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Look who’s coming to Selby Town Hall’s biggest ever spring season…

Be prepared for Lucy Porter: she is playing Selby Town Hall on June 6

SELBY Town Hall’s spring season will be its biggest ever with 27 live shows between February and the start of June, plus a trio of Edinburgh Fringe previews in July.

“There’s the usual mix of folk, Americana, stand-up, pop, rock, theatre and more with chart-toppers, cult indie royalty, a Grammy winner, the radio voice who guided my teenage pop dreams, a primetime impersonator tinkling the ivories and even a 13-piece orchestra,” says Selby Town Council arts officer Chris Jones.

“We had a good end to 2019 with a surprise listing in the Guardian as one of the UK’s best tiny venues and that seems to have spilled over into 2020 with strong early sales. It’s full steam ahead.”

The programme’s headline stars include punk princess, actor, television presenter and Top Ten hit maker Toyah with her stripped-back Acoustic, Up Close & Personal show on February 21; Mark Radcliffe: Loser?, a solo show of words and songs from the BBC6 Music and Radio 2 presenter, on April 2, and impersonator Alistair McGowan, in his new-found guise as a classical pianist, in The Piano Show on May 22.

Guitarist Gordon Giltrap’s re-scheduled date is confirmed for February 29; cult Eighties’ indie icon, John Peel favourite, Scouse maverick and The Mighty Wah! frontman Pete Wylie presents a duo show of hits and stories on March 14, and Dire Straits founding member David Knopfler, now plying his trade as a singer-songwriter, performs with Harry Bogdanovs on May 27.

Me and my mum: Arabella Weir in her debut stand-up show

On the comedy front, The Fast Show star turned bestselling author Arabella Weir plays the smallest date on her first ever stand-up tour, the confessional Does My Mum Loom Big In This?, on February 28; Paul Sinha, one-time Grand Opera House, York, pantomime villain, comic and quiz sensation from The Chase, performs Hazy Little Thing Called Love on March 21; and Jo Caulfield discusses unreasonable neighbours, call centres, snobby ghosts, prosecco drinkers, being married forever and rude children in Voodoo Doll on May 1.

BBC New Comedy Award winner, To Hull And Back sitcom writer and Hull native Lucy Beaumont spins surreal anecdotes about bubble wrap, boxing, boobs and believing in UFOs or not in Space Mam, her return to live stand-up after a four-year hiatus, on April 17.

Always space for Hull humorist Lucy Beaumont

“The season also includes one of the biggest successes from last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, comedy duo Max & Ivan, on February 7,” says Chris. “Their show Commitment was named the fourth best comedy performance of 2019 by the Guardian and has just been listed as one of the comedy highlights of 2020 by The Times.

“There’ll be more laughs from BBC Radio 4 favourite Lucy Porter in Be Prepared, her show on how ‘life turned out to be slightly more complicated than Brown Owl let on’, on June 6; classically moulded British eccentric Tim FitzHIgham in Pittancer Of Selby on April 8, and Nineties’ comedy pin-up turned philosophical raconteur Rob Newman in Rob Newman’s Philosophy Show: Work In Progress on May 16.

Rob Newman: philosophical work in progress

“Rob will be trying out material for the next series of his award-winning BBC Radio 4 stand-up philosophy programme Total Eclipse Of Descartes.”

Jones always has a strong hand of American folk and roots music acts each season. “This spring is no different with performances from Grammy-winning Californian bluegrass icon Laurie Lewis and her band The Right Hands on May 21; singer-songwriters Bronwynne Brent and Rachel Baiman on March 6 and May 28 respectively and the sunshine melodies and harmonies of Illinois indie-Americana quintet The Way Down Wanderers on April 10,” he says.

Tim FitzHigham and Duncan Walsh Atkins in their Flanders & Swann show

Selby Town Council commemorates the 75th anniversary of VE Day with a concert in Selby Abbey by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band on May 9, preceded by Tim FitzHigham and Duncan Walsh Atkins’s Flanders & Swann show, At The Drop Of A Hippopotamus, on May 8 at Selby Town Hall.

The venue plays host to its first ever orchestral performance when a 13-piece ensemble from the Northern Chamber Orchestra plays on April 7, with cellist, baritone and actor Matthew Sharp as the host.

Yorkston Thorne Khan, pictured right to left, playing Selby Town Hall in March

“As well as being our biggest ever programme of events, this spring season is also one of our most eclectic,” says Chris. “I’m particularly excited to welcome one of the most inventive and cool acts on the folk scene right now, Yorkston Thorne Khan, on March 20, when they promote their new album Navarasa: Nine Emotions.

“They mix an incredible array of sounds, from Scottish traditional to Indian classical, and are signed to the same label as Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand!

“We’re also delighted to open up the season on February 1 with a rare show for a great folk-rock supergroup, The Sandy Denny Project, brought together by Fotheringay MkII’s PJ Wright and The Poozies’ Sally Barker to celebrate one of Britain’s greatest ever singers.”

Nashville singer-songwriter Rachel Baiman

Further dates for the diary are Celtic band The Tannahill Weavers, with their ballads and lullabies on St Valentine’s Day, February 14, guitar duo Ezio on March 5; and Martin Turner: Ex Wishbone Ash, performing his former band’s 1971 album Pilgrimage in its entirety on March 28.

Reform Theatre present Midsommer, playwright David Greig and singer-songwriter Gordon McIntyre’s collaborative piece about two mid-30s, messed-up strangers – failing car salesman/poet Bob and divorce lawyer Helena – embarking on a lost weekend of debauchery, bridge-burning, car chases, wedding bust-ups, midnight trysts and hungover self-loathing, on April 25.

Key signing for Selby Town Hall: impressionist turned piano man Alistair McGowan

Edinburgh Fringe comedy previews with two comics each night will be held on July 11, 18 and 25, with tickets going on sale in the spring.

This season’s National Theatre Live screenings will be Cyrano de Bergerac, starring James McAvoy, on February 20, and Lucy Kirkwood’s bold new thriller The Welkin, starring Maxine Peake and Ria Zmitrowicz, on June 4.

Pete Wylie: singing Story Of The Blues and telling stories at Selby Town Hall on March 14

“From comedy to rock, bluegrass to theatre, orchestral to music hall and much, much more, there’s a huge array to choose from at Selby Town Hall this spring season,” concludes Chris.

Tickets are on sale on 01757 708449, at selbytownhall.co.uk or in person from the town hall.

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Shed Seven to lead all-Yorkshire line-up at Piece Hall, Halifax, but who will join them? UPDATED

First Doncaster Racecourse, now The Piece Hall in Halifax as Shed Seven head outdoors for the summer

YORK’S Shed Seven will top an all-Yorkshire bill at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on June 26.

Joining the Sheds will be Leeds bands The Pigeon Detectives and The Wedding Present and Leeds United-supporting York group Skylights, plus the Brighton Beach DJs.

Tickets for this Futuresounds Events show will go on sale on Friday at 9am at lunatickets.co.uk, seetickets.com and gigantic.com.

This is the second outdoor show announcement by the Sheds in quick succession, after confirming they will be chasing winners as well as Chasing Rainbows at Doncaster Racecourse on August 15, when they play Live After Racing, under starter’s orders at 5.45pm.

“We’re doing this Piece Hall show partly because our 2018 gig at Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl went so well,” says Shed Seven lead singer Rick Witter, whose revived Britpoppers drew 8,000 that June day and now will perform in the 5,500-capacity square of the renovated 18th-century Halifax cloth hall that now houses history exhibits and independent shops, bars and restaurants.

The Sheds have just mounted their biggest ever Shedcember winter tour, chalking up their record run of 23 shows between November 21 and December 21, with Leeds First Direct Arena on December 7 at the epicentre.

“After we did the Shedcember gigs, we just fancied doing something similar to Castlefield Bowl this summer, but this time a Yorkshire gig,” says the Stockport-born Witter.

Stockport, Mr Witter?! “I know, but I consider myself a Yorkie now,” says Rick, who attended Huntington School in York.

David Gedge of The Wedding Present, part of the June 26 bill at The Piece Hall, Halifax

“I remember Embrace playing The Piece Hall [Elbow have done likewise], and it’s taken a few months to confirm our gig since we came up with the idea of playing there. We wanted to do an outdoor show, and to do it in such a salubrious setting will be a great buzz.”

As the Sheds look forward to their Halifax and Doncaster concerts, complemented by seven summer festival gigs, with two more to be added, Rick says: “It’s a weird one for us: as the Shedcember tour showed, it seems we’re more popular than ever now. It’s a strange phenomenon but long may it continue.

“Having a new album out [Instant Pleasures, released in November 2017], has definitely helped, because the shows aren’t just nostalgia now; there are new songs too.”

Given that fresh impetus, backed up by October 2019’s gold vinyl re-issue of the Sheds’ greatest hits compilation, Going For Gold, Rick says: “Now we need to do that again: write some more new songs, and as busy as everyone is doing their own thing, there might be room to meet up once a week.”

Definitely new this year will be Shed Seven’s first racecourse concert at Donny. “I went as a guest to see Kaiser Chiefs play at York Racecourse [July 22 2016], and it was a great day out. People love it because it’s a full day out with racing and music. Let’s feel the love that day as everyone makes a big day of it. We can’t wait.”

Tickets for Shed Seven’s Music Live performance at Donny are on sale at ticketmaster.co.uk, with more information available at doncaster-racecourse.co.uk. Gates will open at 11.15am for the 1.10pm racecard,

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Jess Gardham has the winter blues for busking in the bar in Pocklington

Jess Gardham: on the road from York to Pocklington Arts Centre for a Busking-in-the-Bar night

YORK blues and soul singer, songwriter, musical actress and MasterChef semi-finalist Jess Gardham performs at Busking-in-the-Bar, Pocklington Arts Centre’s free music night, on Friday night (January 17).

Jess, of South Bank, York, has toured Britain, Europe, the United States and Canada, supported KT Tunstall, Paul CarrackandMartin Simpson and played at festivals across Britain, not least PAC’s Platform Festival at The Old Station, Pocklington last summer.

In York, she has starred in three York Stage Musicals’ productions, playing “Motormouth” Maybelle in Hairspray in April 2015 and spiritualist Oda Mae Brown in Ghost The Musical and appearing in Rock Of Ages in April 2017.

“We’re delighted that Jess Gardham will play our first Busking-in-the-Bar event of 2020,” says Pocklington Arts Centre director Janet Farmer

“Busking-in-the-Bar is an opportunity for everyone to experience some fantastic free live music, from emerging local artists, all within the comfort of our intimate and luxurious bar,” says PAC director Janet Farmer.

“We were fortunate enough to have Jess Gardham open Platform Festival 2019 and she was sensational, so we’re delighted that Jess will play our first Busking-in-the-Bar event of 2020. 

“There’s fantastic live music, a wide range of drinks to choose from and it’s free entry: what a perfect start to the weekend.”

On Friday, the bar opens at 7pm, the music starts at 8pm. For more details, call the box office on 01759 301547 or visit pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

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REVIEW. Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Pavel Kolesnikov, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, York

Pavel Kolesnikov at the piano

Pavel Kolesnikov, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, January 10

IT pays to invite big names. The Lyons was justifiably packed for this piano recital promoted by the British Music Society, which was built around two Beethoven sonatas. For anyone just returned from outer space, 2020 is set to be a big year for the great man, as we celebrate his 250th birthday.

Kolesnikov began, however, with a Chopin group, in which he probed the composer’s yearning for the Polish homeland he left at the age of 20, never to return. Rather than plunge straight into the tempestuous Fantasie-Impromptu, he opened with a minor-key nocturne not on the programme. It was magnetic. From then on his audience hung on his every note (some ill-timed, uncovered coughs apart).

Another nostalgic nocturne led into a passionate Third Scherzo in which drama took precedence over clarity. Nobody minded. By then we were in thrall to the seemingly effortless charisma of a man who never plays an unmusical note. Besides, there were always these inner voices that he kept bringing out of the texture.

At this point he allowed the first applause – we were desperate for the release. He then used Chopin’s so-called “Raindrop” prelude as his introduction to Beethoven’s “Moonlight” sonata, with barely a pause between the two (not such a bad idea when you consider that they are effectively in the same key, except that the former is major, the latter minor).

” It was thrilling for being so close to the edge,” says Martin Dreyer of Pavel Kolesnikov’s piano playing.

The opening movement was a little distorted by rubato. What followed was unexpected. I have never heard the Scherzo played so slowly and deliberately. By contrast, the finale could hardly have been speedier. It was thrilling for being so close to the edge.

The theme of night continued after the interval in pieces by Schumann, Debussy and Bartok. Kolesnikov brought an eerie edge to Schumann’s halting first Nachstück, elongating the many rests dotting its texture. Debussy’s fireworks (Feux d’artifice) were predictably more colourful, superbly varied, while Bartok’s trademark Night Music from his Outdoors suite chillingly evoked things that go bump in the night.

There was a dignified restraint to the opening movement of Beethoven’s Sonata Op 53, dedicated in 1804 to his erstwhile patron Count Waldstein, which lent its chorale a certain hauteur. The slow movement was less convincing. But the final rondo grew in excitement towards its closing prestissimo, with a riveting wealth of detail throughout.

At a mere 30 years old, Kolesnikov could be adorning our concert platforms for another half-century. Let us hope he can be lured back to York very soon.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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Once in a lifetime opportunity! Grand Opera House offers £5 student tickets for musical

Alex Hill, left, Beth Scott, Jami Richards and Laura Castle with £5 student tickets for Once The Musical at the Grand Opera House. Picture: David Harrison

THE Grand Opera House, York, is teaming up with City of York Council to offer anyone aged 26 and under £5 tickets for the Broadway and West End show Once The Musical.

Running from February 3 to 8, the show is based on the 2007 Irish indie hit film, telling the uplifting yet yearning story of two lost souls – a Dublin street busker and a Czech musician – who unexpectedly fall in love.

Charting their relationship across five short days, big changes happen to both of them in little ways in this romantic musical drama. Celebrated for its original score, including the Academy Award-winning song Falling Slowly, Once is a spell-binding story of hopes and dreams.

Directed  by Peter Rowe, with musical direction by regular accomplice Ben Goddard, Once The Musical has embarked on its first major British tour after Broadway and West End productions, leading to a Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album, eight Tony Awards and an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music.

To book £5 tickets, go to atgtickets.com/sho…/once/grand-opera-house-york/ Code: ONCE5. Proof of age must be shown when collecting tickets.

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The vinyl countdown as Riley-Smith Hall plays hosts to Northern Soul dance night

The poster for next weekend’s Tadcaster soul night

SOUL At The Riley-Smith Hall, Tadcaster, returns by popular demand on January 18 with the promise of floor-filling Northern Soul and Motown in the main room.

“We’ve started to hold these nights every four months and they’re proving quite popular,” says Ian Smith, from Harrogate and Ilkley Soul Clubs, who will be among those spinning the discs next weekend.

“All the music is played on the original vinyl releases and the resident DJs are well known on the county’s soul scene.”

Joining Smith will be Diane Layton, of Moortown and Haworth Soul Clubs, Andy Carling, of Wetherby Engine Shed and Moortown Soul Club, and Keith Hudson, Smith’s fellow DJ from Harrogate and Ilkley Soul Clubs.

“All four DJs have extensive record collections and will be playing tunes specifically to get dancers on to the floor,” says Smith. “The Riley-Smith Hall has an excellent sprung wooden floor and is perceived to be one of the north’s top soul venues for dancers.”

Next weekend’s special guest will be radio presenter John Kane, who hosts the Saturday evening Northern Soul show on BBC Radio Leeds and Radio York. “John is very popular and is sure to attract a number of his local listeners,” says Smith.

The Riley-Smith Hall has a choice of two dance rooms, the second room upstairs catering for fans of soul tunes post 1980 with sets by Mally Meah, Diane Layton and guests.

Admission is £7 on the door from 7.30pm and the dancing rolls on until 12.30am.

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Uncovered! Steve Harley reveals acoustic album release and Harrogate concert

Making him smile: Steve Harley looking forward to playing with his Acoustic Band at Harrogate Theatre next month. Picture: MIke Callow

STEVE Harley, the original Cockney Rebel, will lead his Acoustic Band in an Uncovered gig at Harrogate Theatre on February 21, the very day he releases his album of the same title.

Uncovered features interpretations of “nine painstakingly chosen songs” created in many instances by peers and contemporaries of 68-year-old Harley; those with shared histories and some that he admired from afar. 

These are songs with heft and honesty, Harley says, that have always connected and resonated within him; material he has always wanted to perform and may even wish he had written.

Those tracks are David Bowie’s Absolute Beginners; Robbie Burns’s Ae Fond Kiss; Hot Chocolate’s Emma; Cat Stevens’s How Can I Tell You?; The Beatles’ I’ve Just Seen A Face; Jagger and Richards’s Out Of Time; the traditional Star Of Belle Isle; Longpigs’ Lose Myself and Bob Dylan’s When I Paint My Masterpiece.

These are complemented by two re-worked Harley compositions: (Love) Compared With You (Your Eyes Don’t Seem To Age), replete with a new third verse, and Only You, played live for several years but here recorded for the first time.

This diverse collection of Interpretations is “in some ways an almanac, rather than a set of great tracks”. Harley’s links with some of the songwriters go back to the start of their careers: Bowie in Beckenham; Dylan throughout his early teens; Cat Stevens/Yusuf and Paul McCartney, both early influences.

The newly founded Steve Harley Acoustic Band features Barry Wickens on viola, violin and acoustic guitar; Oli Hayhurst on double bass; Tom Hooper on percussion and roots music luminary Martin Simpson on the album, although the unavailable Simpson will be replaced by David Delarre on lead acoustic guitar on tour.

At the recording sessions, Scottish singer Eddi Reader joined Harley on Star Of Belle Isle, while Jim Cregan contributed a stirring guitar solo to Emma.

Those sessions were a joy, full of virtuosity and grit, recalls Harley. “I was roaring with stamina and passion when I went in to sing the final versions. I sang all 11 in one and a half days,” he says. “The hunger and desire to perform was almost primitive. Engineer Matt Butler has recorded my voice up-close and unaffected. I sing out but seem mostly restrained.”  

Londoner Harley is no stranger to acoustic music, having toured with his Acoustic Trio – as well as the full Cockney Rebel rock band – for years en route to receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award for Acoustic Music in 2018.

His acoustic set at Harrogate Theatre will combine songs from Uncovered with such Harley highs as Mr Soft, Judy Teen, Sebastian and Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me).

Looking forward to touring with his new line-up, Harley says: “We have real adventures on tour. I’ve seen the Northern Lights, the Midnight Sun and dozens of wonderful galleries, museums and great cities, all on my down-time. I have a great life as a wandering minstrel.”

Tickets for February 21’s 7.30pm concert are on sale on 01423 502116 or at harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

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Pianist Robert Gammon to play Dementia-friendly Tea Concert at St Chad’s in York

THE first Dementia-friendly Tea Concert of 2020 will take place at St Chad’s Church, Campleshon Road, York, on January 16 at 2.30pm.

Pianist Robert Gammon will play music by Bach, Mendelssohn, Medtner, Chopin and Schubert in a 45-minute classical programme to be followed by tea and coffee, homemade cakes and a chance to chat.

“Everyone is welcome at these concerts,” says clarinet player Alison Gammon, who will join Robert for a concert on March 19. “The atmosphere is very relaxed and suitable for anyone who might not feel able to attend a formal classical concert. There’s no charge for admission, but donations are welcome.”

In further concerts, Paul Milhau will play solo violin on February 20 and The Clementhorpe Piano Trio will perform on April 16. More concerts are planned for the rest of 2020 too.

Pleas note, St Chad’s has a small car park and street parking is available along Campleshon Road. Disabled access is via the hall.

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Academy of St Olave’s to boost Accomplish Children’s Trust at January 25 concert

Alan George: musical director of The Academy of St Olave’s

YORK chamber orchestra The Academy of St Olave’s will perform in support of the Accomplish Children’s Trust at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, on January 25.

Under the musical direction of Alan George, they will present a wide-ranging programme pf music from the classical era to the 20th century, opening with two contrasting Mozart works: the exuberant overture to his first mature opera, Idomeneo, and the elegiac Masonic Funeral Music.

“The second was composed in memory of two of Mozart’s fellow Freemasons, which unusually features three basset horns – a low-pitched member of the clarinet family – and a contrabassoon in the woodwind section,” says Alan.

“There’s also contrast between the pair of Scandinavian works that complete the first half: Grieg’s ever-popular Holberg Suite for string orchestra, evoking a bygone Baroque age, and Nielsen’s Serenata In Vano, a quirky quintet for clarinet, bassoon, horn, cello and double bass that the composer described as ‘a humorous trifle’.”

The 8pm concert will conclude with Haydn’s Symphony No. 99 in E flat major, composed in 1793 for the composer’s second visit to London.

“We’re thrilled to begin the new decade with such a diverse programme of music, from Mozart’s seldom-heard masonic music – including the extremely rare opportunity to hear three distinguished basset horn players – to Nielsen’s eccentric quintet. Alongside Grieg’s neoclassical masterpiece and one of Haydn’s finest symphonies, our audience are in for a real treat.”

Concert proceeds will go to the Accomplish Children’s Trust, a Christian charity with connections to St Olave’s church that aids children with disabilities and their families in Africa. The trust supports projects that address education, medical care and income generation for families through grants to grass-roots organisations in Uganda, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. More information on the charity’s work can be found at accomplishtrust.org.uk.

Tickets are on sale at £14, concessions £13, students and children £5, at academyofstolaves.org.uk, from Visit York, in Museum Street, on 01904 555670 or on the door.

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Shed Seven to Let It Ride at Live After Racing show at Doncaster Racecourse

Shed Seven: under starter’s orders for a day at the Donny races

YORK’S revived Britpoppers Shed Seven will play Live After Racing at Doncaster Racecourse on August 15 on a day that will combine chasing winners with Chasing Rainbows.

Tickets for this Music Live performance will go on pre-sale for Artist + O2 customers via ticketmaster.co.uk at 10am on Wednesday (January 8), followed by general sale on Friday (January 10) at 10am at ticketmaster.co.uk, with more information available at doncaster-racecourse.co.uk.

The Sheds have just mounted their biggest ever Shedcember winter tour, chalking up their record run of 23 shows between November 21 and December 21, with Leeds First Direct Arena on December 7 at the epicentre.

In June 2018, they played to 8,000 people in the open air at Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl. Could Doncaster Racecourse on an August summer’s evening surpass that total? Wait and see!

Gates will open at 11.15am for the 1.10pm racecard; Shed Seven will be under starter’s orders at 5.45pm.