Aldeburgh Festival News
English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music
- Aldeburgh
- United Kingdom
Last update
2024-03-19
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2024-02-16 08:09:00
As Puccini's Manon Lescaut opens English Touring Opera's Spring tour, I chat to soprano Jenny Stafford who sings the title role in Jude Christian's new production
Photo by soprano Julia Mariko before the sitzprobe for ETO's production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut via TwitterEnglish Touring Opera's Spring 2024 season opens at the Hackney Empire on 24 February 2024 with Puccini's Manon Lescaut, followed by Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress on 2 March, and the tour continues across England until 28 May. The tour also features a new family opera by Omar Shahryar and Hannah Khalil, The Great Stink.The new production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut is directed by Jude Christian (who directed Tom Coult's debut opera Violet at Aldeburgh Festival in 2022) and conducted by Gerry Cornelius, with Jenny Stafford as Manon, Gareth Dafydd Morris as Des Grieux and Aidan Edwards at Lescaut. I recently caught up with Jenny Stafford in a gap in rehearsals to chat about Manon and Puccini.When we chat, Jenny has been in rehearsals for just over two weeks and feels that they are 'whizzing through it', something she appreciates. Working […]
2024-01-19 10:14:00
An evening of bold & adventurous programming: wind & brass from Southbank Sinfonia & Britten Sinfonia combine under Nicholas Daniel at St John's Smith Square
Percy Grainger in the uniform of a US Army bandsman, 1917Copland, Mozart, Lindberg, Stravinsky, Alberga, Grainger; Southbank Sinfonia, Britten Sinfonia, Nicholas Daniel; St John's Smith SquareReviewed by Florence Anna Maunders, 18 January 2024An enormously successful collaboration between two leading chamber orchestrasCombining the wind, brass and percussion players from two fantastic orchestras together into one ensemble, this was an evening of bold and adventurous programming featuring the combined forces from two different exciting and engaging ensembles. At St John's Smith Square on 18 January 2024, members of Southbank Sinfonia and Britten Sinfonia combined under conductor Nicholas Daniel to present a kaleidoscopic and vibrant selection of music originally written for, or specially arranged for, wind and brass (with a sprinkle of percussion too), with music by Copland, Mozart, Magnus Lindberg, Stravinsky, Eleanor Alberga and Percy Grainger.Things began with a strikingly lyrical performance of Copland's Fanfare For The Common Man, in which the legato, open […]
2024-01-09 07:48:00
Aldeburgh Festival at 75: festival regular, Tony Cooper reports
Britten: The Burning Fiery Furnace - Aldeburgh Festival, Orford Church, 1966 (Photo: John Richardson / Britten Pears Arts)Flashing through life, this year’s Aldeburgh Festival notches up its 75th edition and features a stellar line-up of international performers offering a wealth of music across a wholesome 17 days. Festival regular, Tony Cooper, reports.Founded by Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Eric Crozier in 1948, the Aldeburgh Festival, originally centred on the Borough’s cosy and intimate Jubilee Hall in Crabbe Street with a seating capacity of just 236. However, when Britten and Pears conceived the bright idea of turning the Victorian-built malt-house at Snape, situated about five miles inland from Aldeburgh, into an 832-seat venue, Snape Maltings Concert Hall was born. Officially opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 1967, the Snape Maltings Concert Hall suffered serious fire damage two years later, re-opening in time for the Aldeburgh Festival the following year. The larger […]
2023-12-19 09:07:00
75th Aldeburgh Festival: Judith Weir's Blond Eckbert, Britten's Curlew River, Sumidagawa & more
The plans for next year's Aldeburgh Festival have been announced, and it turns out that 2024 is one of those years full of celebratory numbers. 2024 will be the 75th Aldeburgh Festival, composer Judith Weir's 70th year, 60 years since the premiere of Britten's Curlew River and Roger Wright's last festival after 10 years of being CEO. So, plenty to celebrate then.The festival opens with a new production of Judith Weir's 1994 opera Blond Eckbert, a co-production with English Touring Opera that will be directed by Robin Norton-Hale and conducted by Gerry Cornelius. Judith Weir is one of the festival's featured musicians and there will be performances of her music by BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ryan Wigglesworth, pianists Rolf Hind and Steven Osborne, the Nash Ensemble, Aldeburgh Voices, and Tenebrae, the BBC Singers perform her oratorio blue hills beyond blue hills, soprano Clare Booth performs the mini grand opera King Harald's Saga, […]