Concert
Current, future and past concerts
2019-20 season
It was with deep regret that we had to announce the postponement or cancellation of a number of concerts for this season, due to the need to protect our members, musicians and audiences and in light of Government advice regarding the Coronavirus.
2019-20 saw the Chorus planning to present concerts in Manchester and Sheffield, with the Halle, the Black Dyke Band, Wrexham Symphony Orchestra and with choristers from Wrexham, Liverpool, France and Germany. We recorded with the Black Dyke Band for their next CD, presented works from Scandinavia and the Baltic, and planned to sing choral favourite Messiah, Verdi’s wonderful Requiem and Mahler’s magnificent Symphony No. 8, known as the Symphony of the Thousand.
Saturday 9th November at 9.15pm City Hall
After Hours Choral Concert
We were pleased to present another short concert in the popular ‘After Hours’ series in the City Hall’s beautiful ballroom at 9.15pm. At 7pm in the main hall Tabita Berglund conducted the Halle in a programme of Grieg and Sibelius, and the Chorus followed in the ballroom with a programme of choral works from Scandinavia and the Baltic.
Audiences will be familiar with the Norwegian Romantic composer Edvard Grieg (1843 – 1947), but maybe not his countyman Ola Gjeilo, born in Norway in 1978, or Eric Ešenvalds, born in Latvia a year earlier. Gjeilo, who now lives in America, studied in Norway and at the Julliard School and the Royal College of Music in London. Award-winning composer Ešenvalds studied in Latvia and at Trinity College Cambridge, and composed the official anthem of the World Choir Games when Riga was the European Capital of Culture in 2014.
A packed audience included Sheffield’s Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, who were presented with a gift from Bochum, Sheffield’s twin town in Germany; read about this here. After the presentation the audience heard the Chorus sing the following works ‘up close and personal’:
Grieg – Hvad est du dog skjön (sung in Norwegian)
Esenvalds – Amazing Grace
Esenvalds – Evening
Ola Gjeilo – Ave Generosa
Ola Gjeilo – Tota Pulchra es
Grieg – Ave Maris Stella
The concert was free, and received a very favourable review in the Sheffield Telegraph.
Saturday 14th December 2019 at 2pm and 5.30pm, City Hall
Christmas Carol Concerts
Once again we joined with the world famous Black Dyke Band for a festive celebration featuring family favourites and sing-along carols. The award-winning and internationally renowned Black Dyke Band, led by Dr Nicholas Childs, is one of the most celebrated brass bands in history and has toured the world winning international and national competitions.
Presenting this year’s concerts was Tom Redmond, presenter, horn player and animateur specialising in music education. He’s a regular voice on BBC Radio 3 presenting live concerts, studio programmes and the BBC Proms.
This was a wonderful concert for all the family to join in singing some of the most loved Christmas music old and new, experiencing a live brass band and chorus in the beautiful setting of the Oval Hall. On the programme was Ring the Bells, a new carol by Paul Fincham, the royalties for which are being donated to homelessness charity Crisis. There were also three local carols, Egypt, Tyre Mill and Hail Smiling Morn, as well as perennial favourite O Holy Night, which was selected as a winning carol in the Making Music / Classic FM Drive carol competition. This is the fourth time one of the carols from our Christmas CD has been selected by Classic FM, and we’re thrilled that this time it was our favourite O Holy Night!
Tom Redmond presenter
Black Dyke Band, Dr. Nicholas Childs conductor
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Darius Battiwalla conductor
Saturday 18th April at 7pm Sheffield Cathedral (NOTE REVISED VENUE)
Messiah
It was with deep regret that we had to announce the postponement of this concert, due to the need to protect our members, musicians and audiences and in light of Government advice regarding the Coronavirus. The concert was re-scheduled to Saturday 23 April 2022.
If you purchased your ticket from the cathedral or at rehearsal, please contact to obtain a refund. If you bought your ticket on-line, you don’t need to do anything; WeGotTickets will re-imburse you in due course.
For many people, Easter isn’t complete without hearing Handel’s wonderful oratorio Messiah, regularly performed at Christmas but more pertinently celebrating the Easter message of redemption, hope and joy. Messiah is probably Handel’s best-known and most-loved work for its beautiful solos and duets, rousing choruses and dramatic instrumental writing. A performance in the brass band format is very different and well worth coming along to hear.
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus present this spectacular Easter Messiah in Sheffield Cathedral, accompanied by the world-famous Black Dyke Band. The Chorus last performed Messiah with a baroque orchestra in April 2017, and is pleased to be presenting the brass band version this Easter. Making it even more special, the Chorus will be joined by choristers from Sheffield’s twin town Bochum in Germany, and from Perigeux in France, following successful singing trips to both European cities over the last two years.
So do come along and hear this magnificent work as you’ve never heard it before!
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and choristers from Germany and France
Black Dyke Band
Darius Battiwalla (conductor)
Saturday 2nd May at 7pm City Hall
Verdi Requiem
It was with deep regret that we had to announce the cancellation of this concert, due to the need to protect our members, musicians and audiences and in light of Government advice regarding the Coronavirus. Ticket refunds were available from the City Hall.
Gianluca Marcianó, the Hallé and the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus are joined by a fine cast of soloists for Verdi’s remarkable Requiem. A response 
to the death of the great author Alessandro Manzoni – a figure Verdi revered – it is the most theatrical, agnostic and indeed popular work of its kind ever written. From the hushed beginning of its opening ‘Requiem’, to the tumultuous, apocalyptic vision of the ‘Dies Irae’ and the turbulent uncertainty of the ‘Libera Me’, Verdi brings his supreme skills as a dramatist to bear on the traditional liturgy to quite stunning effect. A Requiem not for the dead but for the living.
Gianluca Marcianó conductor
Claire Rutter soprano
Madeleine Shaw mezzo–soprano
Sam Furness tenor
David Shipley bass
Saturday 20th June at 7pm, Bridgewater Hall Manchester
It was with deep regret that we also had to announce the postponement of this concert, due to the need to protect our members, musicians and audiences and in light of Government advice regarding the Coronavirus. The concert will be rescheduled.
Mahler Symphony No. 8 ‘Symphony of the Thousand’
The season will end with a performance of Mahler’s magnificent Symphony No. 8, known as the Symphony of a Thousand, with the Liverpool Welsh 
Choir and the Cantorion Sirenian Singers, accompanied by the Wrexham Symphony Orchestra in the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.
This very special concert will form the culmination of the orchestra’s groundbreaking Mahler Charitable Concert series, which has seen them perform all Mahler’s symphonies to increase awareness of the impact of Alzheimer’s and dementia. The Mahler 8 marks a return to the Bridgewater Hall, following the orchestra’s critically acclaimed debut there with the Resurrection Symphony in 2015. Sponsored by medical research company Cobalz Limited, who specialise in the field of Alzheimer’s, the Mahler Charitable Concert series has raised over £15,000 for Alzheimer’s and dementia charities.
Link to details of the 2018-19 season
See What’s On this week in Sheffield on the Classical Sheffield website
Go to next page: Tickets
Holy Face – ‘perfect clarity’
Review: Philip Andrews, Sheffield Telegraph, 12 June 2019
It is a sign of the regard in which the Philharmonic Chorus is held that they are invited to contribute to the first performances of ambitious new works like Philip Wilby’s oratorio for organ, brass band and massed voices, The Holy Face.
It shares some of its Biblical text with Handel’s Messiah, so comparisons are hard to avoid. Handel’s approach is more varied, Wilby’s (in this version) brassier.
That is because the Phil shared the stage with familiar partners, the Black Dyke Band, as well as the Halifax Choral Society, by whom the piece was commissioned.
Getting the balance right was therefore important, but the choirs, under conductor Darius Battiwalla, made their generally delicate contributions with perfect clarity, and were never overpowered by instrumentalists who played their part with admirable restraint.
They and the composer, who was in the audience, rightly received warm applause.
It was another contemporary British composer, Paul Mealor (best known for the Military Wives’ Wherever You Are), who provided the afternoon’s other main work, Paradise.
This was another composition for band and choir set to a Biblical text and it, too, worked well.
The choir book-ended the piece with the sort of peaceful, ethereal sounds you would hope to find in Paradise, while the band was let loose in the central section with a less reverent outburst of jazz, which some of us would also welcome should we ever get there.
The programme began with Wilby’s Cinema, a new work for brass band and organ, with Battiwalla now on the keyboard, while the band was conducted by Nicholas Childs.
It was apparently inspired by the early days of the cinema, although that was rarely obvious, and neither is organ and brass band a particularly felicitous combination.
Philip Andrews
Link to the review on the Sheffield Telegraph website (scroll down once there)
2018-19 season
2018-19 season
2018-19 saw the Chorus presenting concerts in Germany as well as Sheffield. We sang with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, two other Yorkshire choirs and the world famous Black Dyke Band. We presented little-known works by women composers, a challenging work by Schoenberg, Philip Wilby’s new oratorio The Holy Face, as well as Bach’s monumental B Minor Mass, and choral favourite Messiah in Sheffield’s twin town of Bochum in Germany.
Friday 30th November 2018, 9.15pm, Sheffield City Hall Ballroom
After Hours concert – ‘Beyond Wagner’
A choral treat to follow the classical concert in the main hall, held in the intimate surroundings of the beautiful art deco City Hall Ballroom. The Chorus sang works written by composers heavily influenced by Wagner and which take further his musical legacy. There were three Bruckner motets: Ave Maria, Os Justi and Christus Factus est, and Reger’s beautiful Nachtlied. Finally the Chorus sang Friede auf Erden, an early work by Schoenberg that takes Wagner’s harmonic language and pushes it as far as it will go. Though not Schoenberg at his most modern (not atonal or in his ‘twelve-tone’ system), it is still one of the most challenging unaccompanied choral pieces in existence, an amazing piece of music that sounded wonderful in the City Hall ballroom’s lovely acoustic.
This concert was extremely successful; a very positive review appeared in the Sheffield Telegraph which you can read here.
Saturday 15th December 2017, at 3pm & 7pm, Sheffield City Hall
Christmas Carol Concert
We joined forces with the Black Dyke Band for the eighth year running for an intimate, heart-warming festive concert of carols and yuletide favourites. Sheffielders were invited to take the whole family and sing along to beloved Christmas carols including local favourite ‘O Holy Night’ as well as some more contemporary choices, with world-class performers in the atmospheric setting of the Irwin Mitchell Oval Hall. One of the most celebrated brass bands in history, the Black Dyke Band have toured the world to critical acclaim, won national and international competitions year after year and collaborated with a diverse range of famous musicians. Conducting them was their esteemed Director of Music Dr. Nicholas Childs. Returning as host was BBC broadcaster Petroc Trelawny, now a firm favourite of the Chorus and with audiences of this irreplaceable fixture in Sheffield’s festive calendar.
Petroc Trelawney, presenter
Black Dyke Band, Dr. Nicholas Childs, conductor
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Darius Battiwalla, conductor
Both concerts attracted large audiences – and more than one very positive mention of the Chorus in Petroc Trelawny’s show on BBC Radio 3.
Thursday 7 February 2018, Bochum, Germany
Messiah
Members of the Chorus joined the Bochum Choir to sing Messiah in English with the Bochumer Symphoniker in Sheffield’s twin city of Bochum, Germany. Link to News item.
The trip was an outstanding success, with a sell-out Messiah in the wonderful Anneliese Brost Music Forum Ruhr, standing ovations and great local reviews. Link to Review from Germany
Sunday 10th March 2019 at 5pm, City Hall ballroom
Classical Sheffield Weekend
The Chorus presented an hour-long concert as part of the Classical Sheffield Festival, which had three themes – Women in Music, Future Makes and Music beyond Borders. The programme featured four songs by Lili Boulanger, Hymne au Soleil and Soir sur la Plaine sung by the Chorus with tenor Robin Morton, and Reflets and Attente by soprano Caroline Taylor, who also sang Elegie by Lili’s sister Nadia Boulanger. Abendfeier in Venedig by Clara Schumann, Schone Fremde by Fanny Hensel and Rebecca Clarke’s Music, when soft voices die completed the line-up of works by women composers.
Schoenberg’s fiendishly difficult Friede auf Erden was the Chorus’ tribute to a future maker from the past, and Yorkshire-born Frederick Delius’ To be Sung of a Summer Night on the Water completed the programme.
The concert was a great success, as was the rest of the Classical Weekend festival. Link to Review of the concert in the Sheffield Telegraph.
Link to review of the festival.
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
Darius Battiwalla conductor
Caroline Taylor soprano
Rachel Fright piano
Saturday 6th April 2019, 7pm, Sheffield City Hall
Bach B Minor Mass
The Chorus was joined by the Royal Northern Sinfonia to sing Bach’s monumental B Minor Mass, widely hailed as one of the greatest compositions in musical history. For Hubert Parry, the B minor Mass was “the mightiest choral work ever written”, while for the organist and philosopher Albert Schweitzer it was “as enigmatic and unfathomable as the religious consciousness of its creator”. Assembled by Bach near the end of his life from his earlier settings of the Lutheran Mass, it is a work replete with great arias, uplifting choruses and thrilling orchestral writing, the trumpet lines being particularly stunning, and is a summation of the composer’s entire creative output. A remarkable experience, under the spirited direction of Andrew Griffiths.
Royal Northern Sinfonia
Andrew Griffiths conductor
Fflur Wyn soprano
Madeleine Shaw mezzo soprano
Nick Pritchard tenor
Ed Grint bassP
The concert was a great success, gaining a very positive review in the Sheffield Telegraph which you can read here.
Sunday 9 June 2019, 3pm, Sheffield City Hall
The Holy Face, Philip Wilby, Paradise, Paul Mealor
The chorus was thrilled to be joined by the Halifax Choral Society and the Yorkshire Youth Choir to Sheffield to sing Philip Wilby’s The Holy Face, with a group of splendid soloists. The singers were accompanied by the world-famous Black Dyke Band in this concert premiere of Philip Wilby’s new oratorio for three choirs, brass band and organ. Commissioned by Halifax Choral Society to celebrate their 200th anniversary, the work was written for orchestra and brass band accompaniment, and in the 2017-18 season the three choirs premiered the orchestral version in Halifax, and recorded the brass band version with the Black Dyke Band. More details (preface from the vocal score) and buy the recording.
Also on the programme was Welsh composer Paul Mealor‘s new work ‘Paradise‘, which the Chorus premiered with Black Dyke Band in Manchester in the 2017-18 season as part of the prestigious RNCM Brass Band Festival. Paul Mealor came into the public eye when his motet ‘Ubi Caritas et Amor‘ was performed at the Royal wedding in 2011, and Chorus and Band recorded ‘Paradise’ for a very popular CD ‘Black Dyke Gold’ which you can read about and order from here.
Halifax Choral Society
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
Yorkshire Youth Choir
Black Dyke Band, Dr. Nicholas Childs, conductor for Cinema
Darius Battiwalla, conductor, organist for Cinema
Catrin Pryce-Jones soprano
Emma Stannard alto
Richard Rowe tenor
Jerome Knox bass
Tickets for under 18s were FREE and there was a £5 discount on presentation of a ticket for either the Christmas concert or the B Minor Mass.
2017-18
2017-18 saw the Chorus presenting ten concerts in Halifax, Manchester, Edinburgh, Middlesbrough and Sheffield, ending the season with a mini-tour in France. We sang with the Manchester Camerata, Bruckner Orchester Linz, three other Yorkshire choirs and the world famous Black Dyke Band. We were joined by a wealth of solo talent, including acclaimed organist Jonathan Scott, and award-winning mezzo soprano Anna Harvey, who was born in Sheffield. A highlight was singing Mahler’s magnificent Resurrection Symphony on a mini tour of Edinburgh, Middlesbrough and Sheffield with the wonderful Bruckner Orchester Linz; critics described performances as ‘rousing‘, outstanding‘ and ‘gripping‘; read them here.
Sunday 15 October 2017, at 7.30pm, Victoria Theatre, Halifax
The Holy Face, Philip Wilby
The chorus presents the world premiere of Philip Wilby’s new oratorio for three choirs, orchestra and organ, with the Halifax Choral Society and the Yorkshire Youth Choir under the baton of Jonathan Pryce-Jones. Commissioned by Halifax Choral Society to celebrate their 200th anniversary, the work was written for orchestra and brass band accompaniment, and the three choirs have recorded it with the world-famous Black Dyke Band. More details (preface from the vocal score).
- Philip Wilby The Holy Face
- Mendelssohn Psalm 114
- Bruckner Te Deum Laudamus
North of England Classical Orchestra
Jonathan Pryce-Jones, conductor
Halifax Choral Society, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
Saturday 16 December 2017, at 3pm & 7pm, Sheffield City Hall
Christmas Carol Concert
We join forces with the Black Dyke Band for the seventh year running for an intimate, heart-warming festive concert of carols and yuletide favourites. Take the whole family and sing along to beloved Christmas music including ‘O Holy Night’ and ‘Away in a Manger’, as well as some more contemporary choices, with world-class performers in the atmospheric setting of the Irwin Mitchell Oval Hall.
One of the most celebrated brass bands in history, the Black Dyke Band have toured the world to critical acclaim, won national and international competitions year after year and collaborated with a diverse range of famous musicians. Conducting them will be their esteemed Director of Music Dr. Nicholas Childs.
Hosting is broadcaster and horn-player Tom Redmond, whose irrepressible passion for music and experience presenting diverse concerts around the world promises to bring a unique sparkle to an irreplaceable fixture in Sheffield’s festive calendar.
Tom Redmond presenter
Black Dyke Band, Dr. Nicholas Childs, conductor
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Darius Battiwalla, conductor
Saturday 27 January 2018, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
World Premiere of ‘Paradise‘ by Paul Mealor
The Chorus again takes part in a world premiere, this time of Welsh composer Paul Mealor‘s new work ‘Paradise’, which will be presented in Manchester with the world-famous Black Dyke Band as part of the prestigious RNCM Brass Band Festival. Paul Mealor came into the public eye when his motet ‘Ubi Caritas et Amor‘ was performed at the Royal wedding in 2011, and Chorus and Band will be recording ‘Paradise’ for what is likely to prove a very popular new CD to be released later in the year.
Black Dyke Band, Dr. Nicholas Childs, conductor,
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Darius Battiwalla, conductor
Review of Paradise: Chorus on journey to Paradise
Saturday 3 February 2018, at 7pm, Sheffield City Hall
MOZART Requiem
Jean-Claude Picard, a young conductor praised for the intensity and flair of his performances, directs the Manchester Camerata and Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus in Mozart’s great Requiem. Unfinished at the composer’s death, it was completed by a star pupil; its origins are somewhat shrouded in mystery and intrigue. But whatever those origins really were, it remains a profound musical experience for audiences and performers alike. The four wonderful soloists include Sheffield-born Anna Harvey, a prize-winning mezzo soprano hailed as ‘simply wonderful’ by the New York Times and ‘remarkable’ by the Times.The lighter side of Mozart is in evidence in his beautifully buoyant ‘Linz Symphony’. He wrote it in just a few days while passing through the Austrian city of its title. The concert opens with Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem Domine for strings, based on his great choral prayer for peace, a work of serenity and quite astonishing beauty.
Manchester Camerata, Jean-Claude Picard conductor
Ailish Tynan soprano, Anna Harvey mezzo-soprano
Nicholas Mulroy tenor, Peter Harvey bass-baritone
Report of Mozart Requiem: Chorus sings with Sheffield mezzo soprano
Friday 20 April 2018, at 9.15pm, Sheffield City Hall
After Hours concert
The Chorus provides an extra choral treat to those attending the orchestral concert in the Irwin Mitchel Hall, by presenting a short ‘After Hours’ concert in the beautiful City Hall ballroom immediately after the main concert, accompanied by the Chorus’ new accompanist Rachel Fright on piano. The programme will continue the theme of German romantic music established in the main concert and will include ‘Zigeunerlieder’, a charming set of gypsy songs composed by Brahms in 1891, and Mendelssohn’s beautiful ‘Sechs Spruche’, six songs relating to key liturgical festivals.
Darius Battiwalla conductor,
Rachel Fright piano
Saturday 5 May 2018 at 7pm, Sheffield City Hall
MAHLER Symphony No. 2, ‘Resurrection’
Markus Poschner, the Bruckner Orchester Linz, soloists and the joint forces of the Sheffield and Leeds Philharmonic Choruses perform Mahler’s truly epic ‘Resurrection’ Symphony. It promises to be an unforgettable experience.
The highly dramatic first movement portrays a superman’s titanic struggle with fate. The second and third movements offer contrast, the text of the latter describing St Anthony’s sermon to the fishes. Then, as the orchestra falls silent, the alto soloist enters in magical fashion, the voice of religious faith. Finally, voices, orchestra and organ combine in what could well be the most awe-inspiring vision of redemption and re-birth in all music.
The performance in Sheffield is the culmination of a short tour, with concerts in the Usher Hall Edinburgh on Sunday 29 April, and the newly-refurbished Town Hall in Middlesbrough on Tuesday 1st May 2018.
Bruckner Orchester Linz, Markus Poschner conductor
Brigitte Geller soprano, Theresa Kronthaler alto
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Leeds Philharmonic Chorus
Reviews of Mahler 2:
11 May 2018 ‘Outstanding’ – Chorus ends Mahler tour on high note
30 April 2018 Chorus sing a ‘blazing’ Mahler 2 in Edinburgh
29 April ‘Assertive Mahler’ Simon Thompson, Seen and Heard International
Saturday 9 June 2018, 7.30pm, Sheffield City Hall
ROSSINI Petite Messe Solonnelle
The season concludes with a return to the beautiful City Hall ballroom for a presentation of Rossini’s wonderful ‘Petite Messe Solennelle’, with acclaimed organist Jonathan Scott on harmonium, and the chorus’ previous accompanist Nigel Gyte on piano. The concert will include a solo piece for harmonium, together with a short talk about the instrument from Jonathan Scott.
Jonathan Scott, harmonium, Nigel Gyte, piano
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Darius Battiwalla, conductor
Report and Review of Rossini concert:
11 June 2018 Audience thrilled by Rossini and original Mustel harmonium
12 July to 19 July 2018 – Mini Tour in France
Members of the Chorus travelled to France from 12th to 17th July 2018 to sing ‘Le messe de deliverance‘ by François-Clément Théodore Dubois, a piece commissioned to commemorate WWII, in The Cathedral at Perigueux with L’ensemble Vocal de Périgueux and L’ensemble Vocal Arnault de Mareuil. Music Director Darius Battiwalla played organ works as well as conducting the Chorus. Two further concerts in St Astier and Le Eglise de Excideuil featured works by Arvo Pärt, Esenvalds Lielupe, Stanford, Parry, Rachmaninov and Saint-Saens.
See Chorus prepares to deliver French mini tour
Perigueux cathedral 15 July 2018, with L’ensemble Vocal de Perigueux and L’ensemble Vocal Arnault de Mareuil
2016-17
Saturday 6th May 2017, Sheffield City Hall, 7pm
- Haydn Symphony No.103 in E flat ‘Drum Roll’
- Tippet A Child of Our Time
The Hallé Orchestra, Ryan Wigglesworth conductor
Elizabeth Llewellyn soprano; Madeleine Shaw mezzo-soprano; Joshua Ellicott tenor; James Platt bass
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and Hallé Choir
Saturday 25 March 2017, Victoria Hall, Sheffield, 7pm
- Handel Messiah
18th Century Sinfonia, Darius Battiwalla conductor
The Chorus was joined by the 18th Century Sinfonia on period instruments, for this Easter version of Handel’s Messiah. The concert was sponsored by Chorus member Bill Smylie.
Saturday 18th March 2017, Sheffield City Hall
The Chorus was delighted to take part once again in the Classical Sheffield festival of music, which took place 17-19 March 2017 across the city.
- Franz Schubert – Mirjam’s Siegesgesang
- Johannes Brahms – Ziguenerlieder
Darius Battiwalla – conductor; Nigel Gyte – piano
Vivid scenes are drawn in song – in Schubert’s Mirjam’s Siegesgesang (‘Miriam’s song of triumph’) we hear of escape from Egypt, whilst Brahms’ Ziguenerlieder (‘Gypsy songs’) tell Hungarian folk stories full of exuberant declarations of love, betrayal and romance.
Saturday 10th December 2016, Sheffield City Hall, 3pm and 7pm
The Christmas concert
Petroc Trelawny (presenter)
Black Dyke Band, Dr Nicholas Childs (conductor)
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Darius Battiwalla (conductor)
For the sixth year running we presented our annual Christmas Concert with the Black Dyke Band, one of the world’s most celebrated brass bands, with a heart-warming festive celebration, performing carols and yuletide favourites for all the family.
Friday 4th November 2016, Sheffield City Hall, 7pm
- Bax Tintagel
- Elgar The Spirit of England
- Barber Knoxville, Summer of 1915
- Vaughan Williams Toward the Unknown Region
Hallé Orchestra, James Burton, conductor
Elizabeth Atherton, soprano
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
2010-11
Thursday November 4th 2010, Sheffield City Hall
- Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Stephanie Marshall (Angel), Andrew Kennedy (Gerontius), Mark Stone (The Priest/Angel of Agony)
Hallé Orchestra, James Burton conductor
Sunday December 12th 2010, Sheffield City Hall
- Christmas Concert
Ian McMillan (compère), Grimethorpe Colliery Band, James Gourlay, Darius Battiwalla
Friday February 25th 2011, Sheffield City Hall
- Vivaldi: Concerto for 4 violins, op.3, no.10
- Vivaldi: Stabat Mater
- Mozart: Requiem
Claire Booth (soprano), Clare Wilkinson (mezzo-soprano), James Gilchrist (tenor), Peter Rose (bass)
Manchester Camerata, Nicholas Kraemer conductor
Saturday May 21st 2011, Leeds Town Hall
- Verdi: Requiem
Hillevi Martinpelto (soprano), Susan Bickley (mezzo-soprano), Paul Charles Clarke (tenor), Matthew Best (bass)
Leeds Philharmonic Chorus, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, David Hill
Friday June 3rd 2011, Sheffield City Hall
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Overture: May Night
- Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
- Walton: Henry V
Sofya Gulyak (piano), Samuel West (actor) Hallé Orchestra, Rory Macdonald
2011-12
Friday 7th October 2011, Sheffield City Hall, 7pm
- Elgar: Overture: In the South
- Copland: Appalachian Spring: Suite
- Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast
David Soar (bass) Halle Orchestra, James Burton conductor
Saturday 10th December 2011, Sheffield City Hall, 3pm and 7pm
- Christmas concerts: A selection of Christmas music and carols
Harry Gration (compère) Black Dyke Band, Darius Battiwalla, Nicholas Childs
Saturday 11th February 2012, Sheffield City Hall, 7pm
- Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings
- Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine
- Fauré: Requiem
Treble soloist tbc David Stout baritone, Manchester Camerata, Giovanni Guzzo conductor
Saturday 28th April 2012, Sheffield City Hall, 7pm
- Karl Jenkins: The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace
- Philip Wilby: Brontë Mass
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Halifax Choral Society, Black Dyke Band
2012-13
Saturday 22nd September, Coventry Cathedral, 7.30pm
- Schöenberg ‘A Survivor from Warsaw’ op 46
- Beethoven Symphony no 5 in C minor op 67
- Bliss ‘The Beatitudes’ (Coventry Cathedral Commission 1962)
Elizabeth Watts (soprano), Andrew Kennedy (tenor), Omar Ebrahim (narrator)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Paul Daniel conductor
Saturday 13th October, De Montfort Hall, Leicester
- Borodin Polovtsian Dances
- Rachmaninov Piano concerto no.2
- Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky
Leslie Howard (piano), Marylebone Camerata, Hilary Davan Wetton conductor
Leicester Philharmonic Choir, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
Saturday 8th December, Sheffield City Hall, 3pm and 7pm
- Christmas concerts
Peter White (presenter)
Black Dyke Band, Nicholas Childs
Saturday 15th December, Sheffield City Hall, 7pm
- Handel Messiah
Amy Freston (soprano), Madeleine Shaw (mezzo-soprano), James Oxley (tenor), David Stout (baritone)
Manchester Camerata, Darius Battiwalla conductor
Saturday 8th March, St Marie’s Cathedral, Sheffield
- Kodaly Missa Brevis
- Rachmaninov Vespers
Stewart Campbell (tenor) Darius Battiwalla (conductor)
Sunday 2nd June 2013, 7pm, Sheffield City Hall
- Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony
- Debussy La Mer
Sophie Bevan (soprano), Matthew Brook (baritone)
Hallé Orchestra, Cristian Mandeal conductor
2013-14
Sunday 1st December 2013, Sheffield City Hall, 7pm
- Britten War Requiem
Emma Bell (soprano), Peter Hoare (tenor), Neal Davies (baritone)
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Lindley Junior School Choir
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Michael Seal conductor
Saturday 14th December 2013, Sheffield City Hall, 3pm, 7pm
- Christmas concert
Samuel West (presenter)
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Darius Battiwalla conductor
Black Dyke Band, Dr Nicholas Childs (conductor)
Saturday 15th February 2014, Leeds Town Hall, 7.30pm
- Elgar The Dream of Gerontius
Leeds Philharmonic Chorus, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
David Hill conductor
Saturday 1st March 2014, Sheffield City Hall, 7pm
- Beethoven Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage
- Beethoven Scene and Aria: Ah! perfido
- Beethoven Choral Fantasia
- Beethoven Symphony no.5
Barry Douglas (piano)
Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, Andrés Orozco-Estrada conductor
Saturday 7th June 2014, Victoria Hall, Sheffield
Programme to include :
- Mendelssohn: Hear My Prayer/O for the Wings of a Dove (with very rarely performed orchestral accompaniment)
- Brahms: Four Songs for Female voices (harp, 2 horns)
- Holst: Two psalms (strings, organ)
- Finzi: Requiem da Camera (Flute, oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, 1 horn, harp, strings, bass solo)
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Darius Battiwalla conductor
Ella Taylor, Soprano, Matthew Palmer, Baritone, Graham Eccles, Organ