Britten Pears Arts

Behold’st thou not two shapes from the east and west
Come, as two doves to one beloved nest,
Twin nurslings of the all-sustaining air,
On swift still wings glide down the atmosphere?
And, hark! their sweet sad voices! 't is despair
Mingled with love and then dissolved in sound.

Percy Bysshe Shelley:
Prometheus Unbound, Act I (1820)

These lines from Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound don’t appear in the anthology from which Britten drew several texts for his Nocturne – he chose the section immediately prior (“Since on a poet’s lips I slept…”) to open that great orchestral song cycle. But the inspiration for the connective tissue of so much of this year’s Festival programme is Shelley’s suggestion that music can express what words alone cannot – holding complex, contrasting ideas and emotions, making them comprehensible, bearable, and beautiful.

Four featured artists – tenor Allan Clayton, violinist Leila Josefowicz, and composers Helen Grime and Daniel Kidane – are at the heart of this year’s programme, helping to shape the Festival’s many interweaving strands of its rich and varied offerings. And the extended family of artists who will gather in Suffolk includes London Symphony Orchestra and Antonio Pappano, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo, Knussen Chamber Orchestra with Ryan Wigglesworth; ensembles and choirs Gabrieli Consort & Players, Onyx Brass, EXAUDI and the BBC Singers; quartets Doric, Fibonacci, Gildas and Heath; and artists Claire Booth, Anu Komsi, Sophie Bevan, Lotte Betts-Dean, Sam Lee, Benjamin Appl, James Baillieu, Sean Shibe, Ben Goldscheider, Nathan Amaral, Alisa Weilerstein and others, and is testament to the Festival’s continuing vitality and energy.

The Festival opens with the world premiere of Colin Matthews’s new opera A Visit to Friends, with a libretto by William Boyd that takes the Chekhov short story as its inspiration. Continuing its commitment to celebrating contemporary voices, it features 20 premieres and 14 commissions over 17 days including Helen Grime’s Violin Concerto, Daniel Kidane’s new String Quartet and new works by Brian Elias, Sasha Scott, Gavin Higgins, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Tyshawn Sorey.

Aldeburgh Festival Extra! embraces a range of venues in the town, including the return of the much-loved Pumphouse venue, as well as the occasional surprise further afield. The Festival Extra! programme will feature late-night hair-down music, pop-up bars, unexpected treats for foodies, artists in unfamiliar places, and more.

Joy, grief, love, loss and so much more, “dissolved in sound” by composers and the artists who bring their work to life. In this 76th Aldeburgh Festival we will experience anew music’s transformative power to move, inspire, and connect. We look forward to welcoming you in June to this special part of the world for an unforgettable celebration of music and the arts.

Download a PDF of the Festival brochure.