Music and dance at its spectacular best S

The concert on Saturday, January 20, at Huddersfield Town Hall concludes with a performance of the ballet Checkmate by Sir Arthur Bliss. Choreographed by Tracey Iliffe and designed by local artist Katy Measures, it will feature a team of principal dancers and a troupe of dancers from SLP performing arts college, Leeds.

The concert also includes the 9th Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich, Elgar’s sumptuous Introduction and Allegro and the UK Premiere of Awakening by Slovenian composer Alojz Ajdic.

The concert will be performed shortly after the orchestra returns from an early January concert trip to China.

Slaithwaite Philharmonic music director Benjamin Ellin said: “It’s a thrill to perform this piece. The music is so engaging and dramatic and the story of a chess game with all the inherent possibilities of attack, defeat, betrayal and love was a great choice by Bliss when choosing a storyboard. To be collaborating with dance and art too should really make it come alive.”

Sir Arthur Bliss was Master of the Queen’s Music and arguably responsible for BBC Radio 3 and the BBC Proms. He saw active service in WW1 and was decorated for his contribution to the nation.

Ben added: “I think the ballet is allegorical really. The Black Queen and her army are the enemy really with the weakened Red King about to be attacked. When you consider it was written in the late 1930s, that Bliss had fought in WW1 and knew what the dangers were, it is hard not to draw lines of association. That said, it is music that is immediately engaging and thrilling.” The concert starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are priced at £12.50 to £18.50 (concessions £9.50) available from Kirklees Box Offices (01484 223200). Children accompanied by adults will be admitted free. Benjamin Ellin will lead a discussion about the music at 6.30pm in the main concert hall.