Orchestra of Square Chapel is the resident orchestra at Square Chapel Centre for the Arts, Halifax. A mixture of professional, semi-professional and gifted amateur players, the orchestra has a reputation for exciting programming. Concerts feature the very best music for chamber orchestra and offer an alternative musical palette to other local orchestras. This concert will be conducted by Nick Concannon-Hodges.
Orchestra of Square Chapel has been heard on BBC Radio 3 as part of the Listen Up Festival of British and Contemporary Composers and has performed as part of the Halifax Festival.
Sarah Killian
The soprano soloist Sarah Killian will be performing in this concert, which will feature music by Verdi, Puccini, Bernstein and Wagner.
Sarah grew up in Halifax, West Yorkshire and was involved in music from an early age.
In 2008, Sarah went to Royal Holloway University to read Music. She was lucky enough to perform lead roles such as Adele (Die Fledermaus) and Aline (The Sorcerer) with the Savoy Opera Society and Countess Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro) with Opera Holloway. In her final year she was awarded the composition prize and graduated with First Class hons.
Since University she has studied on Birkbeck’s Opera course and is currently on the postgraduate course at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Whilst at Guildhall Sarah has had many opportunities, performing in the operas, The Adventures of Pinnochio by Jonathan Dove and Dvořák’s The Cunning Peasant. She played Naijade in a scene from Strauss’s Ariadne Auf Naxos and Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen. Last year she was invited to sing Maconchy’s song cycle Sun, Moon and Stars for Jane Manning’s Birthday Celebration at the City of London Festival.
(Information taken from Sarah’s website. For further information, follow the link.)
Conductor – Nick Concannon-Hodges
Since taking over the Todmorden Orchestra at the start of the 2006/7 season, Nick has established himself as a highly successful and respected conductor in the West Pennines.
Between 2007 and 2012 he worked with the Burnley Municipal Orchestra and Chorus and most recently, he has been engaged as a Guest Conductor with the Orchestra of Square Chapel, Halifax. In 2009 Nick became the Musical Director of the Congleton Choral Society, a post he held until 2011, and he was also invited to conduct the Pennine Spring Music Festival Orchestra. He was subsequently made Musical Director of the Festival in 2011. Challenging performers to excel and perform at their best through supportive, enjoyable and rewarding rehearsals is a fundamental part of Nick’s work.
(Information taken from Pennine Spring Music. For more information, click the link.)
Tickets available from the Box Office: 01422 349 422 or book online.
