and that’s absolutely right.”

Last Friday, at another new venture for the Choral – a preview for its coming season – he was clearly excited by the prospect of working still more closely with the choir and helping to guide its musical future.

“It’s a good moment to come back,” he said. “ I think the choir is getting better and better all the time.

“There is no reason for us to be parted any longer.

“Music director means I will do some concerts and I will be there as a member of the planning fraternity.

“I will try and always be the ambassador for Huddersfield Choral wherever I go.”

It’s precisely what a choir with the status of Huddersfield Choral Society needs.