Interview: the music director helping Harrogate go Messiah-mad at ChristmasSt Wilfrid’s musical director prepares to dazzle with sound at Harrogate showInternationally acclaimed soprano in Harrogate for hometown concertHarrogate conductor Andrew Padmore to return for farewell choral concert

Harrogate Choral Society will welcome back one of its former longstanding conductors for a farewell concert this month.

Andrew Padmore was musical director of the society since 2005 until his retirement last year. But he has agreed to return to the Royal Hall on March 19 for a final performance.

The concert, which has been in the works since 2020 when it was postponed due to covid, includes Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Rossini’s Stabat Mater.

Soloists include Sarah Power (soprano), Stephen Gadd (bass), Clare McCaldin (mezzo) and Austin Gunn (tenor). They will be accompanied by the choir and Manchester Camerata orchestra.

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The society is a mixed age, voice choir which has been running since the 19th Century.

Paul Jackson, co-chair of the choir, said;

“We are very pleased that Andrew is returning for this farewell concert, which includes, as Rossini himself rightly said, ‘music of the finest quality’. This will be an exciting evening.”

Tickets are £25 or £5 for concessions and can be bought from the box office at Harrogate Theatre.

Harrogate Choral Society returns with Brahms and Elgar

Harrogate Choral Society will return to the concert stage after an absence of nearly two years on November 13.

The society will perform Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Brahms’ German Requiem at Harrogate Royal Hall under new conductor David Lawrence.

Mr Lawrence is a familiar face in Harrogate schools through his work as principal conductor of Young Voices choir.

In addition to holding the Guinness World Record for conducting the UK’s largest choir of 6,846 singers, he has adjudicated for international festivals.

He said:

“I’m thrilled to be Harrogate Choral Society’s new conductor and am very much looking forward to November’s concert programme, with its mix of well-loved uplifting and contemplative pieces.”

The concert opens with two choral works by Elgar, Give unto the Lord and Ave Verum, followed by the Enigma Variations, which are given an added twist by being arranged for two pianos played by brothers Thomas and Stephen Moore.

The brothers will again accompany the final work, Brahms Requiem, which also features soloists Laurie Ashworth (soprano) and Adam Green (bass).

More details are available here and tickets are on sale here.

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