IT WAS a one-off event – a workshop weekend culminating in a concert.
That was five years ago and now it is time for Anne Levitt’s Glorious Voices Choral Workshop weekend to return to Dewsbury Town Hall.
For that supposedly one-off event has become a well-loved part of the annual musical calendar with singers, musicians and audiences happy to get involved.
This year’s glorious weekend will be in early June and proceeds from the weekend will go to The Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity devoted to improving the lives of teenagers and young adults with cancer.
The soloists this year are both accomplished musicians well-known in the area.
They are soprano Julia Garbutt, a favourite with concertgoers, and baritone Thom Meredith, principal of Kirklees Music School.
They will be joined by Flautacious, a flute ensemble comprising girls from Wakefield Girls High School, a small ukulele group taught by Cath Stevenson at Thornhill Junior School and the Kirklees Youth Jazz Orchestra.
The children at Thornhill have the opportunity to learn to play various different instruments during theirŠ time in the school, one of which is the Ukulele.
Forty-five children are currently having a weekly ukulele lesson with their whole class and their class teachers learn withŠthem too.
The Thornhill Ukulele Band Is a group of eight children aged eight or nine who have chosen to join the school ukulele club.Š
They meet and rehearse after school once a week and have been out of school to perform for various local events. The children are very excited to beŠinvited to playŠinŠthe Dewsbury Choral Weekend concert.
The Kirklees Youth Jazz Orchestra has attracted some of the top young jazz musicians from throughout Kirklees and recently won two of the six available awards at the Great Northern Big Band Festival.
The Glorious Voices singers will represent many local choirs, including Vocal Expressions, New Mill Male Voice Choir, Inspiration, Morley Music Society, Miscellany, The Harwood Singers, Sisters in Harmony, together with singers from much further afield.
If you would like to join those singers, contact Jan Eastwood on 0797 663 7711.
