REVIEW: by William Marshall. from Huddersfield Examiner 26 April 2010 DURING her introductory remarks, conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa raised doubts over whether she, a Venezuelan, could do interpretive justice to an all-English programme. She was being light-hearted. But if the programme had been all-German, all-Italian or all-French, the jest would probably not have been made. English […]
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Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra would like to thank the following for their support during the 2008-2009 season: Baxter Caulfield, Solicitors Blackburn Quality Menswear Dr Stella Griffiths, Optician The Keys Restaurant (website) J & J W Longbottom Ltd Megsons Solicitors Primary Colour Print & Design Quarmby Garage (website) Specsavers (website) Thornton & Ross (website) Turner Violins (website) […]
Read moreAn innovation in this concert was that conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa spoke at some length to the audience in between items, describing and analysing them quite humorously. It perhaps says something about the entrenched formality of classical music concerts that it should be such a surprise when lines of verbal communication are opened up in this […]
Read moreThe Society’s current President, Paul Mulcock, was interviewed recently by the newspapers’ Cultural Editor, Val Javin. You can read the resulting article entitled “Join the town’s Phil on a musical journey” by following this link.
Read moreTHE Huddersfield Philharmonic is fortunate in having a horn section that can step from the back to the front of the stage in order to perform the devilishly demanding Konzertstuck by Schumann. Effectively a concerto for four horns, it is a piece that players of this temperamental instrument dream of performing but sometimes shy away […]
Read moreAn die Musik 2004 marked the 50th anniversary of an Anglo-German exchange between Huddersfield and Brunswick (Braunschweig). In September 1954, the Brunswick Symphony Orchestra (Conductor: Fritz Glahe; Leader: Hans Buttner; Cello Soloist: Annlies Schmidt) performed a programme of Gluck, Haydn and Beethoven in Huddersfield Town Hall. They also performed in Halifax and Derby. The programme […]
Read moreMost people know the story of the sinking of the Titanic… and that the band played on nobly as the ship went down. What you may not know is that the band leader – Wallace Hartley – was a former member of the Phil. He appears to have joined the orchestra in 1895 as one […]
Read moreConcert review by William Marshall, Huddersfield Examiner Felix Mendelssohn, born in 1809, is one of a roster of composers whose various anniversaries are being celebrated this year. And the Huddersfield Phil paid him a heartfelt tribute in the town hall on Saturday. When one takes into account that wintry weather had disrupted the rehearsal schedule, […]
Read moreReview by William Marshall, Huddersfield Examiner Saturday’s concert included accomplished performances of a Beethoven symphony and of Elgar’s most famous orchestral work. When this is added to the fine account of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique at the orchestra’s spring concert, it would certainly seem that, under principal conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa, the Phil is on an upswing. […]
Read moreThis extract from a newspaper article from the 1890s throws some light on William Henry Cross, the first conductor of the “Phil” under its new name (adopted in 1884). The article was supplied by Margaret Hall, an Australian descendant of Mr Cross, and reads: “Although the composer is doubtless known, at least by repute, to […]
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