– Very Beginnings
Ernest Bradbury. It’s all his fault……
Many in Ilkley will remember Ernest as the Music Critic of the Yorkshire Post and contributor to the New Groves’ Dictionary, but he was also a Lay Reader at St Margaret’s at the time that Peter Jamieson (Founder and first conductor of the choir) was appointed Organist and Choirmaster. Ernest had mentioned that there had been a history of musical events at the church to celebrate St Cecilia, the Patron Saint of Music. Peter responded by presenting a number of small-scale recitals incorporated into Evensong on a Sunday afternoon.
– Early years
Then the small-scale got a little larger and on 20th November 1977 the first concert proper took place. An orchestra of local musicians was assembled, the church choir was supplemented by a number of singers from Ilkley and Bradford and Cantores Olicanae was up and performing. In fact, the name did not appear on concert material until the following year, when the success of the occasion encouraged us to perform another four concerts.
1979 saw the centenary of the church, and the first of the “large” concerts. It was planned that the celebrations would begin with a performance of Messiah in September 1979 and end with a performance of The Creation. The choir invited singers from the larger choral societies in Bradford, Leeds and Ilkley to come along and sing and a number of these decided to stay. Thus the choir found itself experienced singers, who enjoyed singing on a smaller scale, but were up to the challenge of singing 6 or 7 concerts in a season.
There were early practical issues. There was panic at the first Messiah performance when it dawned on the organisers that extra lighting would be required for a choir of 80 voices, if they were even to see the music (or the conductor) on a late September evening. Everything from household standard lamps to photographic lights were used. Intervals brought the need for refreshments, so that the church hall became licenced premises, and the Vicar found himself amongst the ranks of the publicans.
Ambition grew, so that when concerts were arranged to raise money for the re-building of the church’s fine Hill organ, it was decided to invite a local celebrity to sing with us. Elizabeth Harwood, still in magnificent voice, sang Handel and, especially memorably, Vaughan Williams’ Benedicite with choir and orchestra, the first of a number of notable soloists to perform with Cantores Olicanae.
The orchestra was growing along with the choir, and played an important part in the programming. A network of professional musicians and students was established, and despite the occasional hiccough (often with the brass!), a very good and reliable sound came from the band. Its leader for a couple of seasons was Ian Belton, better known now as a founder member of the Brodsky Quartet. Cantores Olicanae associated itself with the Ilkley Young Musicians Competition, offering a concert date for one of the winners. Sometimes this was a vocalist, but more often an instrumentalist, who performed a concerto with the orchestra, which had now become the Ilkley Sinfonietta.
The choir settled down to a size of about 40 voices, ideal for the classical repertoire and modern works. The mighty works of the Romantic period were, in the main, left alone, but Brahms and Dvorak were regularly performed.
