Charmaine and Gareth Beaumont

Over the past twenty years, Charmaine and Gareth Beaumont have been involved in the musical life of Huddersfield and frequently find themselves in demand as soloists with Northern Choral Societies, Church Choirs and other Musical Societies.

Charmaine began her singing at school and, in her late 'teens, was particularly successful in Northern Musical Festivals. Gareth had numerous successes as a boy soprano, including the International Eisteddfod of Llangollen and, later, was a Rose Bowl winner at the Mrs Sunderland Musical Festival.

Married in 1975, they have two children. They are both active members of the Huddersfield Choral Society, the Parkwood Singers (a group associated with a local Methodist Church) and, until recently, the Karalian Quartet, which, following in the great tradition of previous Huddersfield Vocal Quartets, won honours at Blackpool Musical Festival. Charmaine is also a member of Honley Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

In more recent years they have often found themselves invited to perform as a 'Duo', in which form they sing tonight. Their repertoire extends from Oratorio and Opera, through Lieder and English Art Song to Light Opera and Musical Comedy, and their programme this evening has been drawn from this wide range of musical styles.

Jane Hobson

Jane Hobson, the soloist in tonight's performance of 'Solomon' was born in Huddersfield and after acquiring a good reputation as an amateur singer, has more recently taken up singing as a career. Jane has performed regularly in oratorio, broadcast on local radio, taken solo roles with operatic groups and been accepted for work with Opera North. Tonight is a totally new venture!

Huddersfield Tecol Band

Huddersfield has been renowned for many years for its musical excellence, and this reputation has grown-up around institutions like the world-famous Huddersfield Choral Society, the Colne Valley Male Voice Choir, and of course the many top-class brass bands like Black Dyke Mills, which have been the envy of the world since they started in this area in the early 1800's.

The young people in Huddersfield, not surprisingly, grow up in the musical tradition; all schools and colleges in the area provide excellent musical facilities, and generations of youngsters have done much to enhance the prestige of this area through their musical achievements.

The Music Departments of the Huddersfield Polytechnic and the Huddersfield Technical College have a first-class reputation for their academic achievements, but in addition to this, they have a strong belief in putting their academic talents into practice by organising public concerts, so that real music-making can be performed in front of very discerning audiences.

Contesting provides a unique opportunity for brass bands to have their performances judged alongside others in their class, and these competitions do much to raise standards as bands strive to be successful.

It is with this in mind that the Tecol Band was recently formed. The core of the band is staffed mainly by students from the Huddersfield Technical College and Polytechnic, but there are also additional players being drawn from other parts of the area.

The achievements of the band over the last twelve months has been quite startling, having participated in ten contests, by winning seven, runners-up on two occasions and a third placing.

In July, 1987, the band gave a highly successful concert tour in the Valencia region of Spain.

We believe that the Tecol Band has an exciting future; and after being promoted in the first year from the third to second section of the National gradings, our sights are set on the upper echelons of the brass band world.

Phillip McCann

Phillip McCann was born in Bo'Ness, West Lothian, Scotland and began his career as a cornet player with the Kinneil Colliery Band. While still a child of eight he won his first solo contest, by the time he was eleven he held the twin titles of Junior and Senior Champion of East Scotland. Since those early successes his rise to fame has been quite outstanding and he is now hailed by many in musical circles as the world's finest cornet player.

Phillip is currently principal cornet with John Foster Black Dyke Mills Band and Head of Brass Music Teaching at Huddersfield Technical College. The Tecol Band which makes its Concert debut in the Town Hall tonight was formed early in 1986 and is made up of students from the College with Phillip McCann as their Tutor and Musical Director.