Holmfirth Choral Society will be performing the entire Handel’s Messiah this weekend.
It is the first time in the society’s history that it has done the full Messiah and will be at Holmfirth Civic Hall tomorrow at 7.15pm.
Geoffrey Lockwood, who will be conducting, said: “It has been customary to omit some items from a performance of Messiah in order to prevent the programme from becoming unreasonably long.
“However, the numbers that were traditionally always omitted – and consigned to an appendix in most editions of Messiah used by choral societies in the early 20th century – have more recently become more popular again. Holmfirth Choral’s Messiah this year will be a first in the history of the present Society in that it will be a complete performance, at least insofar as all numbers will be performed. Some will have minor cuts, so the programme will not be significantly longer than usual.”
The Valley Sinfonia led by Mary Barber will provide the accompaniment.
There will be four soloists.
Andrew McAllister (tenor) took Huddersfield by storm when he won the Kirklees Young Musician of the Year award in 2012, then subsequently graduated from Huddersfield University with the highest degree mark in his year. He has previously sung for Holmfirth Choral to telling effect in the April performance of Bach’s St John Passion.
Sally Perkins (contralto) is from Huddersfield and after studying locally went on to London and spent some years singing professionally in that area before returning to her home town.
Jamal Rahman (bass) is a Yorkshireman, born in Leeds, who has appeared with Huddersfield Youth Opera, singing the part of Salieri in Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Mozart & Salieri.
Sarah Holland (soprano) is from the York area and specialises in historical performance and early music.
Tickets are available from Holmfirth Tourist Information Centre or by phoning 01484 687643.
