Kirklees Concert Season 2025-26

A host of memorable musical moments are promised as the full Orchestra of Opera North takes to the stage at Huddersfield Town Hall for a series of orchestral concerts.

The season opens on 25 September with Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony, the ultimate in sumptuous Romantic music. Preceding that, Gershwin’s Overture, ‘Strike up the Band’, brings a taste of Broadway to the proceedings, and violinist Elena Urioste makes a welcome return as the soloist in Bruch’s popular Violin Concerto.

Love is in the air on 4 December when concert-goers will be treated to excerpts from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, as well as the contemporary piece, The Ring of Fire and Love, by Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen. Originally commissioned by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the work explores the moment of giving birth within the context of natural environmental phenomena. Mexican-born Dana Zemtsov makes her Opera North and Huddersfield debut as guest viola for Walton’s Viola Concerto. Chloe Rooke conducts.

Heralding in 2026 is another international artist making her debut at Kirklees. Conductor Sora Elisabeth Lee takes up the baton on 22 January 2026 for a concert with a distinctly French flavour. During the evening, David Pipe will be putting Huddersfield Town Hall’s famous ‘Father’ Willis organ through its paces for Saint-Saëns’ monumental ‘Organ’ Symphony, and violinist Katie Stillman, Leader of the Orchestra of Opera North, features as the soloist in the composer’s miniature dance-poem Danse Macabre.

Two other members of the Orchestra – harpist Céline Saout and flautist Luke O’Toole – take centre stage for Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp on 26 February which sees Belgian conductor Karel Deseure adding Opera North to his stellar rollcall of international conducting engagements. Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony No. 6 follows, transporting listeners to a rural idyll complete with bird calls and babbling brooks.

Garry Walker returns to Huddersfield Town Hall on 23 April to conduct Brahms’ thrilling, storm-hued final symphony, the climax to a concert which will also feature Ukrainian-born Australian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk playing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Gavrylyuk comes to Kirklees fresh from his position as Artist-in-Residence at Wigmore Hall for 23/24.

The season concludes on 14 June with a performance of Vivaldi’s enduringly popular The Four Seasons performed by the Orchestra of Opera North under the leadership of violinist Kate Stillman. This famous collection of atmospheric violin concertos will take the listeners through spring’s freshness and summer’s heat, to the mellow fruitfulness of autumn and the chill of winter.

Alongside the orchestral events, the Kirklees chamber music programme offers the perfect way to spend lunchtime at Dewsbury Town Hall in the company of small groups of musicians from Opera North playing the music they love. Starting at 12.30pm, these concerts offer a musical moment in the middle of day as they take audiences on a journey of musical discovery, with works by composers from across the ages and around the globe.

On Mondays, people can also while away the lunch hour in Huddersfield with the Town Hall’s organist David Pipe curating a lively series of guest appearances on the historic ‘Father’ Willis organ, which has been delighting audiences since 1881.