Music key to love and harmony...

UNITED by music . . . Ann and Ken Heeks

AN Oldham couple brought together by music will be performing a family affair at Hulme Grammar School on Sunday.

Ann and Ken Heeks met over forty years ago when they were both playing in the Midland Youth Orchestra on a tour of Germany.

They have shared their lives and love of music ever since in various orchestras.

When Ken moved to jobs as a prison officer to Strangeways in 1965, they married, and had three children.

But their musical careers diverged when Ann joined Oldham Symphony Orchestra, which rehearses every Monday evening, where she moved from principal viola to her current position of principal violin and orchestra leader.

In order to share the child minding, Ken joined Huddersfield Philharmonic which rehearses every Tuesday, and he has been principal clarinet there for the past 30 years.

Their daughter Dawn, is also a talented viola player and now lives in Australia where she is principal research fellow in music at Curtin University in Perth.

And at Oldham Symphony Orchestra’s summer concert on Sunday, Ann and Ken will team up to perform the Bruch Double Concerto for clarinet and viola.

The couple will conclude the concerto with a cadenza which was composed by Dawn on her flight over from Australia before she played it with her dad and Huddersfield Philharmonic.

The summer concert also includes a new work commissioned for Oldham Symphony Orchestra, composed by Tim Jackson, and Rachmaninov’s Symphony number one. Richard Waldock will conduct and Ann Heeks and John Moorhouse will lead the orchestra.

Tickets are available on the door (£8; £5 concessions; £3 under 16s) or from Ann Heeks on 0161-652 7838. For more information see www.oldhamsymphonyorchestra.org.uk