Five Works, One Young Orchestra: ONYO Returns to Dewsbury Town Hall
Dewsbury Town Hall is about to hand its stage to some of the North’s most promising young orchestral players—and they are not easing themselves in with a gentle Sunday-afternoon programme.
The Opera North Youth Orchestra returns to Dewsbury on Sunday 1 November with five very different works: music by Dukas, Elgar, Bruch, Pärt and Tchaikovsky. It is an ambitious afternoon that moves from a bright brass fanfare to one of the great Romantic symphonies.
For Kirklees audiences, it is also a chance to hear the next generation taking on serious repertoire in one of the district’s historic halls, with tickets deliberately priced to make that invitation a genuine one.
Five works—and no room to hide
The programme opens with the fanfare from Paul Dukas’s La Péri, a compact burst of brass brilliance designed to fill a hall. Elgar’s Serenade for Strings then puts warmth, balance and ensemble playing firmly under the microscope.
The centre of the afternoon brings Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Arvo Pärt’s Fratres. Bruch supplies the big Romantic sweep; Pärt strips the sound back and asks the players and audience to listen in a completely different way.
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 closes the programme. Put together, the five works give every section of the orchestra something meaningful to do rather than treating the youth ensemble as a novelty act.
The official Opera North concert page lists Oliver Rundell as conductor and violinist Matteo Cimatti among the featured performers.
A bridge into professional music
ONYO is made up of young musicians from across the North. Opera North describes the orchestra as a bridge between further or higher education and the professional music world—a place to learn not only difficult repertoire, but the discipline and working habits of a high-level orchestra.
The musicians rehearse at the Howard Opera Centre in Leeds, work under Rundell and receive sectional coaching from members of the Orchestra of Opera North. That professional contact is the important bit: this is not simply a youth concert assembled for one afternoon, but the public result of a structured development programme.
Sunday’s Dewsbury date is the first of ONYO’s two main 2026–27 concert projects. The second returns to the same hall in March with music by Doreen Carwithen, Richard Strauss and Amy Beach.
Why the Dewsbury date matters
There is a good local story here beyond the repertoire. Kirklees Concert Season continues to put major classical music into Huddersfield and Dewsbury Town Halls, while this concert gives young players a proper public platform rather than keeping their development behind rehearsal-room doors.
It follows the massed Yorkshire-band afternoon recently staged in Huddersfield; read Monkey’s Vivace! story here. Different traditions, same useful reminder: the next generation of live music needs real stages, real audiences and rooms that make the occasion feel important.
The pricing deserves attention too. Adult tickets are £17 including the £2 booking fee. Under-30s and full-time students pay £7, while anyone aged 16 or under can attend free. That makes this one of the most accessible full-orchestra afternoons in the local calendar.
Tickets and practical details
Opera North Youth Orchestra: Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony and more is at Dewsbury Town Hall on Sunday 1 November 2026, starting at 3.30pm.
The programme is Dukas’s Fanfare from La Péri, Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, Pärt’s Fratres and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2.
Book and check the latest availability through Opera North’s official event page. Kirklees Council also lists the concert at Dewsbury Town Hall, Town Hall Way, Dewsbury, WF12 8DG.
Monkey Supporter spotlight: The In Crowd at Meltham Libs
Paying Monkey Supporter venue Meltham Liberal Club has The In Crowd Band live on Saturday 31 October from 9.30pm to 11pm.
That gives the weekend a very different local option before Sunday’s orchestra: a Saturday-night band at the Libs, followed by Tchaikovsky in Dewsbury. Check the current event listing before travelling in case of a late change.
For more properly checked local music news, visit the Monkey GigsList blog.
Cover image: official Opera North Youth Orchestra ensemble photograph supplied by Opera North on its current Kirklees Concert Season 2026–27 page. The photograph shows the youth orchestra together with their instruments; no individual photographer is credited on the source page.