History of the Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir.
The Early Years: 1953 – 1972
The Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir started life as the Thornesian Guild of Singers back in the early 1950s formed by previous pupils of Wakefield's Thornes House School and the School's Head of Music, Margaret Markland.
In September 1949, eight former students of Thornes House Grammar School formed an octet. This group, who met to sing madrigals and part songs, met at the home of Miss Markland who was music mistress at Thornes House. Other students joined, the octet became a double-octet and gradually a small society. By November 1952 there were 40 members and the following year they became the Thornesian Guild of Singers, giving three public concerts a year.
The first official concert was given on July 25th 1953 at Cathedral School. An early tradition was to begin the late December concert with a procession of lanterns (made by a talented guild member) down to the stage in a darkened hall singing Sargent's arrangement of The Boar's Head Carol. The annual accounts for the first 12 months of the Guild showed a turnover of 110 pounds and two shillings. This can be compared with current turnover of more than £40,000!
In 1960 the choir enjoyed their first tour, when 20 members of the group traveled to Austria giving three concerts which were well received.
Throughout the sixties the repertoire and depth of works tackled expanded with parallel increasing recognition of this choral group. Miss Markland conducted the choir until her retirement in 1972.
The Middle Years: 1973 – 1989
A relatively new arrival to Wakefield as Organist and Master of Choristers at the city's Cathedral, Jonathan Bielby at just twenty-five, was the youngest cathedral organist in the Northern Province. He quickly established a reputation as a fine musician and he appeared as Guest Conductor for the Guild in October 1972. The choir was suitably impressed and it was not surprising that he was invited to become the next Conductor of the Thornesian Guild of Singers.
The choir's first concert under his leadership was on May 5th 1973 at St. John's Church, Wakefield when the music comprised Haydn's Mass “In Time of War” and Five Mystical Songs and Benedicite by Vaughan Williams. Shortly after, the Annual General Meeting records that Jonathan felt he was “getting used to the choir”. At the same meeting the choir's annual subscription was increased to £2.00.
The next few years saw further changes. An increase to four concerts each year and a move from Thornes House School to rehearse and perform in the Cathedral. Payment for the Conductor commenced in 1977. In 1978 Jonathan directed the choir in Bach's epic Mass in B Minor, one of the most demanding works in the choral repertoire.
Sadly, in 1985 Jonathan decided that his work load was becoming too great and he decided to relinquish his post as Conductor of The Guild.
The Guild's third Conductor was David Angus who was already rehearsal accompanist for the famous Huddersfield Choral Society. He joined the choir at the start of 1986 and introduced a more contempory element to the choir's repertoire and in 1987 Pageant by Michael Ball was performed at the Royal Northern College of Music in the presence of the composer. It was at this time that the choir's title was 'streamlined' and changed to Thornesian Singers.
March 1989 saw two major changes for the choir. David left to become Chorusmaster at Glyndebourne and at the AGM a majority vote resulted in the adoption of the name Yorkshire Chamber Choir. And so ended the middle part of the choir's history.
The Later Years: 1989 – 2007
The arrival of the choir's current conductor, Andrew Padmore, in 1989 brought new impetus in many ways. The repertoire expanded as did the venues. Andrew's first concert with the choir was November 4th 1989 when it performed Handel's Messiah in Wakefield Cathedral with the Leopold Chamber Orchestra.
Twelve months into Andrew's reign the vexed question of the ladies' choir dress again came up for discussion and after changes had occurred he commented that 'the choir now looked as good as it sounded'.
Keith Wright, organist at Wakefield at this time was much involved with the choir and his interest in French organ and choral music resulted in works such as Durufle Requiem and Faure Cantique joining the repertoire. John Rutter's music also became more in evidence and has continued to be so.
The choir had traditionally performed four concerts each year but in Spring 1991, the choir produced two concerts close together and this has become a new tradition.
Another landmark occurred the same year when on June 15th 1991 the choir first teamed up with Orchestra D'Amici and their leader Eileen Spencer, and they have been together ever since. The Carol concert in 1992 was a double first. The first time the choir sang with another group (the boy choristers from St Mary's, Whitkirk) and the first time that a brass group played with the choir. Both added new dimensions and have continued.
The Choir has continued to attract new members and as the ranks swelled the name required review. In 1999 the choir became the Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir and a new era began. Maintaining standards is an essential part of running a large choir and although new members always have to pass an audition, since 1999 there has been a program of re-auditioning every few years.
November 2000 proved to be another landmark in the choir's history with a sell out performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah at Dewsbury Town Hall with the girls of
Wakefield Cathedral Choir, Margaret McDonald (contralto), Mark Padmore (tenor) and Willard White (bass/baritone). The choir also had a new president in the Archbishop of York.
In March 2001, the audience was dancing in the aisles at Wakefield Cathedral! The occasion was the choir's first performance of David Fanshawe's African Sanctus. Zulu dancers, Ray Payne and his troupe of percussionists, a sound system at full throttle and a most colourful choir all made for a memorable evening. This is a work the choir have subsequently been asked to perform on several occasions. Late that year the choir returned to Dewsbury Town Hall for the first of a series of Handel's Messiah. An alternative to another well known performance to the south west.
Tom Moore (Assistant Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral) joined the choir as official accompanist in January 2003 and this has greatly improved rehearsals for the conductor. This coincided with the 2003/2004 fiftieth anniversary of the choir with a busy program starting with a performance at Fountains Abbey in September, followed by a very special concert in November during which all four of the choir's conductors, past and present, took the baton. This concert comprised Mozart Ave Verum, Mozart Coronation Mass, Vaughan Williams Flos Campi and Fauré Requiem with Amici Ensemble. November saw the choir back in Dewsbury Town Hall for Messiah (Maria Bovino, Margaret McDonald, Robert Johnston and Willard White) with Manchester Camerata. Following the usual Carol Concert in December, the choir's Spring concert was Bach St. John Passion (Sasha Johnson Manning, Daniel Welling, Robert Thompson, Adam Green, Joshua Ellicott and Ben Davies) with Amici Ensemble. The choir sang Choral Evensong at Tewksbury Abbey in May and finished a remarkable season with the June concert, Fanshawe African Sanctus, Bernstein Chichester Psalms and Fauré Cantique de Jean Racine.
A good choir travels. The Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir performs mainly in Wakefield Cathedral and Dewsbury Town Hall, but has sung in many parts of Yorkshire as well as Germany (May 1993), France (August 1994, August 1996, August 2000, August 2006) and The Irish Republic (October 1998).
In June 2003 the choir appeared on BBC Television's Songs of Praise. The choir supports young composers and sung the first performance of a work at the Royal College of Music, London, in 2006 as a result.
As well as performing at least six concerts per year, the Choir annually promotes an 'Open Rehearsal' and a 'Young Peoples Workshop', and is in demand to sing at wedding services and other private engagements.