Opera North has a feast for all the senses this season, taking music of all kinds across the North.
The company’s orchestra is at the heart of celebrations, performing a festive double-bill for all the family with The Nutcracker and a live score for Raymond Briggs’s classic animation The Snowman, at Huddersfield Town Hall (December 13) and St George’s Hall, Bradford (December 18).
On December 15, the ensemble is joined by the Chorus of Opera North at Dewsbury Town Hall for a Christmas Gala. Music director of the Salzburg Landestheater Leslie Suganandarajah takes the podium for his Opera North debut including selections from Mendelssohn, more Nutcracker, Leroy Anderson’s "Sleigh Ride", plus audience carols.
Handel’s Messiah has been performed by Huddersfield Choral Society for well over a century and a half. On December 20–21, the Orchestra returns to Huddersfield Town Hall to join them under conductor Ellie Slorach, with guest singers including Katie Bray and Dingle Yandell.
There’s one last trip to Huddersfield December 30 in the company of guest soprano Jennifer France and conductor Christoph Altstaedt, for Viennese Whirl. A spirited selection of waltzes, polkas and galops from Vienna and beyond, including "The Blue Danube", "The Radetzky March" and other Strauss family essentials, celebrates the coming New Year. The following day, New Year’s Eve, the ensemble moves to Hull City Hall.