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Singing is Good for You!

Press Release: 04 March 2017

There are many scientific journals and articles that will tell you singing is good for you, but Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus have proof. Bill Smyllie, who joined the Chorus when he was 21 years old, is now entering his 10th decade and celebrating his longevity by – how else – singing! Now a father, a grandfather 6 times over and a Doctor of Metallurgy, Bill has generously offered to celebrate this remarkable musical milestone by sponsoring the Chorus’s next concert, Handel’s Messiah, to be performed at the Victoria Hall, Sheffield on 25 March 2017.

Born in Scotland in 1925, Bill moved to London with his Mum at just 9 months old to join his Dad who was already working there. His love of singing grew from being in the choir of Bancrofts boarding school in Essex from 1936-43, and he came to Sheffield to work in September 1946. It was at Abbeydale Park Sports Club where he played cricket and ‘rugger’ that he met Granville Carr. He suggested Bill ‘joined the Phil’, which he did just one year later. He sang weekly, joined in the Chorus’s international tours and even succeeded Granville as Chairman of the Chorus from 1980-90. Bill’s passion for the Messiah comes from a close association with the work for over 7 decades. Unbelievable as it seems now, between the 1940s and 1970s Sheffield 2 Philharmonic Chorus sang the Messiah up to 3 times each season – with audiences in the thousands on many occasions.

With this Messiah being so near to Easter, conductor Darius Battiwalla will take the opportunity to include movements not often heard when the work is performed in its more usual slot near Christmas. The 18th Century Sinfonia will join the Chorus on period instruments. The strings will be gut and produce a rich sound, particularly effective in concert halls made predominantly of wood and stone – so the Victoria Hall is the perfect concert hall of choice. So, do come and celebrate with Bill, the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and the 18th Century Sinfonia on Saturday 25 March for a spring evening of glorious music that should be a delight for Messiah devotes and newbies alike. Tickets are priced at £12 for adults and are available from http://sivtickets.com/event/handelsmessiah

Download: Press Release 3 March 2017

Two big birthdays will align on Saturday 4 June – Julie Smethurst, former Chair of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, will celebrate her 60th and the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus itself will celebrate their 80th birthday “Making a grand 140th year bash!” grinned Julie. And, for their years, both Julie and the Chorus look pretty spritely.

Julie is well known in Sheffield, and further afield, as a Trustee Director of Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind, as a governor of New College Worcester, for her championship of disabled people’s access to transport and local facilities and services, and for her contribution to music both as a singer and as Chair of the
Chorus. “For my 50th birthday I organised a rock gig, so as a small concession to my age – and that of my friends! – I thought a more reflective, sit down affair was in order” Julie added wryly.

That’s not to say she has been taking it easy – far from it. Julie is currently living her dream of creating a large-scale choral concert at the City Hall on 4 June to celebrate the joint birthday years. “I’d always dreamed of being able to sponsor a classical concert to the extent of being able to say what I wanted on the programme. Vaughan Williams became my favourite English composer in my teens, so his wonderful and varied music makes up the whole programme, including the mesmerising The Lark Ascending. The Chorus’s City Hall ‘home venue’ means I don’t have to pick and choose who can share in the celebration – everyone is welcome!”

The concert is part of a recent initiative by Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus to create Fantasy Concerts. Recognising that fantasy football league is played up and down the land and has become part of popular culture, they have created a similar version for music lovers, but with a fabulous twist – it doesn’t stay a fantasy. The format is simple – pick the music you’d really like to hear, pick some excellent players, find a venue, and make it happen.

If you’d like to join Julie and the Chorus for their big birthdays visit http://www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk/events/Celebration-Concert for ticket details. And if you’d fancy devising your own Fantasy Concert see http://www.sheffieldphil.org/fantasy.php and email who will be pleased to help you make your dreams come true.

Press release: 18 October 2015

Sisters Jo Briddock and Rachel Mallaband have more reasons than most to be looking forward to this weekend’s Festival of Music – they are both part of a quartet of singers featured in Deep River, from Tippett’s A Child of our Time in the Ballroom concert “Steal Away – Spirituals and More” on Saturday. “We’ve sung together in Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus for over 10 years now”, said Rachel, aged 45 from Lodge Moor, “but when Jo texted to say I was one of the quartet you could have knocked me down will a feather!” she laughed. “It was her fault” she continued pointing at big sister Jo, “I would never have volunteered to sing anything on my own that had a top B in it!” Having sung together for over 40 years, the sisters have sung everything from Simon and Garfunkel, to Handel’s Messiah and of course, many Christmas concerts. But there is no favouritism when it comes to auditions, joining the Chorus is a matter of needing to be of the standard expected by Music Director, Darius Battiwalla.

That said, the Chorus has a number of families represented – husbands and wives, mums and daughters. Members put it down to the wonderful opportunities that come their way that they wax lyrical about – encouraging family members to join. Jo’s claim to fame is singing at the Proms (at which Rachel pulled a face, having not been chosen on that occasion) and filming Songs of Praise for the BBC when the Chorus first became associated with the local village carols.

“But recording the CD was certainly a highlight too” said Jo referring to Awake, Arise! the Chorus’s new recording featuring some of the local carols due out on 20 November. “We are so lucky – fancy getting to record such fabulous arrangements, and in the City Hall too”, added Jo.

Classical Sheffield’s first ever Festival of Music takes place from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October at venues across Sheffield. Concerts range from free pop up events in the Winter Gardens to full orchestras. There is something for everyone and tickets start at just £5 with under 18s free. Full details are available at http://www.classicalweekend.com/

Rachmaninov’s All Night Vigil – will Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus members be reaching for the vodka?

Press release: 18 February 2013

Are the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus’s second basses equal to the challenge of negotiating a scale descending to a low B-flat (the third B-flat below middle C) without the aid of large neat double vodkas to extend their lower range? They will face this on 8 March at the Chorus’s concert in St Marie’s Roman Catholic Cathedral on Norfolk Row, as part of the current concert series in the beautifully refurbished Cathedral.

Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil is an a cappella choral composition, with texts from the Russian Orthodox All-Night Vigil ceremony, also known as the Vespers. When Rachmaninov first played this testing passage to a colleague, he recorded that: “Danilin shook his head, saying, ‘Now where on earth are we to find such basses? They are as rare as asparagus at Christmas!’ Nevertheless, he did find them.” Although the All-Night Vigil differs from many of Rachmaninov’s best known pieces, it has been praised as his finest achievement. You will have to wait for the end of its fifth movement (Nunc dimittis) to hear the Chorus second basses try their strength. The Chorus has dedicated the concert to the late Stephen Knight, who died last November. He was a well-loved member of the Chorus from 1978 to 2011, and its Administrator from 1999 to 2007.

The Chorus is also singing Kodály’s Missa Brevis. It was written during World War II, with its first performance in the Budapest Opera House cloakrooms during the siege of Budapest in 1944/45. It reflects Kodály’s interest in Hungarian folk music but lies firmly within the framework of the mass setting. The conductor will be the Chorus’s Music Director, Darius Battiwalla. The Missa Brevis organ part will be played by Neil Taylor, Director of Music at Sheffield (Anglican) Cathedral.

The soloists will be Cari Searle (alto) and Stewart Campbell (tenor). Cari Searle was born in Yorkshire and read music at Sheffield University before studying at the Royal Northern College of Music with Glenville Hargreaves. Stewart Campbell manages and directs the concert series for the University of Sheffield and is also a lay clerk in Sheffield Cathedral Choir where he contributes to the daily pattern of services in addition to regular concert engagements, national radio broadcasts, recordings, and international tours.

Interested in joining Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus to sing Vaughan Williams ‘Sea Symphony’ in June and Britten’s ‘War Requiem’ in December? The Chorus is always pleased to invite new members in all voice parts. For men interested in joining the Chorus, a six-week series of free singing workshops will commence on Tuesday 12 March. To find out more, visit www.SheffieldPhil.org or call our New Members’ Officer on 01433 630970 or 0777 157 8233

Download: Press Release 18 Feb 2013

…..and a welcome return for Handel’s Messiah

Sheffield, 8th October 2012

Handel’s Messiah will return to the City Hall in style on 15th December with the Manchester Camerata joining Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, conducted by Darius Battiwalla. The Messiah was an annual feature at the City Hall for many years and the Chorus is thrilled to be celebrating the City Hall’s 80th birthday with the return of this glorious, and ever popular, work.

To enhance the occasion further the Chorus is welcoming new singers in all voice parts and offering free places in a workshop series primarily aimed to encourage men who feel they would love to sing works of this kind but feel their music reading and vocal skills may not be quite up to this.

The free workshop series starts on Tuesday 16th October 2012; will run for 6 weeks and be taught by a professional music teacher at the Chorus’s new rehearsal venue, King Edward VII Upper School, Glossop Road, Sheffield S10 2PW. These half hour workshops will run from 6:30 to 7pm at which point the men will join the main rehearsal under the wing of an existing chorus member; an ideal way to feel prepared for your audition. Full details of the workshop series is available at www.sheffieldphil.org Previous workshops have proved very popular so please reserve your place as soon as possible by email to  , or by phone to Sally Turnbull 01433 630970 or 07771 578233.

The Chorus is always busy and, as well as the Messiah, forthcoming Sheffield concert dates will see it join the internationally renowned Black Dyke Band in the City Hall on 8th December for two Christmas concerts, perform the beautiful unaccompanied Vespers by Rachmaninov in the newly refurbished Cathedral of St Marie on 8th March 2013 and return to the City Hall on 2nd June 2013 to perform Vaughan Williams’s Sea Symphony.

So, if you are free on Tuesday evenings and would like to sing with the region’s most successful symphony chorus then please book your place quickly since demand is already high. Who knows? Following the excellent preparation you will receive for your brief audition, in just a few weeks time you may find yourself singing with gusto on the City Hall stage for the Messiah rather than under your breath in the audience.

Full details of the workshop, venue and Chorus can be found at www.sheffieldphil.org

Download:  Press Release 8 Oct 2012

Press Release: 8th August 2012

Following Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus’s successful choral workshops in previous years, we are once again offering an exciting opportunity to men who may wish to join.  These workshops are free, but judging by last year’s events they will be popular, so please do book early by contacting Sally Turnbull on 07771 578233, by emailing  

Starting on 16th October 2012 and running for 6 weeks the Chorus is providing a series of music-reading workshops for any men who think they may like to sing with us but who are deterred because they think their music-reading skills are not good enough.  They will be open to men who have experience of any kind of choral singing and who are interested in working at improving their music-reading skills.  Led by a professional music teacher the short workshops will focus on learning and practising generic music-reading skills such as rhythm and interval pitching.

Participants in the workshop, held at our new rehearsal venue King Edward VII Upper School on Glossop Road, move to the main rehearsal at 7.00pm and join with the rest of the Chorus, sitting next to a supportive existing singer.  And if any year were the year to join the Chorus, this must be it!

Our Sheffield dates this Autumn see us join the internationally renowned Black Dyke Band in the City Hall once again on 8th December for two Christmas concerts, plus festive favourite Handel’s Messiah with Manchester Camerata on 15th December. In March we perform the beautiful unaccompanied Vespers by Rachmaninov and finish our season in June with Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony.

So, if you are free on Tuesday evenings and would like to sing with the region’s most successful symphony chorus then please book your place quickly because they will certainly be in demand.  Full details of the workshop, venue and Chorus can be found at www.sheffieldphil.org

Press Release: 16 April 2012

Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus are presenting both Philip Wilby’s “A Bronte Mass” and Karl Jenkins “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace” on the same bill and in partnership with the internationally acclaimed Black Dyke Band at Sheffield’s City Hall on Saturday 28th April. Such is the sheer volume of superb classical music that more often than not composers have been long dead before listeners get the chance to be enthralled by their compositions. Hence opportunities to hear such thrilling current works should be grasped with both hands. Prof. Philip Wilby will even be “In Conversation” with broadcaster and journalist Trisha Cooper prior to the concert.

The Armed Man will be performed with a ‘big screen’ projecting images that reflect the mood and texts of the piece. The combined visuals of war, hatred, bigotry and violence juxtaposed with human life and faith will undoubtedly tug at the emotions. Indeed the Chorus has purposely added to the imagery with scenes from the Sheffield Blitz bringing the horror of wartime even closer to home.

Wilby and Jenkins are respected contemporary musicians and composers but with very different routes into the classical world. Born in Pontefract in 1949, Philip Wilby was educated at Leeds Grammar School and studied Music at Keble College, Oxford. After graduation he worked as a professional violinist with the Covent Garden and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and subsequently took the post of Principal Lecturer, and later Professor of Composition at the University of Leeds. He is widely known as a composer for Brass Band, with many of his works featuring as test-pieces for major competitions throughout the world, including the British Open, British National and European Brass Band Championships. His 1999 brass band composition “… Dove Descending” was featured in the 2007 BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.

Jenkins route, though less conventional, is more probably the better known. Born in Penclawdd in 1944, South West Wales, he learned music theory and piano from his father. As a young gifted oboe player, Karl was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, read music at the University of Wales, Cardiff, and continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. However rather than becoming a lead classical musician, or conductor his path led him to playing jazz at Ronnie Scott’s club, winning first prize at the 1970 Montreux Jazz Festival as a member of the group Nucleus, and performances with Soft Machine at prestigious venues such as the Carnegie Hall, the Proms and the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island. When Soft Machine disbanded in1984, he started a highly successful media company with Mike Ratledge, writing jingles and music for adverts. It was his phenomenally successful 1994 album Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary that brought him to the attention of the classical music world. He has since been made a fellow and associate of the Royal Academy of Music, and a fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama whilst in 2005 he was awarded an OBE for his services to British music.

Karl Jenkins work was composed in 1999 for the Millennium celebrations. Its message is summarised in the final chorus which begins with Mallory’s words: “Better is peace than always war”. When Jenkins was composing the Mass, the tragedy of the Kosovo massacres unfolded. The piece became known as “The Armed Man: a Mass for Peace” with the horror of the conflict reflected in its dedication to the victims of Kosovo. It was at this time that Jenkins decided to make the second movement a simple performance of the Call to Prayer; sung in mosques every day. The Chorus have engaged Qamar Zaman, a 35-year-old muezzin from the Madina Masjid mosque on Wolseley Road to perform this most unusual addition to a classical work. The Armed Man is now a popular favourite, with its Benedictus often featuring on Classic FM.

Wilby’s “A Brontë Mass” is a slightly more recent composition. It is a challenging and beautiful work which features poems by Charlotte, Anne, Emily and Branwell Brontë interspersed with sections of the Latin Mass. The version for baritone soloist, choir, brass- band, organ and harp will be an excellent vehicle to highlight the extremely talented Black Dyke Band, and will see the Chorus joined by colleagues from Halifax Choral Society.

Wilby describes the work as ‘a psychological journey, moving from the melancholy dark nights of November into the clean new dawn of the turning year, complete with ecstatic angel’s song and some distantly twinkling stars’ but this gives little hint of the deeply spiritual quality which also pervades the work.

Altogether Saturday 28th April looks set to be a totally intriguing and exciting evening of music and visuals. Tickets are available from the Sheffield City Hall box office on 0114 2 789 789 and admission to the “In Conversation” at 6pm is free to all ticket holders.

Press Release: 16 April 2012

The “Madina Masjid” may not trip easily off the tongue of many Sheffielders. However, there will not be many people who are not aware of the prominent mosque. Located on Wolseley Road, its construction generated considerable interest and debate within Sheffield when it was built in 2006 with a BBC article noting “A new landmark rises above the terraced houses of the Sharrow area of Sheffield. With its distinctive green domes and tall minarets, the city’s biggest purpose-built mosque and Islamic Centre can’t fail to grab the attention of locals and passing motorists.”

The mosque has been fully operational for five years now and runs a very popular programme of visits for the public. Individuals, groups and research students from all walks of life are welcomed and every visit includes a tour of the facilities, some background to Islamic belief and the activities carried out in the centre; as well as an open question and answer session. As Waheed Akhtar, Committee Secretary at the Mosque, explained “Visits are conducted in a relaxed, informal and easily understandable manner with the intention of improving understanding and dialogue with all our Sheffield communities, as well as being an interesting outing  into another’s culture”.

It was this open engagement and outreach into the community that led Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus to approach Waheed when they were planning a performance of Karl Jenkins’ highly popular The Armed Man.  “Classical music still appears to be quite narrow in its appeal to non-European music-lovers in Sheffield and we would love this collaboration to be a start of  a new interest in the genre for many local people” says  Peter Quarrell, who has been liaising with Waheed for the Chorus.

Following hot on the heels of leading the Alight Cultural Olympiad festival in Sheffield on 3rd March, the Chorus were keen that this concert again reached as wide an audience as possible  within  the  city.  “We approached Waheed at the mosque, since the Jenkins piece has a wide range of text. There are excerpts of war poetry, imagery written by Togi Sankichi who was in Hiroshima when the A-bomb was dropped, and an Islamic Call To Prayer”  explained Julie Smethurst, Chair of the Chorus. “We were keen to ensure that whoever performed the Call to Prayer was an authentic Muezzin who really understood and had a genuine feeling for what they were singing about.” Qamar Zaman, 35, from  Sharrow,   will be performing on the night. Brought up in rural Pakistan he attended the local village mosque with his father from an early age and has followed in his footsteps as a Muezzin. Now living in Sheffield with his wife and two children, Qamar attends the Wolseley Road mosque every day between his work in the catering industry. “I am thrilled we have been able to bring this music to the City Hall for the first time, continued Julie, especially in this Olympic year when our links to other cultures and communities seem all the more tangible”.

Performing the work with the now usual images that reflect the mood and texts of the piece, audience members shouldn’t expect an opportunity to nod off. The combined visuals of war, hatred, bigotry and violence juxtaposed with human life and faith will undoubtedly tug at the emotions. Indeed the Chorus has purposely added to the imagery with scenes from the Sheffield Blitz bringing the evening full circle to represent the community and local spirit of those war torn years back in the 1940s.

The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace will be performed along with the Black Dyke Band and the Halifax Choral Society in the City Hall on Saturday 28 April at 7pm. Tickets are available from the box office on 0114 2789789.

Eclectic music lines up to take centre stage as part of the Cultural Olympiad

Sheffield, 12 February 2012.

Darius Battiwalla, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus’s Music Director, will conduct a performance of unusual and rarely heard works as part of the Chorus’s contribution to Alight, the Cultural Olympiad festival taking place in Sheffield on 3rd March 2012.

The concert is being advertised as “a programme of rarely performed works” so I asked Darius why these pieces are so rarely performed. “It’s certainly not because of their musical quality which is outstanding” Darius began. “It’s just that the combination of instruments they need doesn’t fit with the usual pattern of choral concerts nowadays, which is usually orchestral or with organ. This concert uses various combinations of horns, harp and organ which sound wonderful together and mean we can explore some really interesting music”. This led me to ask Darius a few more specifics like why we don’t hear much choral music by Janacek, and what is the background to “Our Father” being performed? “We don’t hear much choral music by Janacek because there isn’t much – even though he was involved in choral music making all his life. There are really only two pieces – this short piece and the much larger Glagolitic Mass. “Our Father” was written in 1906 and is mostly reflective though it still has Janacek’s incredible energy and distinctive style.

The concert will feature the premiere of Everyone Sang commission from Yaron Hollander. “It’s a real testament to the range of talents in the Chorus that we’ve been able to commission this from one of our own members” Darius explained. “Yaron’s knowledge of singing in the choir has enabled him to write us a really effective piece which captures the mood of Sassoon’s poem”.

This is obviously going to be a very unusual concert, and music lovers in Sheffield and indeed further afield may wait many years to hear these pieces performed again. The Victoria Hall is a great acoustic for choral singing and is a venue that the Chorus has performed well in previously. Darius was also keen to point out that the event will also have some really outstanding instrumentalists performing too.

To take advantage of the opportunity to hear these distinctive works in this most unusual concert contact http://www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk/events, 0114 2789 789 or apply in person at the Sheffield City Hall Box Office. Tickets are only £7 (plus a 70p handling charge, no reductions) Alight: Daylight, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and Friends will take place on Saturday, 3 March at 4.15 p.m. at the Victoria Hall Methodist Church, Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 2JB

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Press release: 28 October 2010

Thursday 4 November will bring back very proud memories for some of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus’s longest standing members. A handful of their singers who recorded Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius in 1964 for EMI records, are still singing with the Chorus today, and will join the 180-strong choir on the City Hall stage this Thursday evening.

“It’s amazing to think that all these years later I have the chance to sing it The Dream again, still with my friends in the Chorus, and still in our fabulous home base of the City Hall” said Bill Smyllie, a 2nd Tenor who joined the Chorus way back in 1947. “The ten of us who took part in that exceptional recording have differing highlight memories of the two day recording session in Manchester with Sir John Barbirolli, soloists Dame Janet Baker, Richard Lewis and Kim Borg – but then it was nearly fifty years ago,” he laughed. “The fact that we can remember it at all is a testament to the positive physical and psychological benefits of singing!”

Bill is currently one of the Chorus’s longest-standing members and he has gathered together the tales of the Chorus, along with some rare photographs in a new commemorative book “Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus 1935 – 2010” to celebrate their 75th Anniversary this year. One particular story he recalls is back in 1952 when he draws a wonderful picture of a sprightly young chap being rather late to arrive at Midland Station and jumping onto an already moving train to join fellow members on a trip down to London – himself, of course. In his youthful nonchalance he so very nearly missed his chance to sing The Dream conducted by Sir John Barbirolli at the Royal Festival Hall; the piece that was then forever associated with the Chorus due to their later landmark recording.