TWO of the area’s best known soloists will feature in Huddersfield U3A mixed voice choir’s annual concert next month.
Soprano Sarah Ogden and baritone Thom Meredith will sing in the concert at Holy Trinity Church in Huddersfield on April 8.
Thom is principal of Kirklees Music School where Sarah teaches part-time. Both are music directors of local choirs, Thom with Colne Valley Male Voice and Sarah with both Denby Dale Ladies Choir and the Hade Edge Community Choir.
At the concert they will sing popular and classic songs and arias and will also team up to perform a number of duets, accompanied by Sarah’s mother Sue.
Sarah, a graduate of Birmingham University, started a two year post-graduate performance course at the Royal College of Music in Manchester in September and in October she won the prestigious Bessie Cronshaw Song Cycle prize at the college.
She was also a finalist there in the recent Strauss competition.
When she has completed her studies, Sarah hopes to follow a full-time career as a professional singer.
Thom, a graduate of Oxford University’s Brasenose College, was Head of Music at Colne Valley High School for four years and has been Principal of the Kirklees Music School since 2004.
He has been Musical Director of the Colne Valley Male Voice Choir for the past 22 years and his career as a baritone soloist has taken him the length and breadth of the country, performing in operas and oratorios as well as lighter concerts and first performances of contemporary works.
The U3A Choir, which now has a membership of 104, will be conducted by their joint musical directors Eric Cooper and Malcolm Fairless and accompanied by Corinne Lord.
The concert starts at 7.15pm and tickets, Adults £6 with free entry for those under 16, will be available from church or choir members or will be available on the door.
