Arts festival celebrates 100th anniversary of Shibden Park in Halifax
This week sees the launch of a special four-day outdoor arts festival marking 100 years of Shibden Park in Halifax. The spectacular grounds around Shibden Hall were commissioned by the historic house’s most famous resident – businesswoman, adventurer and diarist Anne Lister – and in 1926 the park was gifted to the people of Calderdale.
Stage at the Lake, which begins on Thursday and runs until Sunday, features classical music, comedy, musical theatre, budding local musicians, interactive family-friendly performances and a community garden trail Seeds of Hope. Stand-up comedians appearing at Laughter at the Lake include Russell Kane, Rich Hall, Josh Jones and Louise Young and Kyla Cobbler, while Brass at the Lake presents a concert by Grimethorpe Colliery Band followed by a screening of Brassed Off with the band playing the soundtrack live. Theatre at the Lake includes an evening celebrating the best of West End musicals with some of the brightest musical theatre stars performing popular songs from hit shows, such as Matilda, West Side Story, Hamilton, Wicked and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Another highlight of the festival, which forms part of the legacy of Calderdale’s Year of Culture, CultureDale 2024, is Proms at the Lake which takes place on Saturday night. The English Chamber Orchestra, with Halifax Choral Society, will perform a programme inspired by the changing seasons with much-loved classical favourites as well as contemporary works including music by Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Vaughan Williams and Handel, and Northern Ballet dancers will be performing a duet from their latest highly acclaimed ballet Gentleman Jack, based on the life of Anne Lister.
Subscribe to the YP’s Lifestyle newsletter
The concert will also present the world premiere of a new work by renowned, award-winning composer and conductor Benjamin Ellin who was invited to respond to a brief inspired by Shibden Park, its history, landscape and place within the community. Ellin’s three-movement work, Portraits of Shibden, draws on the life of Anne Lister, the natural landscape of Shibden and the legacy created when the park was opened to the public a century ago.
“In creating the piece, I was keen to focus on the history of the park but also what it means as a place for the community and I wanted to mirror that with the communion of music making,” says Ellin who is based in Thirsk. “I also wanted to make sure that parts of the piece can be used by the community going forward, it was important to me that they should have that sense of ownership.” After its premiere the music will be gifted to the community, with arrangements made available so that local schools, choirs, orchestras and other music groups can perform and explore the work in the coming years. It is a generous gift for the future.
In preparation for creating the piece, Ellin spent time at Shibden Hall and in the grounds. “I wanted to physically immerse myself in the house and its surroundings,” he says. “To get a feel for Anne Lister’s story, as well as the spirit of the local people and the beauty of the landscape. I researched West Yorkshire folk tunes and other community music from the local area and I was thinking about the social changes that were taking place in 1926, which was the year of the General Strike. I was interested to learn that Anne Lister was quite a keen pianist, so I wanted to also convey through the music a sense of her sitting down at the piano to play.”
The first movement, entitled New Dawn, explores that theme of social upheaval, using fragments of the folk tune Peasant’s Dance, evoking the energy of change. “The second movement, My Pretty Love, is more reflective,” says Ellin. “I have used texts by Dorothy Wordsworth for this vocal section, knitting together short poetic sentences that fit the mood of the piece. And the audience will have the chance to join in with the singing at this point.” The finale brings together more folk tunes, for an upbeat, optimistic ending that looks to the future. “It is vibrant and energetic,” says Ellin. “And I have included some cryptic musical themes too as a nod to Anne Lister’s love of code and cryptology. I hope that the audience will go on a bit of an emotional journey – and enjoy the shared human experience of live performance, the way that it brings us together, creates very special moments and is really so powerful.”
Proms at the Lake is at Shibden Park, August 15, 7pm-10.30pm as part of Stage at the Lake which runs August 13-16. Full programme details stageatthelake.co.uk