Another pretty epic oratorio (a large choral piece with solo singers accompanied by an orchestra, so pretty beefy) tackled by the Northern School of Music.
I like the typos here - its rare that you see these programmes annotated in the archive so this is lovely.

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Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Bartered Bride! This was the first opera that the school over produced. It's a comedy about true love triumphing over ambition and money. So there used to be things called "marriage brokers" who were people that did for your daughter what accountants now do for your mortgage deals?

Anyway, the school was really proud of its efforts. A Guardian article at the time claimed that it was “gay and competent... “bringing off an ambitious performance so well... No opportunity was missed in the production which was complete with circus and ballet. There seemed to be no limit to the number ingenuity could place without crowding on the stage, but by the look of things even Vasek was a prize to be sought after, for girls vastly outnumbered boys. Are there more girl music students than men, or had all the village menfolk gone for soldiers?”

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Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Northern School of Music often liked to start with a good old fashioned "God Save the Queen". I hope it wasn't the whole thing, I only know the first couple of lines. It would be like back in church when you just know a bit to a hymn and the whole of the song gets carried by the life timers, while you just join in with the clappy bits.

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

This weird mashup of ye olde performances is from the Northern School of Music's musical students as well as their Speech and Drama students. Including Eileen Darbyshire! That's right, Emily Bishop from Corrie studied at the NSM!

A mystery remains however... who or what is The Unnamed Society?? According to the Guardian at the time, they seem to be well connected to the Whitworth Theatre venue but I can't find information about what they actually *were*.

The Whitworth Theatre was at the Whitworth Art Gallery, according to ads at the time.

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Northern School of Music were super keen on giving their students as much performance practice as possible, even the Junior School. They would organise these big recitals every summer. Despite being primarily a music teacher training school, they produced some pretty impressive musicians who took a career in performance all the way!

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A Christmas concert! How many of these Northern School of Music musicians do you recognise here? Do you remember the NSM at all?

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Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

There's a lot of soloists here. These would have been perfect opportunities for musicians in training to get this vital performance experience. These are fantastic for musical family histories. If you recognise any family names please get in touch and I can send you what info we have!

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A recital by Ellis Keeler, a great friend of the Northern School of Music programmed with a variety of music to showcase his talent and support of the school.

The accompanist here is John Wilson, one of the most important students to come through the school. He accompanied hundreds of performances, exam recitals and more, for many years.

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Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A heads up by the Northern School of Music including opera performances and the summer course in music.

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

There is A LOT going on here. Quite a night at the proms/Northern School of Music for their 1950 Christmas Concert. True to form it's a mix and match of composers. Any excuse for doing something more interesting or unusual it seems.

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Surprise! It's a Messiah! The Northern School of Music loved a good Messiah. It requires a small army of singers to perform with some pretty high pressure solo parts. They loved to perform it and show off their students.

All together now: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A Christmas concert! This one with the usual sweep of more recent composers with lots of established repertoire. A nice mix of carols and then just... music!

Not sure where this is, it could be the hall at the top of the NSM building on Oxford Rd but it was teeny tiny for a large concert.

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Northern School of Music went through a phase of programming a "Three Concerts" series in the summer. 3 significant concerts with recitals by both tiers of the school; Junior to Senior.

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

One of the Old Students' Association's concerts for the Northern School of Music. Alumni showcase their piano skills - with a large cross over of past students as current staff such as Ida Carroll etc.

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Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Northern School of Music's Distribution of Awards in 1949, not just a ceremony but always a concert showcasing the students' developments over the past year. This one was presented to Sir Charles Groves.

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Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

"It is a truism that nothing in this world stands still." An editorial on change in the Old Students Association magazine for 1949, after a decade of nauseous upheaval. The school looks in particular to the changes needed for the building to suit its new efforts.

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Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

For those of you who have enjoyed Geoffrey Griffiths' love letters to Ida Carroll posted on this site, let me introduce you to his later work after WW2! Almost immediately after the war, he became the bursar of the NSM, looking after the finance books etc. This is an example of his work, logging the costs of putting on the Northern School of Music concerts.

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

It's Christmas! Which of these pieces would you have at your own Christmas concert? What else would you have?

True to form, the Northern School of Music does not let something as expected as a Christmas concert get in the way of programming lots of contemporary music, not just singalong carols.

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

It's the Holiday Course! Musicians and music teachers would come from all over Britain to attend these short courses. The topics and benefits covered updates in education, teaching and playing practices and all sorts.
Which of the sessions would you like to have attended?

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Old Students Association magazine of the Northern School of Music for 1946 remarks on the death of their founding inspiration, Tobias Matthay. They hail Hilda Collens, the founder of the school, as one of the only few female pioneers in music education.

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Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The shameful mark of a rusty paperclip permanently scoured into the paper of this programme. If you ever find them, replace them!

They're back on Gibb's Peakcock Pie. I start to feel like I should actually listen to it now, they seem so ready to promote it.

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

It's Raymond! Raymond Egan, which the profits of this concert were to go to support, was the first "Barnardo's Boy" that the school supported. They raised money to send to him to supplement his care for many years.

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Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A pretty packed programme here. The reviewer believes that the students have overreached in the ambitious programme, but with the talented violinist Maurice Clare now on the books with the school staff they gave it a go to show off his skills.

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Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

They really do like Armstrong Gibbs...

Ref: NSM/20

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.