Sunday, 25th June, 7·30pmSt Paul’s Church, Armitage Bridge

Philip Lane: Five Shakespeare Lyricsplus English madrigals and music by

Gustav Holst, Paul Ayres and others

featuring Imogen Davey, FluteMrs Sunderland Kirklees Young Musician of the Year 2017

SUMMEREVENINGSUMMEREVENING

Songs EnglishSongs EnglishSummer Concert 2017

Conductor: Alexander Douglas • Registered Charity Nº 507768

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CONDUCTOR

Alexander DouglasAs the Artistic Director of ADM Productions, Alexander operates across classical, jazz and gospel genres. Following productions of Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St John Passion and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, adm’s most recent project is the Huddersfield Bach Collegium – a project that has drawn music-makers in Kirklees together with soloists from across the UK to explore J. S. Bach’s cantatas over the coming years. As an award-winning jazz pianist, Alexander led his quartet through the challenge of interpreting John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme in live performance to a

rapturous reception at the 2016 Manchester Jazz Festival. Within the British gospel music industry, Alexander is known as one of the most formidable choral directors and arrangers currently active. He has begun to appear regularly on the BBC, including broadcasting from the 2016 Proms for the World Service and as one of the presenters who lead Radio 4’s Daily Service. His work with the Lifted Voices Choir caught the ears of a Radio 3 production team, with whom he will develop material for broadcast. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, he is now a full Associate of NHS Research & Development Northwest, and is academically involved in the philosophy of psychiatry as he prepares to work more actively for the cause of mental health awareness. His ecclesiastical activities include serving as Principal for the Music and Worship Academy of the South England Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists. More information can be found on his personal website: https://about.me/alexander.douglas

AcknowledgementsThe Huddersfield Singers extend their thanks to the volunteers who have helped in the production of this concert by providing refreshments in the interval, selling tickets and programmes at the door, and being of general assistance behind the scenes. Their contribution has been invaluable.

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ACCOMPANIST

Sue Ogden, PianoSue started piano lessons at the age of eight. Her love of accompanying quickly became evident at high school, where she played for the school choir and for soloists in concerts. She gained a BA (Hons) in Music at Huddersfield Polytechnic, studying piano with Martin Roscoe, as well as

organ and harpsichord. She completed a PGCE and holds an ltcl in Piano Performance. Sue has always worked in the Huddersfield area, teaching music from Primary through to FE level. After more than 20 years in the primary classroom as well as five years of teaching piano and keyboard for Kirklees Music School (#Musica), she now focusses on her private teaching practice and accompanying. She plays for classes at Holmfirth Musical Festival and for the Kirklees Primary Music Festival. Sue has accompanied various local choirs and amateur dramatic societies, performing a wide range of music from Bach to Buddy Holly. She has been The Huddersfield Singers’ regular accompanist since 2001 and was appointed to Denby Dale Ladies Choir in 2013.

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TONIGHT’S GUEST

Kirklees Young Musician of the Year 2017

Imogen Davey, FluteImogen started playing the flute at the age of seven and piccolo at 15. She is now 17 and studying for A-levels in Art, Mathematics and Music at Greenhead College. She hopes to continue her studies at conservatoire in 2018 and become a professional musician. Imogen enjoys both solo and orchestral playing and is a committed member of various ensembles, including the National Youth Chamber Orchestra of Great Britain, Yorkshire Young Sinfonia, Kirklees Musica Youth Orchestra and Les Six flute choir. She regularly takes part in competitive music festivals and has most recently been awarded the title of Kirklees Young Musician of the Year 2017. For the last two summers she has been fortunate enough to attend the Galway Flute Festival at Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. This is a nine-day residential course hosted by Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway, where she has been able to perform in masterclasses for Lady Galway. This year, Imogen is very excited and honoured to have been chosen as one of twenty flautists worldwide to perform in two masterclasses for Sir James. These will be broadcast online, live to the world, via Facebook. In her spare time, Imogen enjoys dancing and fashion, and on Saturdays she’s to be found working hard in the Handmade Bakery in Slaithwaite to fund her obsession with nice dresses and shoes!

From the start of its 2017–2018 season, The Huddersfield Singers will enter an exciting new stage in its history with three major developments planned: 1: A new concert venue 2: A new conductor 3: An expanded choir1: Concert venueThe choir will be returning on a regular basis to its traditional primary concert venue of St Paul’s Hall on the Huddersfield University campus.2: Conducting staffAs we begin our search for a long-term appointment, we are delighted to announce that our interim conductor for the coming season is Daniel Gordon. Daniel is also the Huddersfield Choral Society’s Accompanist & Assistant Chorusmaster, and will bring a high level of professionalism to the choir’s training. Assisting him in rehearsing the choir will be our recently-appointed President, Susan M. Wilkinson, who is also a very experienced choir trainer.3: Expanding voicesWithout altering the basic character or nature of the group and its repertoire, the choir hopes to attract a significant number of new singers to expand its musical range and flexibility, and generally reinforce its music-making. New members of all voice parts with singing experience and sight-reading competence would be greatly appreciated. We welcome singers from other choirs and actively encourage membership of multiple groups.Open RehearsalIf you are interested in giving us a try, do please take advantage of ourOpen Rehearsal on Monday, 4th September, 7:30 pm atHuddersfield Methodist Mission, 15 Lord Street, Huddersfield HD1 1QA.

See the choir’s website for further details—and please spread the word!www.HuddersfieldSingers.com

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PROGRAMMEChoir: English madrigalsApril is in my mistress’ face ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Thomas Morley (1558–1603)Now is the month of Maying ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Thomas Morley (1558–1603)The Silver Swan ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)Flora gave me fairest flowers ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ John Wilbye (1574–1638)Adieu, sweet Amaryllis ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ John Wilbye (1574–1638)Fair Phyllis I saw sitting all alone ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ John Farmer (c. 1565–c. 1605)

KirKlEEs Young musiCian of thE YEar 2017Serenade (1903) ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Frank Bridge (1879–1941) arr. Russell DenwoodMovements from Suite Antique (1979) ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ John Rutter (b. 1945) 1: Prelude 3: Aria 4: Waltz

Imogen Davey, Flute • Sue Ogden, Piano

Choir (uppEr voiCEs)Five Shakespeare Lyrics for ssa choir (1987) ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Philip Lane (b. 1950) i: Where the bee sucks ii: Tell me where is fancy bred iii: Blow, blow, thou winter wind iv: Full fathom five v: It was a lover and his lass

Sue Ogden, Piano

✯ INTERVAL ✯

Choir: English part-songsThe lark in the clear air ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ arr. Alec Rowley (1892–1958)To Daisies ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Roger Quilter (1877–1953) arr. Leslie WoodgateFair house of joy ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Roger Quilter (1877–1953) arr. Leslie WoodgateNow is the month of Maying ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Gustav Holst (1874–1934)Two Eastern Pictures for upper voices ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Gustav Holst (1874–1934) i: Spring ii: Summer

Sue Ogden, Piano

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KirKlEEs Young musiCian of thE YEar 2017The Elements (1980) ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Robert Hinchliffe (b. 1945) 1: Fire 3: Earth 2: Water 4: AirDeep Blue (2012) ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Ian Clarke (b. 1964)

Imogen Davey, Flute • Sue Ogden, Piano

ChoirO waly, waly (‘The water is wide’ ) (2011) ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ arr. Paul Ayres (b. 1970)As I went out one May morning (2011) ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ arr. Paul Ayres (b. 1970)The isle is full of noises (2013) ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ Paul Ayres (b. 1970)

Sue Ogden, Piano

PROGRAMME NOTES

In just eight more years the Huddersfield Singers will celebrate their 150th anniversary. But next season a new era begins, as this is my last concert as the Conductor of the choir. Those of you who have supported us over the last three years and followed our journey over the previous eight concerts will have your own impression of what we have been doing and how we have been doing it! However, it has been a real privilege and pleasure to work with this choral community for the past three seasons and I wish the choir all the very best under their recently-installed President, Susan Wilkinson (a formidable figure in Huddersfield’s music scene and beyond) as they seek to appoint my long-term successor. This programme is a veritable smorgasbord of English delights that (like many of our programmes) looks to the past and also a little to the future. English madrigals remain a fundamental part of this choir’s DNA, and this selection offers a range of both four- and five-part settings that are meaningful to many of the choir members, who value the madrigal singing traditions within the group. I now own my own Oxford Madrigals book thanks to the generosity of the choir and I would like to thank Graham Caulton (one of our basses) and his wife Carole for the wonderful birthday barbecue they threw for me a couple of summers back (where I received said book!). A significant number of composers whose music we have performed were noted champions of other composers’ music. Philip Lane is one of that number; he seems to have spent at least as much time working on

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other people’s music as on his own! The vast bulk of his multi-dimensional output has involved working in film contexts, and his approach to these Five Shakespeare Lyrics might be best summarised in his own words:

Shakespeare is so much the poet of all times and climes that it occurred to me to view a sequence of song texts with a kaleidoscopic eye and create a variety of stylistic examples that grew characteristically out of each text—not to produce variety for its own sake but as a genuine collection of individual reactions. This apparent mixture of styles seems to me completely natural and acceptable, although only perhaps in film music is it normal for a composer to be able to express himself in quite such a disparate manner.

These well-crafted vignettes showcase our ladies’ voices (without forgetting our redoubtable counter-tenor, about whom more later!) and also feature some very skilled piano writing which is a perfect foil for the choir’s long-serving (and occasionally long-suffering) accompanist, Sue Ogden—one of the best musicians I have had the privilege of working with, and someone who did more than most to make Monday evenings enjoyable over these past three years. More than a truly gifted musician, she really is an artist, and I hope she continues to play for as long as possible! I have a Scottish ‘honorary’ godfather who was an excellent amateur musician in his day and to whom I owe no small part of my inspiration and awareness of classical music. He opened my ears to the delights of English song, and as a teenager the work of Ivor Gurney and Roger Quilter left quite an impression on me. This didn’t wither away into oblivion during my early jazz career, and when I returned to classical music as a conducting student, English part-songs were just not as highly valued by my contemporaries as by myself, which continues to confuse me somewhat. It could not always have been so; the two Quilter songs in tonight’s programme were arranged by Leslie Woodgate, one of the most illustrious former conductors of this very choir (he was also the London-based BBC Chorusmaster at the same time). This choir’s selection of part-songs offers a glimpse into a really wonderful musical world and I would say that, more than just the musical notes, the songs provide a taste of true English identity. Holst’s Two Eastern Pictures are no exception, although, if you close your eyes, you may find yourself experiencing music from one of those classic film dramas of the last century set in the East. The ‘Orient’ remains a place of fascination for many English people (about which more in a moment) but both pre- and post-Empire

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England has been a place with magnetic attraction for people from every corner of the world, and while the verdant summer attractions of ‘this green and pleasant land’ are of less value to 21st-century would-be residents, as an immigrant of sorts and British passport holder I’d like to take a moment to reflect on – and salute – this country for the ways in which it has responded to the terrible recent disasters that have befallen it. England has embraced ways of life, customs, culinary traditions, vocabulary and also music from countries and cultures, and while we are a long way from Thomas More’s Utopian vision, I am reminded by these English part-songs that there is a national musical heritage here, and we are supposed to be taking care of it as well as seeking to understand the music of others – for if the next generation grows up without this music, what is going to happen to it?! One answer to that is found in Paul Ayres, whose own musical wanderlust gets a surprisingly good workout in the three pieces that we have chosen for tonight. I say ‘we’ because tonight’s repertoire has been chosen by our Music Committee, who have effectively served as guardians and custodians of the choir’s traditions. His three pieces serve as a very effective final statement about English music and the English from the Huddersfield Singers. Ayres also ‘goes East’ and sets some Chinese words as part of The isle is full of noises and takes some considerable harmonic risks as well as some very carefully constructed journeys with form which both showcase the choir at its best whilst making us nervous all at the same time! There are more people for me to thank than these few programme notes can cover, but I mentioned our redoubtable counter-tenor, Richard Hallas, and what he does for the choir is almost incalculable. I have personally benefitted greatly from his knowledge and multifarious skill-sets, and his investment into the choir is a labour of love that has affected more than just myself as the conductor. I have been saddened and shocked by the fate that has befallen Theresa McDonagh, whom I also got to know very well and who offered me hospitality more than once. My thoughts and prayers for her continue. And Ruth Wilson, our Secretary, has been a regular conversation partner and a very valued collaborator whose work has helped my own very much. Also, the support from the whole choir during my mother’s fight with brain cancer has meant more than the members will ever realise. To the Huddersfield Singers and to our audiences: THANK YOU for three seasons of great and very important memories—and my heartfelt best wishes for the future. —Alexander Douglas

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Instrumental musicFrank Bridge was born in 1879 in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music, having been awarded a composition scholarship in 1899. Initially, Bridge was a first study violinist, but later converted to the viola whilst still carrying on with composition. Throughout his career, Bridge wrote very little music for woodwind instruments; the vast majority of his works were written for strings and/or piano. The Serenade was originally composed for violin (or cello) and piano but was later arranged for flute by Russell Denwood.  John Rutter is an English composer and conductor, born in 1945 in London. His Suite Antique was written in 1979 as a commission for the Cookham Festival. The Suite is written for flute, harpsichord and strings: the combination of instruments used in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto Nº 5, which was already in the Festival’s programme that year. The six movements are all varied in style and ideas. The first movement, Prelude, is in a Baroque style and acts as a preview of what is yet to come, and is rather lyrical and calming. The Aria (the third movement) is a beautiful love song and is followed by a jazz-influenced Waltz, similar in style to jazz waltzes of Richard Rodgers. All movements of the Suite are based upon a Baroque or Classical style to portray the ‘antique’ spirit that Rutter wanted to evoke.  Robert Hinchliffe is an oboist, composer and conductor, born in Doncaster. Having studied oboe at the Royal College of Music, Hinchliffe became a freelance musician and only later turned his attention towards composition. The Elements, as its name suggests, is a collection of varied moods and characters that wonderfully depicts the four elements in all their glory. Ian Clarke is a contemporary composer and flautist, born in 1964 in Kent. Clarke studied flute at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as well as mathematics at Imperial College London. During Clarke’s childhood, he was exposed to classical music by his parents but took a greater interest in rock music. He later formed his own rock band, and this started to push his flute playing outside the traditional classical style as he learned more about improvisation and extended techniques. Deep Blue, a beautifully lyrical piece for flute and piano, was written in 2012 and is inspired by the ocean and whale song. The work’s first performances (all given by Clarke himself ) were at flute courses in the summer of the same year, with the US première at the Las Vegas 2012 NFA convention, plus a performance at the British Flute Society convention in Manchester. The piece features lip bending in the flute part, and is accompanied by a ‘simple gentle groove’ in the piano. —Imogen Davey

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THE HUDDERSFIELD SINGERS President Conductor Accompanist Susan M. Wilkinson Alexander Douglas Sue Ogden

Vice Presidents Pam Cooksey Hilary Pollard John Horrocks-Taylor Heather Powell Laurence Jones Gordon Sykes

Registered Charity Nº 507768

Web Site http://www.HuddersfieldSingers.com/

Interested in joining the choir? Know anyone who might be? Please help spread the word about our Open Rehearsal as we look to expand the size of the choir!

Monday, 4th September 2017, 7:30–9:30 pm1st floor, Huddersfield Methodist Mission, 15 Lord Street, Huddersfield HD1 1QA

OPEN REHEARSALNext season, the choir will make a return to St Paul’s Hall as its concert venue and take on a new interim conductor, Daniel Gordon. At the same time, we hope to gain a good number of new singers to reinforce our music-making.