Stella Jockel
Stella was born in Sheffield in 1932. She grew up and lived in the Hillsborough and Wadsley Bridge areas until her late 40s and worked as a primary school teacher in the city until taking early retirement. She sang in her local church choir, first at Wadsley Bridge, then, after marrying Alan Jockel, at All Saints Totley where he was the vicar. Stella became the church choir mistress and really enjoyed working with young voices as well as encouraging young organists. In her later years she also helped with music at Beauchief Abbey.
Singing was her main passion, but she also loved travelling, birdwatching, walking and the countryside, and she lent her support to organisations concerned with protecting nature into the future.
Stella sang as an alto with the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus for over 60 years, joining up in 1952 aged just 20. One of her first concerts was Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, with Kathleen Ferrier and the Hallé orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli at the new Festival Hall in London. This work became her favourite piece of music, and she sang it with the Chorus in 1964, on the highly-acclaimed Warner Classics recording with Dame Janet Baker and the Hallé orchestra and choir, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli.
More latterly Stella was involved in several trips made by the Chorus to Bochum, which was twinned with Sheffield after the Second World War. She welcomed and helped with hosting choirs from Bochum on their return visit to Sheffield. The relationship with Bochum meant a lot in those post-war years, and has continued ever since, with joint performances as recently as 2021 when the Bochum choir sang Messiah with the Chorus in Sheffield City Hall.
Stella retired from the Chorus in 2013 due to health issues affecting her balance and died in 2020, aged 88. It is entirely fitting that part of her generous bequest to her beloved Chorus will be used to support young composers via this competition. She would have been thrilled.
Darius Battiwalla
Darius is music director of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus. He prepares the choir for visiting orchestras and conductors, and has conducted performances with the Halle, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Northern Sinfonia and Manchester Camerata. Since he took over, the choir has performed from memory for the first time and has appeared at the Proms and on Chandos recordings with the BBC Philharmonic. He recently directed the Chorus with Black Dyke Band in premiere recordings of the brass arrangement of Rutter’s Gloria, Paul Mealor’s new work Paradise, and in a CD of Christmas music which included several of his own arrangements.
He is a regular guest chorusmaster or conductor with choirs such as the Northern Sinfonia Chorus, Leeds Philharmonic Chorus, Huddersfield Choral Society, CBSO chorus and Netherlands Radio Choir. He recently prepared the Lucerne Festival Academy for a performance of Berio’s Coro conducted by Simon Rattle, and conducted the BBC Philharmonic in a CD of music for the BBC Young Choristers of the Year.
As Leeds City Organist, Darius gives regular recitals in the Town Hall. He has appeared as organ soloist with the Halle and London Philharmonic Orchestra, is a regular orchestral organist and pianist for the BBC Philharmonic and Halle orchestras and gives organ recitals across the country.
Philip Wilby
Encouraged to take up composition by Herbert Howells, Philip Wilby graduated from Keble College, Oxford, in 1970. After a year as a professional violinist, he was invited by Alexander Goehr, then professor of music at Leeds University, to join his staff. He was senior tutor in composition there from 1984. More recently he was awarded a Doctorate in Composition (DMus), and made Professor in 2002. Until recently, he lived in Bristol where his wife Wendy has been serving as Canon Precentor at the cathedral.
In 2008, he was granted a Dutch Government BUMA award for his innovative works for brass band, and in 2009 an honorary fellowship by the Royal School of Church Music. His most recent recording ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ was awarded ‘Brass Band CD of the year’ in 2019, and he is proud to have served as the musical associate at the Black Dyke Band for 34 years. Recent performances with the Sheffield Philharmonic Choir have included ‘A Bronte Mass, and ‘The Holy Face’ performed in conjunction with the Halifax Choral Society.
Ellie Slorach
Conductor Ellie Slorach is the Founder and Artistic Director of Kantos Chamber Choir and Engagement Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She specialises in large scale multi-media and educational projects across all genres including orchestras, operatic, choral, and dance performances, and devises unique, innovative, sell-out performances in venues ranging from concert halls to nightclubs.
Ellie studied conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music and was awarded Associate Membership in 2023. She previously studied Music at the University of Manchester. She is Associate Choral Director with Huddersfield Choral Society and will lead the Dunedin Consort Choral Weekend.
Ellie recently performed at the BBC Proms at The Glasshouse Gateshead with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, with Matthew Bourne’s ballet production of Edward Scissorhands at Sadler’s Wells, and the filming of a multi-media concert with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She has been selected to film with the BBC Concert Orchestra and BBC Singers for the new season of the acclaimed BBC 10 Pieces. Ellie has worked with Northern Opera Group and at the Leeds Opera Festival, the Royal Opera House, and was Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège France in 2021/22.
Katharine Towers
Katharine Towers is a poet who was born in London and has lived in the Peak District for over 30 years. Her work reflects her interest in the natural world and her love of music and has been read on BBC Radios 3 and 4.
She has published three full collections with Picador and a pamphlet The Violin Forest with HappenStance Press in 2019. Her first collection The Floating Man (2010) won the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize and her second The Remedies (2016) was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Her most recent 2021 collection Oak (about the life of an oak tree) was longlisted for The Laurel Prize for nature
poetry and was a Poetry Book of the Month in The Guardian. She also writes a blog about Virginia Woolf. Her sequence of poems about the composer Gerald Finzi is to be published next year. Katharine grew up singing in amateur choirs and has sung with the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus for several years.
Susie Wilson
Half poet, half tutor, half clown, Susie Wilson is a Scottish auDHD writer who lives in Sheffield. Her debut pamphlet, Nowhere Near As Safe As A Snake In Bed, a surprisingly funny book which deals with living with an advanced illness and won the Disabled Poet Prize 2024, is out with Verve Poetry Press this November. A micro-chapbook, Skin The Rabbit, about growing up in Scotland, on the outside looking in, will be published by The Braag in Spring 2025.
Susie’s poetry has been widely anthologised and commended, with work out now in Carmen et Error, Propel, Ink Sweat & Tears, Northern Gravy and Black Bough, some of which you can read at www.susiewilsonpoet.com. She holds an MA in Poetry (with Distinction) from The Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University, and she is currently facilitating workshops for the Manchester Poetry Library. She is a former member of the Sheffield Philharmonic Choir, has collaborated with composers at the Royal Northern College of Music and for her latest musical escapade is learning to play jazz piano.
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus is South Yorkshire’s foremost large mixed-voice chorus, performing regularly with leading orchestras including the Hallé, the BBC Philharmonic, the Northern Sinfonia and Manchester Camerata, as well as with internationally renowned conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Markus Poschner, Nicholas Kraemer, Sophie Jeannin and David Hill.
The Chorus performs with Orchestra in Residence the Hallé and acclaimed soloists as part of the Sheffield International Concert Season at Sheffield City Hall and at other venues around the United Kingdom. It has participated in The Proms on a number of occasions and has developed touring and performance links with the Philharmonischer Chor based in Bochum, one of Sheffield’s twin towns in Germany, and with the Ensemble Vocal Perigueux based in Perigueux, France.
The Chorus presents a challenging and exciting programme under the joint patronage of BBC Radio 3’s Petroc Trelawny and acclaimed actor Samuel West, and the vibrant and inspiring leadership of its Music Director, Darius Battiwalla.
Recent performances include Verdi Requiem, Durufle Requiem and Mahler Symphony Number 2. A mini-tour of Mozart’s Requiem with the Flemish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kristiina Posker in London, Edinburgh and Sheffield attracted rave reviews; see https://sheffieldphil.org/stunning-reviews-for-mozart-requiem-mini-tour . The 2024-25 season will feature Lili Boulanger’s magnificent Psalm 130 and Haydn’s rousing Creation, both with The Hallé.
The Chorus is always keen to welcome new members in all voice parts, but especially tenors. If you love singing and would like to perform on stage with a large symphonic choir, you are welcome to try the Chorus out any Tuesday evening. Visit www.sheffieldphil.org for further details, and contact
Classical Sheffield
Classical Sheffield is a local charity committed to championing classical music-making and connecting music-makers across the city of Sheffield. With a vision of making ‘more music in more places with more people’ its strategic goals are to strengthen and develop classical music-making in Sheffield and to enrich Sheffield’s cultural vibrancy by shaping a high-quality classical music offer.
Members can advertise their events on a high-quality website that is a ‘one-stop shop’ with regards to classical music-making across the city, enabling anyone who is curious about classical music to find out more about what is on in the city and how to experience it.
Any person or group based in and around Sheffield who is committed to the development and celebration of classical music in its widest definition can become a member. In return for a small subscription fee, members are able to promote concerts, groups and organisations on the Classical Sheffield website, which has around 2,500 visitors per month. Their events are also included in weekly listing bulletins and feature in Classical Sheffield social media, and of course all members are able to participate in festivals and events.
Classical Sheffield encourages voluntary and young music-making groups across Sheffield to collaborate with one another and with a range of musicians, performing a diverse repertoire of classical works, old and new, conventional and innovative. It is delighted to support the second run of this competition for young composers, and that the winning entry will be performed as part of the 2025 Festival Weekend. This three-day festival of classical music in venues across the city aims to attract over 10,000 audience members and promises to be as successful as the previous festivals. Check out the Classical Sheffield website at https://classicalsheffield.org.uk and go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INWjefjIqQg&t=1s to see a film about the previous festival.