Welcome Russell
After a long search over the summer, we are delighted to be able to announce that Russell Medley is to be our new Accompanist following Alan Horsey's retirement. We auditioned 3 very capable candidates and were very impressed by his skills, background and lovely friendly manor. Russell has an impressive CV, and is currently a Senior Vocal Coach/Repetiteur at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester,where he studied piano, double bass, composition and conducting. After
New Season, New Home, and Singing Again
Well it has been a rough couple of years for many and choirs have not been exempt. We just managed to run our lovely February 2020 concert with the Airedale Symphony Orchestra before the first big Covid lockdown but were sadly unable to complete the 2019/20 season. I don’t think any of us knew just how long it would be before ‘normal’ returned. Many in the choir had to quickly get to grips with the dreaded ‘technology’
Welcome Ruth and Zoom Delights
Well we live in strange times at the moment. No rehearsals together and all our end of season concerts sadly cancelled. The trustees have now held two meetings by Skype, but we were conscious that the AGM was looming and Skype has a 50 people limit on meetings. Thus we resolved to host the 2020 AGM on Zoom using a members business zoom account (many thanks Andrew). The freebie zoom accounts shut off after 40 minutes and
A Colourful Production
Lavish orchestral and choral forces were assembled for an enjoyable programme of Broadway musical theatre and opera on our special Leap Year Day concert in February. The Phil was delighted to be working again with the Airedale Symphony Orchestra (ASO) again in a joint production at Leeds Town Hall. The country had been battered for weeks by gales and torrential rain which was still pouring down on Saturday, but we were pleased to see a good audience bravely turned out
Winner of 2019 Carol Competition
Leeds Philharmonic 2nd Christmas Carol Competition – Winner Announced We held our second Phil Christmas Carol Competition during the autumn of 2019 as part of our charities aim to promote awareness of the beauty and benefits of choral singing. A cash prize of £750.00 together with publication of the winning carol by the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) meant that the competition attracted 76 high quality entrants from around the world. While many of the entries came from the UK,
Goodbye Rudi
The new choir season started on the 5th September, and we settled into learning Elgar's The Kingdom. We welcomed new members and then marked a special occasion. After 50 years of singing service to the choir, at the ripe age of 93, Rudi Leavor had decided to step down. As a child Rudi was fortunately able to escape the Holocaust and in 1937 came to Bradford with his family. A bright child, he went on to train and work as