A MOZART Memorial Concert in celebration and memory of the late Keith and Linda Hartley will take place next month.

It has been organised by the Hartley children, Rachel, Andrew and Duncan, and family, who hope many people will join them in celebrating Keith and Linda’s lives together at St Margaret’s Church, Ilkley on Saturday, November 2, at 7.30pm.

Duncan said: “This will be a fitting way to say thank you for all their enrichment of our lives.

“It was our Mum’s last wish that we request and financially support a performance from her choir, Cantores Olicanae, of Mozart’s Requiem. Our mother sang with this choir for many, many years, always supported by our father in presence and in assisting with financial support via Ilkley Arts Federation. Linda sadly died in May last year. Keith died in July of this year. We were hoping Dad might make it to this celebration of Mum’s life through this most moving and magical piece of music. Now it is the celebration of both lives lost.

“Our parents gave so much to those who knew them; Mum specifically as a greatly loved teacher at Addingham Middle School and Dad for his dedication in supporting the arts locally and regionally.

“There will be a collection at the conclusion of the concert for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Linda’s Will specified this request. Little did our Mum know that she was to be a customer of this marvellous, wholly charity-funded life-saving service.”

Cantores Olicanae choir will be joined by the Skipton Camerata for this special memorial event featuring two well-known and popular works. The Mozart Requiem is a choral masterpiece whose genesis is shrouded in mystery – this makes the piece all the more fascinating and emotionally stirring. Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 is often referred to by the nickname The Turkish. Written in 1775, it premièred during the Christmas season that year in Salzburg. The violin soloist is Sophie Rosa. The concert will also include a ‘A glimpse of the Light’, a new work written by the Musical Director of Cantores Olicanae, Rory Wainwright Johnston, who will also lead the choir and orchestra. This piece brings together a selection of poetry exploring the wonders of nature, the universe and the unknown, along with the Lux aeterna text from the Mass for the Dead, to form a musical ‘glimpse’ of the things beyond our comprehension.

Tickets are £12, students £5, (under 14s free) and are available from: The Grove Music Shop, Ilkley, or Ilkley Tourist Information Centre, online at Eventbrite.co.uk, or ring 01943 830873. Tickets will also be available on the door.

To find out more about Cantores Olicanae, and future concerts, visit: www.cantoresolicanae.org.uk