About Us

Founded in 1947, Skipton Music is recognised as one of the most successful voluntary music societies in the country. Over the years, we have been honoured to welcome such eminent artists as the contralto Kathleen Ferrier (1948), pianist/composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears (1952), guitarists Andrés Segovia (1952) and Julian Bream (1960), cellist Jacqueline du Pré (1965) and violinist Nigel Kennedy (1986). Many world-class ensembles have also performed for us, including the Heath, Escher and Doric String Quartets.

As these illustrious names indicate, many of whom were in the earlier stages of their career when they first played for us, Skipton Music has always been keen to give a platform to younger, ‘rising star’ performers alongside the many internationally renowned artists we have hosted. Recent highlights include the South African cellist Abel Selaocoe, the Australian mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean, both winners of coveted Royal Philharmonic Society awards in 2023 and 2024; BBC Radio 3 ‘New Generation Artists’ such as the Consone Quartet, BBC Young Musician finalists such as the trumpeter Matilda Lloyd, as well as several medal winners at the Leeds International Piano Competition. If you would like to know more about the artists who have performed for us over the past decade or so, please take a look at the archive on our Concerts Page.

Our concert series showcase a wide variety of ensembles and solo musicians, and repertoire can range from early music to the present day, with an array of instruments featuring across the season. In recent years our audiences have also been able to enjoy works they might have heard only rarely, or never before, and these have been very warmly received. In 2022/2023, for example, we celebrated our 75th anniversary with a highly successful themed season entitled ‘Hidden Treasures: Celebrating Women Composers Across the Ages.’

Our six annual concerts normally take place on Tuesday evenings between September and March at Skipton Town Hall and everyone is welcome to attend any of these performances. However, most of our audience consists of season ticket holders and the support of these regular visitors is central to our viability as a not-for-profit charity. Season tickets are exceptionally good value, offering all six concerts for the price of approximately four single tickets as well as guaranteeing the same seat for all concerts.To help encourage and build audiences for the future, we also like to make what we do affordable for younger people with £10 tickets for under-30s and £2 tickets for under-19s. Our annual free afternoon Schools Concert is always extremely popular, and over 200 primarily school pupils and their teachers attended our last one performed by award-winning recorder quartet, Palisander, in February 2024.

You can discover lots more general and up-to-date news about our artists, concerts and other activities through our social media platforms on Facebook, X and Instagram (for quick access, click on the icons on this page). Please do follow us on social media if you can and help us spread the word about what we do. You can also email us on skiptonmusic@gmail.com to sign up for occasional updates.

We look forward to welcoming you to our concerts this season!

Committee