The dinner this year was held on Saturday March 19th in the Oak Room at the White Hart Inn, Lydgate.

The soprano Jennifer Rust gave a charming, entertaining recital of popular arias and songs from the shows. Jennifer sang, to great acclaim, in the Saddleworth Male Voice Choir's production of the Messiah in Uppermill in December and returned to Saddleworth to entertain us with her lively performance. She was accompanied by James Hendry.

Before dessert

•    The Sun Whose Rays            Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado
•    Widmung                               Schumann
•    Je Veux Vivre                         Gounod - Roméo et Juliette 

After Dinner 

 
•    I’ve got rhythm                      George & Ira Gershwin  - Girl Crazy
•    Summertime                           Gershwin - Porgy & Bess
•    I feel pretty                            Bernstein - West Side Story
•    O mio Babbino                        Puccini - Gianni Schicchi
•    lascia ch'io pianga                  Handel - Rinaldo
•    If I loved you                          Rodgers and Hammerstein - Carousel.
•    Can’t help loving that man     Kern and Hammerstein - Show Boat
•    Poor Wandering One              Gilbert & Sullivan - The Pirates of Penzance
•    I could have danced all night  Loewe & Lerner - My Fair Lady

Jennifer Rust
Jennifer is currently studying on the MMus programme at the Royal Northern College of Music, under the tutorage of Barbara Robotham. Jennifer has also studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, under Marilyn Smith and at the University of Hull, with Sarah Rhodes. She has won a range of awards and scholarships including; Dame Eva Turner Scholarship at the RNCM for potential dramatic sopranos, highly commended in the Frank Speeding Lieder competition at RSAMD and the Andrew Brown Memorial Prize at the University of Hull. She has been involved in several opera productions including the role of Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and most recently the chorus for the RNCM production of Carmen. Her choral work includes; Handel’s Messiah, Gounod’s Messe Solennelle, conducted by Brian Kay and Schubert Mass in G. She has participated in master classes with Joan Rodgers, Malcolm Martineu and Julius Drake. Jennifer is generously supported by the Friends of the RNCM, Colerne Music Trust, The Robin Buchanan Trust, The Hope Scott Trust and the Lynn Foundation. Forthcoming engagements include, Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Mozart’s Requiem.

James Hendry
James has, until this year, been a student at YYM (Yorkshire Young Musicians) since its inception in 2005 at Leeds, transferring to the Hull centre when it opened in October 2006 where he learnt with Robert Markham. He was a student at WykeCollege, Hull and is in much demand as a musician as he plays percussion, oboe, piano and sings. A multi-prizewinner at many music Festivals in and around Leeds and Hull, James just loves performing both as a soloist and as part of the many ensembles with whom he has played such as Hull Youth Orchestra and Hull Philharmonic. More recently he has been branching out as Musical Director of a small opera company. He is presently continuing his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music where he has been awarded an entrance scholarship as a pianist on the BMus course and is in his first year.

Both appear by kind permission of the Royal Northern College of Music.