Susan Sunderland

Sunderland was born in Brighouse in 1819. Her parents were Hannah and Sykes. Her father was a butcher. After she married Henry Sunderland her soprano voice was discovered in 1831. They were living together in a house they would both live in all their lives.[1]

She was trained by the choirmaster of Brighouse parish church who was also a blacksmith.

St Paul's, the church where she sang, became a concert hall in 1979

She was fifteen when she gave her first concert and opportunities outside of the area were restricted as there was no railways at the time. When she gave a concert in Huddersfield she would need to walk thirty miles that day arriving home at two hours after midnight. Sunderland was proud to be the principal soprano at St Paul's Church in Huddersfield but this again required a long walk each Sunday.[2] That church had not been completed until 1831 and in 2020 the building is now a concert hall.[3]

In 1888 she and Henry had been married for fifty years and a celebration was organised. Whilst there she was given an illuminated manuscript to celebrate her skills. After this a group of people decided that there should be an annual competition to find more leading women soloists. In April 1889 the first annual "Mrs Sunderland Festival" took place in Huddersfield with Mrs Sunderland presenting the prizes to the winners. It was a singing competition initially for female soloists but it was expanded to include pianists and violin players on alternate years. The music festival has expanded further and in the 21st century it occupies nine days at Huddersfield Town Hall.[4] The festival in February 2020 was the 131st and it included choirs, ensembles, instrumentalists and spoken performances including those in the local dialect.[5]

She married Henry Sutherland and they would have six children.