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Lunchtime organ concert in Huddersfield

About the event

Part of Kirklees Concert Season 2023/24

David Pipe, our Organ Curator, has drawn together some of the finest organists for this year's season, with familiar faces including Organist Emeritus, Dr Gordon Stewart and Jonathan Scott from Bridgewater Hall.

As part of our Year of Music celebrations, David Pipe himself performs an evening concert this Christmas, Messiaen La Nativité du Seigneur - the music at which takes us on a kaleidoscopic tour of the organ's colours, and culminates in the stunning toccata 'Dieu parmi nous': God amongst us. And of course, the University of Huddersfield return with their annual Christmas Brass Band Concert.

David Pipe is Cathedral Organist for the Diocese of Leeds and is also Artistic Director of the Leeds International Organ Festival and Head of Organ Studies at the University of Huddersfield. Acknowledging the loyalty and sense of community inspired by the Organ Concert Season, David and the Council will work with audiences to determine the best course for the long-term programme for Huddersfield Town Hall's famous Father Willis organ, which dates back to 1860.

Please click on the link under Further Information for more details and online booking. Tickets are £5 per concert plus booking fee.

Contacts

Huddersfield Tourist Information

High Street, Huddersfield, HD1 2TG

01484 223200
Dewsbury Box Office and Town Hall Reception

Wakefield Old Road, Dewsbury, WF12 8DG

01924 324501
Town Halls Box Office

01484 225755

Dates and venues

  • Monday 11 September 2023 - 1:00pm, David Pipe opens the season with Schmidt’s fanfare-like Prelude & Fugue, subtitled “Halleluja”. Philip Moore's energetic Sonata is at the programme’s centre. A trio of German jazz preludes precedes a trip to France for Lanquetuit’s jubilant Toccata.
  • Monday 25 September 2023 - 1:00pm, Jonathan Scott demonstrates the full capabilities of the Town Hall’s magnificent organ with orchestral transcriptions and original works for solo organ, including the Largo from Dvorák’s ‘New World’, and Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries!
  • Monday 16 October 2023 - 1:00pm, Alexander Woodrow plays Bach’s dazzling Toccata, Adagio & Fugue followed by Walton’s whimsical Popular Song and Whitlock’s Plymouth Suite. Finally Vierne’s tour de force based on the Westminster chimes.
  • Monday 30 October 2023 - 1:00pm, Alessandro Bianchi visits from Cantù in Italy. His programme features an arrangement of Gershwin’s ever-popular Rhapsody in Blue, and ends with Sowerby’s fiendishly difficult Pageant.
  • Monday 13 November 2023 - 1:00pm, Martin Baker is acclaimed for his interpretation of repertoire, and as one of the world’s finest improvisers. He plays two baroque transcriptions before romantic works which explore the organ’s wealth of sonorities. Ends with a stunning improvisation!
  • Monday 27 November 2023 - 1:00pm, Gordon Stewart, Organist Emeritus - Hollins’ rousing Concert Overture sets the scene, with Bach’s monumental Fantasia & Fugueat the heart of this recital. A triptych by the French organist Augustin Barié closes with a flourish.
  • Friday 15 December 2023 - 7:00pm, Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur - David Pipe performs Messiaen’s evocative nine-movement cycle for Christmas.
  • Monday 15 January 2024 - 1:00pm, American organist Katelyn Emerson's transatlantic programme includes Sowerby’s sparkling Fantasy for Flute Stops and Bossi’s whirling Scherzo, before a complete performance of Widor’s majestic Symphony No.6.
  • Monday 29 January 2024 - 1:00pm, Prize-winning American organist Carolyn Craig performs several iconic British works ideally suited to the Willis organ, alongside Nadia Boulanger’s beautiful Trois improvisations and Jehan Alain’s Litanies.
  • Monday 12 February 2024 - 1:00pm, Hannah Parry includes Bach’s Toccata in F with its dancing pedal solo. Hungarian composer Erzsébet Szonyi continues the dance theme in her Tänzerische Weise, before Judith Bingham’s evocative Altartavla.
  • Monday 26 February 2024 - 1:00pm, Peter Wright plays Bach’s transcription of Vivaldi’s concerto for two violins alongside Lionel Rogg’s ‘neo-baroque’ Partita, before Dupré’s virtuosic Variations provide a whirlwind conclusion.
  • Monday 11 March 2024 - 1:00pm, Daniel Moult, Head of Organ at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, performs a wide-ranging programme to show off the many colours of the Town Hall organ.
  • Monday 25 March 2024 - 1:00pm, Organ Series Finale - the season’s final recital, with David Pipe

Further information

Themes

Music Kirklees has a culture rich in all forms of music: At a glance under Events: Concerts, shows, workshops etc relating to music of all kinds.