Festival 2013 Text AW.indd - Aldeburgh Music

66th Aldeburgh Festival 7–23 june 2013 

1913 

Britten 

lives here 

2013

The 66th Aldeburgh Festival is at the centre of Aldeburgh Music’s yearlong 

celebration of a great composer and visionary, our founder Benjamin 

Britten. This is a chance to encounter Britten and his remarkable legacy 

in ways you simply won’t find anywhere else. 

There will be iconic performances of Peter Grimes in the location that 

inspired it and The Church Parables in their original venue; an insight into 

our year-long Friday Afternoons singing project highlighting Britten’s 

pioneering work with children and amateurs; and our Inspired by Britten 

series showcasing his ever-widening cultural influence, featuring over 

20 commissions across different musical genres and art-forms. 

Britten wanted Aldeburgh to be about much more than just his music, 

so amongst a myriad of other events, you will be able to hear Sir John Eliot 

Gardiner’s Bach and the transcendental music of a modern master, 

Jonathan Harvey. Join us on the Suffolk coast for what promises to be 

an unforgettable celebration of a major British cultural icon. 

Benjamin Britten on Aldeburgh beach Courtesy of the Britten–Pears Foundation, photographer Hans Wild 1959

Book your ticket 

Online www.aldeburgh.co.uk 

By phone 01728 687110 

In Person 

Aldeburgh High Street Mon–Sat 10am–4pm 

Snape Maltings Concert Hall Mon–Sun 10am–4pm 

or start of evening concert 

By Post 

Aldeburgh Music, Snape Maltings Concert Hall 

Snape, Suffolk IP17 1SP 

By Email boxoffice@aldeburgh.co.uk 

Priority booking only until Tuesday 12 February 

General booking opens Wednesday 13 February 

For further information please see page 55 

Follow us on Twitter 

twitter.com/aldeburghmusic 

Like us on Facebook: 

facebook.com/aldeburghmusic 

The Pumphouse 

The Pumphouse is Aldeburgh Festival’s informal, 

alternative performance venue and bar, open 

Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the 

Festival. In addition to the Cabaret Songs event 

on Saturday 8 June (see page 11), we will be 

announcing a full programme of weekend events 

at the Pumphouse in the Spring. Check 

www.aldeburgh.co.uk from April to find out more. 

Britten 100 

For information about Britten 

centenary events worldwide visit 

www.britten100.org 

For information about other Britten events in 

Suffolk and Norfolk visit www.familiarfields.org 

For full details of all events 

visit: www.aldeburgh.co.uk 

And visit Aldeburgh Music’s new Britten 

Centenary site: www.aldeburgh.co.uk/britten

Sixty-sixth 

Aldeburgh Festival of 

Music and the Arts 

7–23 June 2013 

Pierre-Laurent Aimard Artistic Director 

Colin Matthews Guest Artistic Associate 

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Contents 

Festival Programme 4 

Visual Arts 52 

How to find us 54 

General Information 54 

Booking details 55 

Discounts/Tickets 55 

Access 56 

Eating at Snape 56 

Seating Plan 57 

Where to stay 58 

Where to eat 62 

What else to do 62 

Other exhibitions 63 

Acknowledgements 65 

18 

The firsT Aldeburgh fesTivAl Took 

plAce from 5 To 13 June 1948, wiTh 

The firsT concerT A performAnce 

of briTTen’s sAinT nicolAs AT 

Aldeburgh pArish church. 

Britten lives here 

The richness of Britten’s life and vision continues to inspire 

everything we do. Take a look through our brochures this year 

to find 100 insights into Britten and Aldeburgh Music today 

– from the world-conquering to the domestic and the quirky. 

Look out for the numbered circles. 

Grateful thanks 

Aldeburgh Music is extremely grateful to the following for their 

generous contributions to our Britten Centenary programme: 

André and Rosalie Hoffmann, Sir Siegmund Warburg’s 

Voluntary Settlement, Britten Centenary Circle supporters 

We also thank the following for their support of the 66th 

Aldeburgh Festival: Cambridge Assessment, Easton Farm 

Park, The Holst Foundation, Rexam

4 

Grimes in Aldeburgh 

Peter Grimes, arguably Britten’s greatest 

opera, comes home. With a series of 

concerts and a unique realisation on the 

beach, plus The Borough, a dark journey 

through the Aldeburgh of Peter Grimes 

devised by Punchdrunk, this special 

exploration is undoubtedly one of the 

centenary highlights. 

Friday 7 & Sunday 9 June 

Peter Grimes: in concert 

Snape Maltings Concert Hall 

Monday 17, Wednesday 19 & Friday 21 June 

Grimes on the Beach 

Aldeburgh Beach 

Peter Grimes + Grimes on 

the Beach 2-event package 

Come to both concert and beach 

performances and receive a 

discounted ticket deal. 

Tickets 

Including bench seating for 

Grimes on the Beach: £93 

Sitting on the beach: £67, £53, £30 

Under 27s half price 

Grimes in Aldeburgh is supported 

by a Britten 100 award from the 

Britten–Pears Foundation 

7 – 23 June (throughout the Aldeburgh Festival) 

The Borough 

Aldeburgh Town See event listings for full details

Friday 7 June 7.30pm 

Peter Grimes 

In concert 

Cast includes: Alan Oke (Peter Grimes), Giselle Allen 

(Ellen Orford), David Kempster (Captain Balstrode) 

and Gaynor Keeble, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Robert Murray, 

Henry Waddington, Christopher Gillett, Stephen Richardson, 

Charles Rice, Lexi Hutton, Charmian Bedford 

Steuart Bedford conductor 

The Chorus of Opera North with the Chorus of the 

Guildhall School of Music and Drama 

Britten–Pears Orchestra 

Benjamin Britten music 

Montagu Slater words 

‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned’ 

Peter Grimes 

Peter Grimes is an outsider in ‘The Borough’, a 

fictionalised version of Aldeburgh that first appeared 

in George Crabbe’s poem in 1810. Yet in contrast to 

Crabbe’s sadistic fisherman, Britten’s Grimes emerges 

as an enigmatic anti-hero. Is he responsible for the 

death of his young apprentice? Is he mad, evil or a 

misunderstood visionary? 

Britten’s early masterpiece has captured the 

imagination of audiences around the world ever since 

its premiere in the aftermath of the second world war. 

First written for Peter Pears, the role of Grimes is 

sung by Alan Oke, who received huge critical acclaim 

for his portrayal of Aschenbach in the 2007 

Aldeburgh Festival production of Death in Venice. 

This concert performance gives you a rare chance to 

hear the opera in the magnificent concert hall that 

Britten built. 

‘In a flash I realised two things: that I must write an 

opera, and where I belonged.’ 

Britten recalling the moment in 1941 while in America, when he 

first read George Crabbe’s poem The Borough 

Snape 7.30pm (ends approx 10.30pm) 

Tickets £34, £29, £22, £15 Under 27s half price 

For Grimes in Aldeburgh package deal, see page 4 

Coaches £4 A (5.30pm), B (6.30pm) 

Pre-performance talk with Grimes on the Beach director, 

Tim Albery and others. Britten Studio, Snape 6pm. 

Admission free but please book 

This performance is supported by 

Lindsay & Sarah Tomlinson 

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Friday 7 – Sunday 23 June 

The Borough 

A theatrical journey through Peter Grimes’ Aldeburgh 

Punchdrunk Theatre Company and its artistic director 

Felix Barrett are pioneers in a highly individual form of 

theatre, focusing as much on audience members and 

the surroundings as the performers and the narrative. 

Lines between spaces, performer and spectator blur 

to create an unforgettable experience. This version 

sets the story somewhere between George Crabbe’s 

poem The Borough and Britten’s masterpiece, Peter 

Grimes. It will take audience members on individual 

theatrical journeys around Grimes’ town, following in 

his footsteps and hearing Britten’s score. 

Walking shoes are recommended as some of the route 

may be uneven and wet. 

Tickets £29 Under 27s half price 

Online and telephone booking only. Lasts approx 

1 hour. More information will be sent to bookers in 

advance of the event. 

Working in partnership with the Britten–Pears 

Foundation with public funding from the National 

Lottery through Arts Council England 

Sponsored by

Saturday 8 June 11am 

Aimard & Aimard 

Valérie Aimard cello 

Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano 

Shostakovich Aphorisms Elliott Carter Cello Sonata 

György Kurtág Jelék for solo cello; Jatékok for solo 

piano (excerpts) Britten Sonata in C 

With his sister Valérie, Aldeburgh’s Artistic Director 

marks Britten’s centenary with a concert of four 

composers central to the history of Aldeburgh 

Festival, revealing some surprising similarities. Are 

Carter’s snappy syncopations a transatlantic echo of 

Shostakovich’s acerbic wit and Kurtág’s compact, 

expressive gestures laden with the same potency as 

the sparse opening fragments of Britten’s sonata, 

which marked the beginning of an inspired 

collaboration with Rostropovich? At the heart of it, 

the cello’s inimitable voice, forceful but tender, 

sighing, singing, whispering, lamenting… 

Aldeburgh Parish Church 11am (ends approx 12.45pm) 

Tickets £18, £15, £10 Under 27s half price 

Supported by Sally Simon, Jane Caplan & 

Charlotte Caplan 

Saturday 8 June 1pm 

SNAP 2013 Launch 

Art inspired by Britten 

The launch of this year’s Aldeburgh Festival 

contemporary visual art show with artists featured 

in the 2011 and 2012 shows returning with 

Britten-inspired works. See page 52 for details. 

Snape 1pm 

Tickets Free event, no ticket required 

19 

‘new ArrAngemenTs Are mAde ThAT my sinf. 

should sound less like Aenemic cATs’ 

(14 ocTober 1932). Aged 18, britten writes his 

opus 1, the sinfonietta. following difficulty 

assembling the student players for rehearsals, 

britten writes in his diary. 

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Introducing Jonathan Harvey 

Jonathan Harvey (1939–2012), like many 

of today’s leading British composers, was 

guided by Britten early on his career. 

Today he is a truly international figure. 

The contrast of his quintessentially Anglican 

English upbringing and his later turn to 

Buddhism is reflected in his all-encompassing, 

multi-layered, transcendenta music. 

‘Wonderfully warm, deeply human, Jonathan 

embodied the light that radiates from his 

works. Humble and fervent, he combined 

serene spirituality and pioneering freshness 

which made him one of the great exponents 

of music using electronics. 

We had long planned a Festival focus on 

his music. The announcement of his death 

as we went to print has plunged us all into 

great sadness. The 2013 Festival will be 

our farewell to this exquisite artist and 

our tribute to one of Britain’s great creative 

figures.’ Pierre-Laurent Aimard 


Angels in Blythburgh 

Latvian Radio Choir 

Jane Mitchell flute 

Oliver Coates cello Clive Williamson keyboards 

Carl Faia electronics designer Kaspars Putniņš conductor 

Jonathan Harvey The Angels; The Annunciation; 

Marahi; The Summer Cloud’s Awakening 

Byrd Sing Joyfully Unto God; Ave verum corpus 

Tallis Salvator mundi 

Weelkes Gloria in excelsis Deo 

Tomkins When David Heard 

Jonathan Harvey’s choral music is distinguished by 

an often ecstatic lyricism and a serene spirituality, 

where the purity of the human voice contrasts with 

startling vocal explorations stretching the possibilities 

of choral sound to its very boundaries. This is 

astonishing music of multi-layered intricacy that exerts 

a direct emotional pull, alluding to other music, 

cultures and centuries, yet speaking with one voice, 

seemingly timeless and yet recognisably of today. 

The Latvian Radio Choir’s recent rapturously-received 

recording demonstrated their virtuosity and affinity 

with this music. Here they tellingly pair Harvey

with Tudor anthems – a set of celebratory hymns 

and psalms and devotional prayers that contain 

some of the highpoints of English sacred repertoire. 

‘No British choir sings with the precision and 

vibrato-free purity of this brilliant group from Riga’ 

The Independent 

Blythburgh Church 4pm (ends approx 5.40pm) 


Coach £7 (3pm) 

Supported by Anthony Mackintosh 

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from The ‘modesT fesTivAl for A few friends’ 

imAgined by peTer peArs, Aldeburgh fesTivAl 

now sells 20,000 TickeTs per yeAr. 

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Les Illuminations 

Britten Sinfonia • Sandrine Piau soprano 

Ryan Wigglesworth conductor 

Tippett Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli 

Judith Weir I give you the end of a golden string 

(world premiere*) Britten Les Illuminations 

Britten orch. Colin Matthews Three Songs for 

Les Illuminations 

Bartók Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste 

In Britten’s Rimbaud songs the sensuality of the texts 

is matched in agile, feverish music for strings which 

trembles, shimmers and seduces. The French soprano 

Sandrine Piau, who premiered Colin Matthews’ 

completion of Britten’s three additional Rimbaud 

songs, makes her Aldeburgh debut. 

Judith Weir, citing Tippett’s work as a model, sets a 

small group of soloists against a larger body of strings 

in the style of a baroque concerto grosso. Bartók’s 

masterpiece weaves its magic from threads of folk 

music, sprightly dance rhythms and a compelling 

‘night music’ episode that conjures an atmosphere of 

fantasy and dreams. 

*2013 RPS/BPF commission (see box, right) 

Snape 8pm (ends approx 10.10pm) 

Tickets £32, £28, £24, £19, £14 Under 27s half price 

Coach £4 (6.30pm) 

Pre-performance talk with Judith Weir. Peter Pears 

Recital Room 7pm. Admission free, but please book. 

Sponsored by 

Supported by Clive & Eileen Schlee 

2013 RPS / BPF Commissions Sally Beamish, 

Harrison Birtwistle, Charlotte Bray, Magnus 

Lindberg, Anna Meredith, Thea Musgrave, 

Wolfgang Rihm, Poul Ruders and Judith Weir have 

received 2013 Royal Philharmonic Society / 

Britten–Pears Foundation commissions to celebrate 

Britten’s centenary and the bicentenary of the 

foundation of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

Saturday 8 June 6pm & 10.30pm 

Cabaret Songs 

Inspired by Britten 

Jamie McDermott vocals 

Conor Mitchell, Benjamin Britten music 

Mark Ravenhill, WH Auden words 

Could Britten’s delightful foray into popular song have 

been early coded love letters to the man with whom 

he was to share the rest of his life? Eight decades on, 

Conor Mitchell’s new settings of new lyrics by 

playwright Mark Ravenhill capture and embellish the 

atmosphere of heady excitement and emotional 

anxiety of a blossoming love affair. Originally written 

for an actress, Britten’s cabaret songs are given new 

life by Jamie McDermott, charismatic vocalist of 

quirky and theatrical indie band, The Irrepressibles, 

His sultry falsetto brings new colour and poignancy 

to a radical re-imagining of Britten’s originals, sung 

alongside new Mitchell settings of song lyrics that 

Auden intended for Britten but were never used, and 

a brand new set of cabaret songs they have inspired. 

Pumphouse, Aldeburgh 6pm, repeated at 10.30pm 

(ends approx 7pm & 11.30pm) 


Sunday 9 June 10.30am 

Festival Service 

Aldeburgh Parish Church has always been central to 

the Festival, hosting the very first concert in 1948. 

Visitors, parishioners and Festival-goers join together 

for the Festival Service led by Revd Canon Nigel 

Hartley. The sung mass is Britten’s Missa Brevis, 

sung by the choristers of King’s College Cambridge 

under director Stephen Cleobury. 

Aldeburgh Parish Church 10.30am 

Tickets Free event, no ticket required 

21 

‘AfTer dinner lennox b. & chrisTopher 

isherwood come To heAr peTer sing my new 

songs… peTer sings Them well – if he sTudies 

he will be A very good singer. he’s cerTAinly one 

of The nicesT people i know’ (15 ocTober 1937). 

britten had recently met peter pears, who was to become 

his life-long partner. 

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Sunday 9 June 3pm 

Friday Afternoons 

New London Children’s Choir • Ronald Corp conductor 

Sally Beamish, Charlotte Bray, Anna Meredith, 

Thea Musgrave Innocence and Experience* 

(world premiere) Britten Friday Afternoons 

Britten’s effervescent children’s song book sparkles 

as brightly for today’s young performers and 

audiences as they did when they were written 80 

years ago. The music at the heart of Aldeburgh 

Music’s most ambitious centenary celebration – a 

nationwide singing project for over 100,000 children 

– is accompanied by a major new twenty-first 

century song book with settings from Blake’s famous 

illustrated poetry collection. 

*2013 RPS/BPF commission (see page 10) 

To find out more about Aldeburgh Music’s Friday Afternoons 

project, visit www.fridayafternoonsmusic.co.uk 

Orford Church 3pm (ends approx 3.45pm) No interval 


Family deal Under 16s £5 

Coach £6 (2pm) returning after 4.30pm concert 

Supported by the Bernarr Rainbow Trust 

Sunday 9 June 4.30pm 

Voices for Today 

New London Children’s Choir 

Aldeburgh Voices 

Latvian Radio Choir 

Ronald Corp, Ben Parry, Kaspars Putniņš conductors 

Britten Pacifist March 

Shostakovich 10 Poems Op 66 [extracts] 

Santa Ratniece Horo horo hata hata 

Jonathan Harvey Plainsongs for Peace and Light 

(UK premiere) 

Britten Voices for Today 

A Britten rarity, Voices for Today is a contemplative 

anthem for children’s and adult choirs celebrating 

‘great peace lovers of history’. Commissioned for the 

twentieth anniversary of the United Nations and 

presented in simultaneous triple premiere in New York, 

Paris and London, it appeared little over a year after 

the searing impression made by the War Requiem’s 

first performances. His rousing chorus for the Peace 

Pledge Union frames Shostakovich’s spirited socialist 

anthems and Jonathan Harvey’s last choral work. 

Orford Church 4.30pm (ends approx 5.30pm) No interval 

Tickets £14, £12, £10 Under 27s half price


Peter Grimes 

In concert 






Steuart Bedford conductor The Chorus of Opera North 

with the Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama 

Britten–Pears Orchestra 

Benjamin Britten music Montagu Slater words 

See Friday 7 June for details. 

Snape 7.30pm (ends approx 10.30pm) Tickets £34, 

£29, £22, £15 Under 27s half price. For Grimes in 

Aldeburgh package deal, see page 4 Coach £4 (6.30pm) 

This performance is supported by Barry Ife and a 

syndicate of individuals 

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Monday 10 June 11am 

Hesse Lecture 

Professor Sir Adam Roberts: Pacifism in Britten’s time 

and today 

Britten was a fervent pacifist throughout his life, starting 

with an anti-hunting essay written at school, to his 

concerts with Yehudi Menuhin in the newly liberated 

Belsen to a number of works that addressed this belief, 

most notably War Requiem. Being a pacifist during a 

world war required a moral courage that Britten 

frequently showed and was a very different proposition to 

the notion of pacifism today. Professor Sir Adam Roberts, 

a leading figure in the field of international relations, 

discusses how pacifism has changed since Britten’s time. 

Adam Roberts is Emeritus Professor of International 

Relations at Oxford University and President of the 

British Academy, the UK’s national academy for the 

humanities and social sciences 

Aldeburgh Cinema 11am (ends approx 12.30pm) 


in 1933–5 briTTen wroTe A cycle of songs for clive house school in presTATyn, wAles, where his broTher 

wAs heAdmAsTer. The songs, Friday aFternoons, Are The bAsis of Aldeburgh music’s mosT AmbiTious 

briTTen cenTenAry proJecT, Aiming To geT 100,000 young people singing briTTen on 22 november 2013. 

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in 2012 Aldeburgh music generATed 

8540 kwh of elecTriciTy from iTs 

phoTovolTAic solAr pAnels. 

Monday 10 June 3pm 

Vertavo Quartet 

Poul Ruders Quartet No.4* 

Mozart Quartet Op.465 in C major ‘Dissonance’ 

Britten Quartet No.2 

Britten’s bold, expansive quartet – a homage to 

Purcell – appeared less than six months after the 

tumultuous success of Peter Grimes. The cumulative 

power of the titanic final movement’s variants on a 

Purcellian ground bass is a fitting tribute. 

Mozart’s quartet must have shocked with the startling 

opening harmonies that earned it its nickname, but it 

continues with the music of characteristic zest and 

elegance. Janus-like, the music of Poul Ruders often 

alternates explosive high spirits with a dark, 

introspective, haunting beauty. 


Aldeburgh Parish Church 3pm (ends approx 4.45pm) 


Pre-performance talk Poul Ruders discusses his work. 

Aldeburgh Parish Church 2pm. Free, but please book 

Supported by David Heckels

Monday 10 June 7.30pm 

Sandrine Piau 

Sandrine Piau soprano Susan Manoff piano 

Mendelssohn Neue Liebe; Nachtlied; 

Hexenlied (Anderes Maienlied) 

Chausson Amour d’antan; Dans la forêt du charme et 

de l’enchantement; Les heures 

Berg Seven Early Songs Debussy Fêtes Galantes Book I 

Richard Strauss Morgen; Die Nacht Op 10 No 3; 

Ständchen Schoenberg Four Songs Op 2 

Britten The Sally Gardens; There’s none to soothe; I 

wonder as I wander 

One of today’s most sought-after sopranos makes 

her Aldeburgh recital debut in an eye-catching 

programme. A great communicator who works on the 

opera and concert hall stage, her reputation has been 

founded on superb characterful performances 

24 

of baroque and classical music. Here however she 

allies her sharp-edged clarity and easy unaffected 

warmth to nocturnal songs from the German Romantic 

tradition (the young Mendelssohn and Richard 

Strauss). These are blended with an intoxicating 

selection of music from the turbulent decades that 

straddle the turn of the twentieth century. There 

is a thrilling potency to every footstep, every new 

departure taken by the young Berg, Schoenberg 

and Debussy. By contrast the cool detachment of 

Britten’s idiosyncratic folk song arrangements seem 

to heighten the emotional directness of deeply-rooted 

popular songs from England, Scotland and the USA. 

‘her singing has a wonderful, uncomplicated directness, 

utterly free of mannerisms or affectation’ The Guardian 



Coach £4 (6.30pm) 

‘i finish my copy of The 3 pT. songs in The morning, before going To lunch wiTh huberT foss AT The 

oxford universiTy press (Amen house) AT 1.0. he looks AT A good mAny Things And keeps The pArT songs.’ 

britten’s has his first piece published in 1932: Three Two-part songs. 

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Tuesday 11 June 3pm 

Schubert Octet 

Ensemble 360 

Britten Movement for Wind Sextet 

Janáček Mladi (‘Youth’) 

Schubert Octet 

Schubert’s magisterial, perennially popular work sings 

as warmly and pulses with the same energy as any 

symphony, but it is typical of the composer that a rich 

lyricism and predominantly sunny disposition cannot 

fully mask fleeting shadows – this happy stream of 

invention runs with deeper, darker undercurrents. 

Fluidity of musical thought and choppier waters too 

in Janáček’s buoyant wind sextet and, opening the 

programme, a composer in his formative years but 

already developing a distinctive style of his own – 

the seventeen-year old Benjamin Britten. 

Ensemble 360’s burgeoning reputation is founded on 

thoughtful but thrillingly immediate performances of 

large-scale chamber music such as this. 




Supported by Shirley Ellis 

25 

princess grAce of monAco cAme To The 

1978 Aldeburgh fesTivAl To reciTe poeTry 

in A lATe-nighT evenT wiTh peTer peArs 

And msTislAv rosTropovich.

Tuesday 11 June 7.30pm 

Piano Century: 1913–2013 


Debussy Étude pour les quartes 

Stravinsky Piano Rag Music 

Ives 3 improvisations 

Messiaen Regard des anges (from Vingt Regards sur 

l’Enfant-Jesus) 

Cage 4’33 

Helmut Lachenmann Guero 

Ligeti Automne à Varsovie 

Plus extracts from Prokofiev Sarcasms; Schoenberg 

Five Piano Pieces; Kurtág Jatékok; Harrison Birtwistle 

Harrison’s Clocks; music by Bartók, Cowell, 

Stockhausen, Carter, Pierre Boulez, Marco Stroppa, 

Tristan Murail and George Benjamin; and premieres 

of new commissions from young composers from the 

Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme 

A centenary tribute with a difference: Pierre-Laurent 

Aimard leads us on an extraordinary and brilliantly 

original tour of one hundred years of music featuring 

over twenty composers in one concert. Aimard’s 

itinerary takes in Kurtág’s whimsical games and Ives’ 

quirky fantasias and the ferocious momentum of 

Harrison Birtwistle and Ligeti. Along the way are 

fleeting glimpses familiar to Aldeburgh Festival 

audiences – music from recent guests George 

Benjamin, Elliott Carter and Marco Stroppa. There 

are radical new compositional departures distilled at 

the keyboard in pivotal works by Schoenberg, Boulez 

and Stockhausen; and Debussy, Murail, and Messiaen 

finding beauty in the seemingly infinite possibilities 

within the piano’s harmonic palette. There are 

moments that seem to question the piano’s role 

– Lachenmann’s ingenious Guero – and (in Cage’s now 

infamous concept) even the nature of music itself. 

Snape 7.30pm (ends approx 10pm) 


Coach £4 (6.30pm) 

26 

The Aldeburgh fesTivAl is JusT pArT of The 

progrAmme AT Aldeburgh music, which now 

feATures over 200 performAnces per yeAr. 

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Wednesday 12 June 9.30am 

Festival Walk I 

A coastal walk from Kessingland to Britten’s birthplace 

in Lowestoft 

A wide expanse of dunes and beach will greet you 

as we start a gentle walk along the coast from 

Kessingland to Benjamin Britten’s birthplace at 

Lowestoft. We visit the two semi-detached churches 

at Pakefi eld and pass its secret lighthouse. The three 

settlements of Pakefi eld, Kirkley and Lowestoft 

make up this often ignored lovely stretch of coast, 

which ends at the most easterly point of England. 

The fountains will be playing his music and the 

promenade decked out with banners as the town 

celebrates the centenary of Britten’s birth. This is not 

a circular walk. We regret dogs cannot be brought. 

Coaches from 9.30am, departing from Moot Hall, 

Aldeburgh, returning approx 4.30pm. Distance approx 

6 miles. Tickets £22, including coach and lunch 

With support from 

Wednesday 12 June 7.30pm 

Guy Barker: That Obscure Hurt 


BBC Concert Orchestra 

Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra 

Guy Barker director 

An expat businessman voyages back to London to sell 

his Soho jazz club, but while spending a fi nal night 

there he is stopped in his tracks by meeting the ghost 

of his younger self… 

Britten wrote two operas based on ghost stories by 

Henry James: The Turn of the Screw and Owen 

Wingrave. Jazz trumpeter and composer Guy Barker, 

working with author Robert Ryan, takes the 

completion of a James ghost story trilogy as his 

27 

‘lisTen To wireless – A wonderful, 

impressive buT Terribly eerie & scAry plAy 

“The Turn of The screw” by henry JAmes.’ 

in 1932 britten fi rst hears the play from which he 

would create his opera, premiered in 1954.

starting point for an ambitious new work. From Ryan’s 

adaptation of James’ supernatural short story The 

Jolly Corner, a narrative with sly allusion to both jazz 

history and the librettos of Britten operas within its 

colourful fabric, Barker creates a new, 70-minute 

suite for the massive combined forces of jazz and 

symphony orchestras, taking the audience on a taut 

and dramatic journey. 

Co-commissioned by Aldeburgh Music and 

BBC Radio 3, part of Aldeburgh Music’s Inspired by 

Britten series. 

‘cinematically evocative contemporary jazz’ 

The Guardian on Guy Barker and Robert Ryan’s Mozart-inspired 

collaboration, The Amadeus Project 

Snape 7.30pm (ends approx 8.50pm) No interval 



Pre-performance talk Guy Barker, Rob Ryan and 

Andrew Kurowski. Peter Pears Recital Room 6.30pm. 

Admission free but please book. 

Sponsored by 

Thursday 13 June 2pm 

Britten on Film I 

Britten in Suffolk 

A double bill of documentaries filmed by the BBC in 

1967 and introduced by their director Tony Palmer 

and producer Humphrey Burton. 

A high spirited celebratory portrait, Benjamin Britten 

and his Festival was one of BBC TV’s first colour 

films. It features highlights of the 20th festival, 

including the Queen’s visit to open Snape Maltings 

Concert Hall, the Vienna Boys Choir, the English 

Opera Group, Julian Bream, Joyce Grenfell and 

Britten himself in a legendary two-piano Mozart 

performance with Sviatoslav Richter. 

The Burning Fiery Furnace is a fly on the wall 

account of the recording sessions held in Orford a 

few days before the 1967 festival began. 

Aldeburgh Cinema 2pm (ends approx 4.30pm) 


There will be a 15-minute interval between screenings. 

19

20 

Thursday 13 June 5.30pm 

He Who Pays the Piper 

Writer and broadcaster Tom Service chairs a panel 

exploring how new music is commissioned. Who 

wants commissions? Composers? Audiences? Should 

commissions be allowed ‘to fail’ and if so, in these 

precarious economic times, who will pay? What can be 

expected of the commissioning process in the future? 

Panel to include: Colin Matthews (composer), 

Janis Susskind, (Boosey & Hawkes), Rosemary Johnson 

(Royal Philharmonic Society), Philip Cashian, 

(Composer and Head of Composition, Royal Academy 

of Music). 

This event is part of the Royal Philharmonic Society 

Bicentenary Celebrations, 1813–2013. 

Peter Pears Recital Room, Snape 5.30pm. 

Admission free but please book. 

28 

mAny previous ‘hesse sTudenTs’ hAve gone on 

To become professionAl musiciAns including 

sTeven isserlis, michAel chAnce, iAin burnside, 

Jeffrey TATe, JAne glover And nicolA lefAnu. 

Thursday 13 June 7.30pm 

Songs from the Same Earth 

Mark Padmore tenor Till Fellner piano 

Britten Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente 

Harrison Birtwistle Songs from the Same Earth 

(world premiere*) Schumann Dichterliebe 

Pairing Britten’s only German song collection with 

Schumann acknowledges his debt to one of the grand 

masters of Romantic lieder. But while Schumann’s 

magnificent cycle creates a large canvas on which to 

draw his protagonist’s desires and despair, Britten’s is 

a miracle of concision where every phrase is potent, 

every song a fleeting impression befitting the ‘fragments’ 

of the title. Birtwistle’s major new cycle reunites 

composer, writer David Harsent and lead role from his 

2009 Aldeburgh-commissioned opera, The Corridor. 





Pre-performance talk with Harrison Birtwistle 

Peter Pears Recital Room 6.30pm. Free but please book. 

Supported by Peter & Veronica Lofthouse

Friday 14 June 11am 

Britten–Pears Young Artists I 

Mivos Quartet • Lorenzo Soules piano 

Byrd arr. Joshua Modney Mass for 4 Voices 

Thomas Adès Darknesse Visible Britten Quartet No.3 

Music from the English Renaissance explodes into 

fragments in Adès’ solo piano piece illuminating 

Dowland’s lute song ‘from the inside’. Memories of 

the past similarly inspire the ailing Britten’s last 

chamber work: Venice – a place of deep consolation 

for him and echoes of the opera Death in Venice 

merge with, inevitably, the spectre of death itself. 

The work’s calm resignation and gently rocking fi nale 

is a poignant farewell. ‘I wanted the work to end with 

a question’, said the composer. 

Aldeburgh Parish Church 11am (ends approx 12.35pm) 


Supported by Alan & Judi Britten 

The Britten–Pears Young 

Artist Programme is 

generously supported by 

Friday 14 June 3pm 

Perspectives on Britten 

With Alexandra Harris, Mark Padmore, Tom Service 

and Rob Young 

Our panel places Britten’s life and music in context. 

Rob Young, who wrote Electric Eden – Unearthing 

Britain’s Visionary Music, discusses the concept of 

Englishness in music. Writer Alexandra Harris 

positions Britten against a wider cultural background. 

Her book Romantic Moderns looked at English artists 

just before World War II – a moment of truth for the 

arts in this country – and she also edited Modernism, 

exploring the rich cultural heritage of coastal Britain. 

Tenor Mark Padmore offers a performer’s eye view. 

Writer and broadcaster Tom Service chairs the 

discussion. 

Aldeburgh Cinema 3pm (ends approx 4.30pm) 


Hesse Students Concert Students have been 

assisting with running Aldeburgh Festival concerts in 

return for free tickets for over half a century. This is 

the fi rst of their popular end-of-week concerts this 

year. Pumphouse, Aldeburgh 5pm (ends approx 6pm) 

21

22 


Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra 

Kati Debretzeni, Maya Homburger violins 

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor 

Bach Cantata 37 Wer da glaubet und getauft wird; 

Cantata 128 Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein; 

Concerto for two Violins in D-Minor; 

Cantata 43 Gott fahret auf mit Jauchzen 

For nearly five decades Sir John Eliot Gardiner with 

his Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra have been 

thrilling audiences with performances that marry 

freshness, clarity and a peerless vocal virtuosity. With 

a remarkable repertoire spanning eight centuries of 

western music from sacred music to opera, madrigals 

to oratorio, it is perhaps Bach that provides the 

29 

constant, most famously in their extraordinary 

millennium pilgrimage project. Here in the first of 

two Bach programmes, Ascensiontide cantatas are 

wrapped around one of his best-loved instrumental 

works, the sublime double violin concerto. 

‘If there were a Nobel prize for choirs, the Monteverdi 

Choir should be its laureate’ Le Monde 




Pre-performance talk with Michael White 

Peter Pears Recital Room 6.30pm. Admission free 

but please book. 

Supported by Stephen & Victoria Swift 

AfTer briTTen, peTer peArs And imogen holsT, Aldeburgh fesTivAl ArTisTic direcTors hAve been 

philip ledger, colin grAhAm, sTeuArT bedford, msTislAv rosTropovich, murrAy perAhiA, simon rATTle, 

John shirley-Quirk, oliver knussen, ThomAs Ades And pierre-lAurenT AimArd, ofTen collAborATing 

wiTh guesT ArTisTic AssociATes.


Quatuor Mosaïques I 

Purcell Three Fantasias 

Haydn Quartet Op.76 No.6 

Schubert Quartet No.15 in G major 

Quatuor Mosaïques is the world’s leading period 

instrument string quartet. Their gut-stringed 

instruments and uncluttered, perceptive 

musicianship lead to freshly considered and deeply 

satisfying performances of the classical and early 

Romantic repertoire. In the first of their two weekend 

residency concerts, they pitch us straight into 

baroque music and the wonderful improvisatory air of 

Purcell’s Fantasias for viol consort as a prelude to the 

richness of mature Haydn. Schubert’s monumental 

final quartet finds solace amidst the tumult, as the 

ailing but still young composer obsesses on an 

extraordinary torrent of musical ideas – chamber 

music on an epic scale. 

Snape 11am (ends approx 12.50pm) 

Tickets £20, £18, £15, £12, £10 

Under 27s half price Coach £4 (10am) 

30 

while sTill AT The royAl college of music, briTTen’s 

phAnTAsy QuArTeT, opus 2, becomes his firsT piece 

To be broAdcAsT, included in A bbc concerT of 

conTemporAry music on 17 februAry 1933. 

23

24 


Composer Portrait: 

Jonathan Harvey 

Arditti Quartet • Sound Intermedia 

Britten Quartettino 

Julian Anderson Light Music (world premiere) 

Jonathan Harvey Quartet No.2; Quartet No.4 

Harvey’s remarkable fourth quartet has the sounds of 

the players electronically modified and dispersed to 

all corners of the performance space. ‘The quartet is 

the dreamer’ writes the composer and the world of 

the unconscious imagination is represented in music 

that is fluid and multi-dimensional, vivid and profound. 

Britten’s early quartet was premiered only 30 years 

ago by the Ardittis and is a daring and astonishingly 

accomplished work for a teenager. Julian Anderson 

and Harvey have often been associated with ‘spectral’ 

music, coloured by analysis of the properties of 

sound. There is otherworldly beauty to their 

explorations of timbre and the undiscovered spaces 

between conventional notes and harmonies. 

Aldeburgh Parish Church 3pm (ends approx 5pm) 

Tickets £15, 12, £8 Under 27s half price 

A Tribute to Jonathan Harvey Contributors including 

composer Julian Anderson share their appreciation 

of Jonathan Harvey’s life and music as a prelude 

to a performance of his great work for electronics, 

Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco. 

Britten Studio, Snape 5.45pm (ends approx 

6.45pm) Admission free but please book. 

Saturday 15 June 7.30pm 

Poem of Ecstasy 

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra 

Ilan Volkov conductor 

Richard Watkins horn 

Debussy orch. Hans Abrahamsen Children’s Corner 

(UK premiere) 

Colin Matthews Horn Concerto 

Jonathan Harvey 80 Breaths from Tokyo (UK premiere) 

Scriabin Poem of Ecstasy 

The power and subtlety of a massive symphony 

orchestra and its seemingly infinite rainbow of colours 

are celebrated in a concert that concludes with 

Scriabin’s poem – a gargantuan journey from earthbound

cares to spiritual release compressed into a little over 

twenty minutes. Colin Matthews’ beguiling work pits 

soloist against orchestra in a theatrical display, with 

the soloist moving round the auditorium and his 

orchestral horns hunting- and haunting – him from 

offstage. Abrahmsen’s arrangements take Debussy’s 

delightful piano originals and refashion them into 

something new. And at its centre, a major new piece 

from featured composer Jonathan Harvey, a 

twenty-first century tone poem that is a refined, 

gently mesmeric ritual. ‘Breathing’, explains Harvey, 

‘is behind all music… 80 Breaths for Tokyo is partly 

the result of the practice of Zen breathing, and partly 

the result of listening to slow music and enjoying its 

power over the mind and body’. 




Supported by a syndicate of individuals 


Stockhausen: Kontakte 


Samuel Favre percussion Marco Stroppa electronics 

A sonic tennis match for electronics and live 

performers, Kontakte is a 20th century musical icon, 

one of the crowning glories of the first wave of 

electronic music composition. An inspiration for 

artists ranging from Jonathan Harvey to Aphex Twin 

and written in 1958–60, before the invention of 

musical synthesizers, Stockhausen’s piece was created 

using technology designed for radio broadcasting. 

This version of the piece, combining electronic sounds 

with acoustic piano and percussion, is the pioneering 

work which has provided the starting point for the 

myriad of artists who have explored this rich world of 

possibilities ever since. The ‘contacts’ of the title 

emerge as volleys of sound, ‘hit’ between the electronic 

and live participants. 

‘Karlheinz Stockhausen… has visited the outer reaches of 

music and reported back.’ BBC Radio 3 presenter Robert Worby 

Britten Studio, Snape 10pm (ends approx 10.45pm) 


With support from Fiona MacKenzie & John Cornish 

25

26 

31 

in 40 yeArs of cATering for sTudenTs on 

briTTen–peArs young ArTisT courses, 

singers And bAroQue musiciAns hAve been 

found To be AlmosT Twice As likely To be 

vegeTAriAns As oTher pArTicipAnTs. 

Sunday 16 – Saturday 22 June 

Centenary Masterclasses: 

Britten Song 

Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake 

Bostridge and Drake share their career-long 

experience of Britten’s music with a group of 

exceptional young international singers and pianists. 

Some of Britten’s most important and personal output 

is interspersed with new settings of English poetry 

written by Britten–Pears composers. 

Public Sessions Peter Pears Recital Room, Snape 

16, 17,18, 20, 21 June 2.30 – 4.30pm 

Tickets £6 per session or Pass £25 (all sessions) 

Recital Aldeburgh Parish Church 

Saturday 22 June 2.30pm Tickets £10 



generously supported by


Quatuor Mosaïques II 

Werner Three Fugues 

Haydn Quartet Op 20 No.5 

Beethoven Quartet in Bb major Op 130 with 

Grosse Fugue Op 133 

The art of fugue: music from Gregor Werner, Haydn’s 

predecessor at the Esterhazy court sets the 

foundation stones for a concert that culminates in 

one of the most extraordinary and explosive examples 

of the form in music history. Beethoven’s ‘great’ 

fugue, a conclusion to what is – even without its 

finale – a radical and profound late quartet, is so 

ambitious in scope and experimental in design that 

its shockwaves still resound even to modern ears. 

In a way Haydn is no less radical – his own fugal 

finale is part of a conscious revival of baroque forms 

and the theatrical drama provided by its four 

interlocking voices provides tantalizing tiny hints at 

what his most famous pupil would achieve. 


Tickets £22, £16 Under 27s half price 



Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra II 

Bach St John Passion 

Mark Padmore Evangelist Peter Harvey Pilatus 

Matthew Brook Christus Hannah Morrison soprano 

Meg Bragle alto Nicholas Mulroy tenor 

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor 

1964: Sir John Eliot Gardiner forms the Monteverdi 

Choir, and forges a partnership that has become a 

byword for superlative interpretations and pioneering 

practice in early music and beyond, defined by 

illuminating and inspiring performances. The same 

year, Imogen Holst leaves her Aldeburgh post having 

established a rich legacy of programming and 

performing baroque and pre-baroque music at the 

Festival. Bach’s great Passion has been a touchstone 

for Gardiner and Aldeburgh and, fittingly, the midpoint 

of the Britten centenary Festival is marked by one of 

the great monuments in musical history in the hands 

of one of its most notable modern interpreters. 

Snape 6pm (ends approx 8.25pm) No interval 



Tickets are limited to two per household 

27

28 

The Church Parables Sunday 16 & Tuesday 18 June, 9.30pm 

‘O Curlew River, cruel Curlew 

Where all my hope is swept away!’ 

The Madwoman in Curlew River 

A rare opportunity to see Britten’s complete 

triptych of music theatre works performed 

at Orford Church, the venue for which they 

were originally created. His remarkable 

re-inventions of the religious drama genre 

have been staged at venues around the 

world since their premieres at the 1964, 

1966 and 1968 Aldeburgh Festivals, but 

they have a particular resonance here on 

the Suffolk coast, where you can hear the 

cry of the eponymous curlew, imitated in 

the music of Curlew River, on the same 

riverside walks that Britten so loved. 

Curlew River 

Monday 17 & Wednesday 19 June, 7pm 

The Burning Fiery Furnace & 

The Prodigal Son (double bill) 

Mahogany Operas production of 

The Church Parables is supported 

by a Britten 100 award from the 

Britten–Pears Foundation


The Church Parables: 

Curlew River 

Mahogany Opera 

Aurora Orchestra 

Frederic Wake-Walker director 

Roger Vignoles music director 

Kitty Callister designer (after original designs by 

Mara Amats) 

Ben Payne lighting designer 

Cast includes: James Gilchrist, Rodney Earl Clarke, 

Samuel Evans, Lukas Jacobski 

One of Britten’s most austere and most acclaimed 

works is presented in the location that is inseparable 

from its creation. Initially inspired by Britten’s 

encounter with Noh theatre while on tour in Japan in 

1955, Curlew River tells the haunting story of a 

mother’s search for her lost son. Britten transforms 

the Noh play Sumidagawa into an English medieval 

mystery play, capturing remarkable similarities 

between the two distant cultures. The setting is 

shifted to medieval East Anglia – a feat easily 

achieved in Orford’s magnificent twelfth-century 

Church of St Bartholomew. Mahogany Opera takes 

Britten’s assimilation of East and West, referencing 

both Noh tradition and medieval western 

iconography. Premiered in Orford at the 1964 

Aldeburgh Festival, Curlew River is both heartrending 

and remarkably evocative of Britten’s Suffolk: 

in the words of composer Robin Holloway, the spare 

setting ‘suffices to render river, marsh and circling 

birds with startling vividness’. 

Orford Church 9.30pm (ends approx 10.45pm) 


Coach £6 (8.30pm) via Snape 


All three operas £69, £54, £45, £33 


Supported by Garth & Lucy Pollard 

32 

‘Try in vAin To conTinue These hellish pfT 

pieces & wAlk frAnTicAlly up And down 

The beAch Trying To Think’ 

britten in lowestoft, 25 september 1934. 

29

30 

33 

while A sTudenT living in london, briTTen 

enTrusTed The cuTTing of his hAir To Two 

of The ciTy’s greAT depArTmenT sTores: 

whiTeley’s And selfridge’s. 

Monday 17 June 11am 

Ronald Blythe: Time by the Sea 

The Time by the Sea: Aldeburgh 1956–58 is a new 

memoir by Ronald Blythe, writer and editor of the 

Original Aldeburgh Anthology, during the 1950s. 

He had originally come to the Suffolk coast as an 

aspiring young writer, but found himself drawn into 

Benjamin Britten’s circle and began working for the 

Aldeburgh Festival. Published by Faber for the Britten 

centenary, this memoir is an intimate appraisal of a 

vivid and memorable time: with Britten he explored 

ancient churches; and with the botanist Denis Garrett 

he took delight in the marvellous shingle beaches 

and marshland plants. 

The book will be available to buy at the event and 

Ronald Blythe will be signing copies. 

Aldeburgh Cinema 11am (ends approx 12.15pm) 


Centenary Masterclass: Britten Song 2.30pm 

Come to Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake’s 

masterclass with Britten–Pears young artists 

(see page 26). Peter Pears Recital Room, Snape 

Tickets £6 (ends approx 4.30pm)

Monday 17 June 7pm 


The Burning Fiery Furnace 

and The Prodigal Son 

Mahogany Opera 

Aurora Orchestra 




Mara Amats) 

Ben Payne lighting designer 


John McMunn, Samuel Evans, Douglas Nairne, 

Lukas Jacobski 

Like Curlew River, Britten’s two subsequent Church 

Parables were both written for Orford Church and 

were premiered in the Aldeburgh Festivals of 1966 

and 1968 respectively. They develop the pioneering 

ideas of Curlew River – the minimal instrumental and 

vocal forces and the inclusion of plainchant – but 

have very different moods. With The Burning Fiery 

Furnace, Britten aimed to create ‘something much 

less sombre, an altogether gayer affair’, based on the 

Old Testament story of Nebuchadnezzar and the three 31 

Israelites. Meanwhile The Prodigal Son was inspired 

by Rembrandt’s painting The Return of the Prodigal, 

which Britten had seen two years earlier on a trip to 

Leningrad. Mahogany’s production takes the principal 

established in Curlew River of merging East with West 

and extends it to the two later works, first contrasting 

Balinese dance drama with stained glass and then 

Middle Eastern Sufism with the art of Rembrandt 

and Bosch. 

Orford Church 7pm (The Burning Fiery Furnace 

7–8.15pm; The Prodigal Son 9.30–10.45pm) 






Supported by Garth & Lucy Pollard 

34 

new work wAs AT The heArT of briTTen’s 

vision for The Aldeburgh fesTivAl And in 

2013 Aldeburgh music is commissioning 

over 50 new pieces.

32 

Monday 17 June 8.30pm 


Tim Albery director 

Leslie Travers set and costume designer 

Lucy Carter lighting designer 

Sound Intermedia sound design 







The Chorus of Opera North and the Chorus of the 


Benjamin Britten music 

Montagu Slater words 

Britten’s powerful and masterful evocation of the 

North Sea in all its moods has become inextricably 

linked with the Aldeburgh that was home to 

Crabbe in the eighteenth century and Britten in 

the twentieth. 

Tim Albery directs an outdoor realisation of Peter 

Grimes that places the audience directly in its setting 

– on the beach, watching as dusk fades over the sea 

taking the audience into the world of Peter Grimes 

and the local community that has branded him a 

muderer and hunted him down. 

The same musical team as the concerts will perform 

with the singers amplified and the orchestra recorded 

from the earlier Festival concerts. 

‘In ceaseless motion comes and goes the tide 

Flowing it fills the channel broad and wide 

Then back to sea with strong majestic sweep 

It rolls in ebb yet terrible and deep’ 

Peter Grimes

‘There are few points within the confines of this planet 

at which you can stand and know that you’re seeing, 

hearing and breathing precisely what a composer was 

trying to capture in a particular piece of music.’ 

Classic FM magazine on Peter Grimes and Aldeburgh beach 

Please note this performance is outdoors, uncovered 

and most of the audience will be seated on the 

beach. There will be limited bench seating and 

spaces for wheelchair users. In the event of severe 

weather, the performance may have to be postponed 

to the following evening. Only legless folding camping 

chairs may be used on the beach. More information 

will be sent to bookers in advance of the event. 

Aldeburgh beach 8.30pm (ends approx 11.45pm) 

Tickets: Bench seating £75 Sitting on the shingle £50, 

£40, £20 Under 27s half price 

For Grimes in Aldeburgh package deal, see page 4 

Supported by the Friends of Aldeburgh Music 

With additional corporate support from the 

TA Hotel Collection 

35 

‘i Took A TickeT for This show becAuse iT is 

locAl And i ThoughT i hAd To. i’d hAve sold 

iT for sixpence eArlier on. i wouldn’T pArT 

wiTh iT now for Ten pounds.’ Audience 

member at the 1st Aldeburgh festival performance 

of britten’s Albert herring, quoted by e.m. forster. 

33

34 


Chamber Music Century 

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group 

Lucy Schauffer mezzo soprano 

Debussy Syrinx 

Stravinsky 3 pieces for clarinet; Tango, Waltz & Ragtime 

Oliver Knussen Elegaic Arabesques 

Britten Reflection; The Wasp; Tema Sacher 

Colin Matthews Interlude 2 Henze Adagio Adagio 

John Woolrich In the Mirrors of Asleep 

Charlotte Bray new work for mezzo soprano and 

ensemble (world premiere) 

And Colin Matthews’ arrangements of music by 

Berg and Debussy 

Guest Artistic Associate Colin Matthews crafts an 

ingenious programme that mines the riches of the 

last hundred years of chamber music repertoire, 

tracing an elegant arch from the turbulent opening 

36 

in 1948, The 1sT Aldeburgh fesTivAl box 

office TAkings were £2,800, while for 

Aldeburgh music’s yeAr-round progrAmme 

in 2012 They were £909,070. 

years of the twentieth century to the present day and 

back again. Framed by tiny masterpieces for a solo 

instrument, this is a rich tapestry, weaving into its 

fabric the distilled fervour of Berg and Webern, 

Knussen and Woolrich’s lyricism, and Stravinsky’s 

brittle, brilliant pastiches. Matthews’ own music and 

his arrangements of others takes its place here, as 

does Britten – some of his earliest chamber music to 

his last instrumental work. Nods also to Aldeburgh 

Artistic directors of the past and music from a 

composer who was a regular visitor and significant 

presence – Hans Werner Henze. 

A seamless sequence that seems to shape a new 

composition from many pre-constructed fragments – 

the familiar, the re-imagined and the unusual sharing 

an intimate space without ever jarring or jostling for 

attention – this is a modernist montage that startles, 

reveals and illuminates. 

Charlotte Bray’s new work is a BCMG Sound 

Investment commission. 


No interval Tickets £16, £13 Under 27s half price 


Supported by Selman & Suzanne Selvi


Christian Zacharias 

Christian Zacharias piano 

Scarlatti Sonata in B minor K27 Brahms Rhapsody in 

B minor op.79 No.1 Mozart Adagio in B minor KV 540 

Haydn Sonata in B minor Hob.XVI: 32 

Schubert Moments Musicaux; Impromptu No.3 in 

B-flat major 

Intuitive, imaginative and free-thinking, Christian 

Zacharias is the most versatile of musicians. But it 

is perhaps in this repertoire where he is most at 

home, bringing a refined poetic instinct, poise and 

37 

‘The music i wroTe reAlly comes off well, 

– &, for whAT is wAnTed, creATes QuiTe 

AloT of sensATion!’ (15 JAnuAry 1936) 

britten’s career had taken off in 1935, having been 

appointed to the gpo documentary film unit 

alongside other artists like w.h. Auden, with whom 

he created the famous sequence to the remarkable 

short film night mail, which he describes here. 

perceptive insights to the great riches of the classical 

and romantic piano repertoire. In his intriguingly 

constructed programme, all roads seem to lead to 

Schubert. Light and carefree though their titles are, 

Schubert’s poetic miniatures carry a profound depth 

of feeling that goes far beyond mere improvisatory 

caprice. They are prefaced with the glittering clarity 

of Scarlatti, Brahms’ restless turbulence and the 

foreboding and fantasy of Mozart and Haydn. 

Snape 7pm (ends approx 8.50pm) 



Supported by Michael Guest, in memory of Sybil Guest 

35

36 

Tuesday 18 June 9.30pm 


Curlew River 

Mahogany Opera • Aurora Orchestra 




Mara Amats) Ben Payne lighting designer 


Samuel Evans, Lukas Jacobski 

See Sunday 16 June for details. 

Orford Church 9.30pm (ends approx 10.45pm) 


Coach £6 (8.30pm) via Snape 




Pre-performance talk Director Frederic Wake-Walker 

introduces the production. 

Orford Church 8pm. Admission free, but please book 

Supported by Mark & Angela Bridges

Wednesday 19 June 9.30am 

Festival Walk II 

Dennington to Framlingham 

Starting at the superb church of St Mary’s, Dennington, 

famous for the wonderful medieval craftsmanship in 

its chapels, we continue across wide acres of farmland 

offering lovely views across this part of mid-Suffolk. 

Then we follow the upper reaches of the River Ore to the 

12th century Framlingham Castle, seat of the Bigods. 

Suitable clothing and footwear are recommended. 

This is not a circular walk. Distance: approx 6 miles. 

Easy to medium diffi culty, with three stiles. We regret 

dogs cannot be brought. 

Coaches 9.30am, 9.45am, 10am (departing from 

Moot Hall, Aldeburgh, returning approx 4.30pm) 

Tickets £22, including lunch and return coach trip 

With support from 

38 

‘wAlking Around The reeds AT 

snApe is one of The mosT inspiring 

Things you cAn do As A composer.’ 

benjamin oliver, britten–pears 

composers’ course participant, 2012. 

37

38 

Wednesday 19 June 7pm 


The Burning Fiery Furnace 

and The Prodigal Son 

Mahogany Opera • Aurora Orchestra 




Mara Amats) Ben Payne lighting designer 

Cast includes: James Gilchrist, Rodney Earl Clarke, John 

McMunn, Samuel Evans, Douglas Nairne, Lukas Jacobski 

See Monday 17 June for details. 

Orford Church 7pm (The Burning Fiery Furnace 

7–8.15pm; The Prodigal Son 9.30–10.45pm) 


Coach £6 (6pm) Tickets are limited to two per household 

All three operas £69, £54, £45, £33 U27s half price 

Supported by Mark & Angela Bridges 

39 

‘i Am losT wiThouT some children (of 

eiTher sex) neAr me.’ (15 April 1936) 

Wednesday 19 June 8.30pm 





Cast includes: Alan Oke, Giselle Allen, David Kempster 


The Chorus of Opera North and the Chorus of the 





beach. More information will be sent to bookers. 


Aldeburgh beach 8.30pm (ends approx 11.45pm) 

Tickets: Bench seating £75 Sitting on the shingle 

£50, £40, £20 Under 27s half price 

For Grimes in Aldeburgh package deals, see page 4 

Supported by Peter Moores Foundation with 

Alan Swerdlow & Jeremy Greenwood 

Also supported by individuals from the 

Britten Centenary Circle

Thursday 20 June 11am 

Britten on Film II 

Britten as Performer 

Introduced by Humphrey Burton 

If being a great composer wasn’t enough, Britten was 

an extraordinary performer. He made dozens of sound 

recordings but there is very little film footage of him 

performing and conducting, in part because he didn’t 

enjoy the dry acoustic of television studios. The 

advent of BBC 2 in 1964, however, led to a number 

of important TV relays. This survey of rare footage, 

introduced by archivist Stephen Wright and director 

Humphrey Burton, reveals Britten as an inspiring 

conductor of his own music and that of Purcell. The 

films show Britten working at the Royal Albert Hall, 

the Fairfield Hall and the newly opened Snape 

Maltings Concert Hall, with performers including the 

London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber 

Orchestra, Peter Pears and Mstislav Rostropovich. 

Aldeburgh Cinema 11am (end time approx 1.30pm) 



Dowland Songs and Dances 

Iestyn Davies countertenor 

Phantasm viol consort Elizabeth Kenny lute 

Dowland Songs including: Shall I strive with wordes 

to move; Flow My Teares; Can she excuse my wrongs; 

Come againe sweet love doth now envite; In darknesse 

let mee dwell. Plus Galliards, Pavans, Almands and 

other instrumental music. 

Born 450 years ago this year, the great English 

Renaissance composer John Dowland continues to 

inspire performers and composers with the expressive 

intensity of his songs, providing the foundations for 

some of Britten’s most haunting instrumental works. 

Yet Dowland’s own music is not all darkly coloured: 

alongside some of his most famous and melancholy 

songs, a stellar collective of outstanding Dowland 

interpreters perform less well-known pieces which 

find him adapting the dance forms of the day in 

exquisitely decorated music that is by turns sprightly 

and stately. 




39

40 


Britten Dances 


The Royal Ballet 

Royal Ballet Flanders 

Britten Sinfonia 

Barry Wordsworth, Ben Pope conductors 

Alasdair Beatson piano Tom McKinney guitar 

A Britten centenary celebration through dance, 

featuring new choreography inspired by Britten from 

Kim Brandstrup (music: Britten Variations on a theme 

of Frank Bridge), who creates a new work for The 

Royal Ballet, and Ashley Page (music: Britten Young 

Apollo & Purcell arr. Britten Chacony) and Cameron 

McMillan (music: Larry Goves new work after 

40 

‘An erA hAs pAssed’ (19 februAry 1936) 

in 1934 britten’s father had died and in 1936 his mother 

moved out of lowestoft. britten mourns the end of his 

childhood and literally draws a line under it in his diary. 

Britten’s Nocturnal), who make dances for Royal 

Ballet Flanders. 

All three commissions are part of Aldeburgh Music’s 

Inspired by Britten series and are co-commissioned 

with DanceEast, in collaboration with two of the 

world’s leading dance companies. 

Snape 8pm (ends approx 10pm) 



Pre-performance talk Kim Brandstrup and Cameron 

McMillan discuss their new works 

Peter Pears Recital Room 6.30pm. Admission free, 

but please book. 

Supported by the Richard Cave Trust, established in 

1987 by a major donation from Vickers plc

Friday 21 June 11am 

Tokyo Quartet 

Beethoven Quartet Op.95 in F minor ‘Serioso’ 

Bartók Quartet No.6 in D major 

Debussy Quartet in G minor 

The chance to hear one of the world’s finest chamber 

ensembles is special enough. That it comes only weeks 

before it disbands after a remarkable four decade 

career makes this an occasion to savour. The Tokyo 

Quartet bring their sumptuous, burnished sound, 

precision of ensemble and deep musical understanding 

to a compelling programme; Beethoven’s fizzing, 

compressed energy, Bartok’s poignant farewell to 

the form and Debussy’s only quartet, agile, poetic, 

distilling his visionary new musical world into this 

most traditional of forms. Groundbreaking, ingenious 

masterpieces all three, and a fitting triptych for a 

revered quartet’s farewell. 

‘[The sound]… is of a mellow, matured cask of fine liquor 

distilled through time and space: fiery, with its individual 

particles strong and flavoursome, the blend not oversmooth, 

but kicking on the palette’ The Times 

Blythburgh Church 11am (ends approx 12.40pm) 

Tickets £22, 16, £10 Under 27s half price 

Coach £7 (10am) 

41 

briTTen wAs ArresTed once in his life 

– for dAngerous driving, in mAy 1937 

AfTer crAshing his cAr driving wiTh 

his sisTer beTh in The coTswolds. 

41

42 


Britten–Pears Young Artists II 

Horns of the Britten–Pears Orchestra 

Rosalind Ventris viola Lara Dodds-Eden piano 

Schumann arr. Britten Adagio and Allegro for Horn 

Bridge arr. Britten There is a Willow Grows Aslant 

a Brook 

Hindemith Sonata for Four Horns; Trauermusik 

Schumann Märchenbilder 

Tippett Sonata for Four Horns 

A concert that juxtaposes the sounds of a horn 

quartet with viola – Hindemith and Britten’s own 

instrument – is an alluring prospect, and the 

instruments’ very essence seems to be represented 

here. The viola’s burnished eloquence weeps in 

memorials by Hindemith and Bridge and spins 

fantastical tales in Schumann’s fairy stories; the 

horn’s heritage celebrated in smooth cantilenas and 

quicksilver caprice. Ghosts lurk here too – the horn 

42 

virtuoso Dennis Brain and his quartet, and Britten, 

whose deft arrangements of other people’s music 

so often blends poetry and polish, working with the 

grain to reveal new beauty beneath the veneer. 

Aldeburgh Parish Church 3pm (ends approx 4.30pm) 


Supported by Alan & Judi Britten 




Hesse Students Concert Students have been 

assisting with running Aldeburgh Festival concerts 

in return for free tickets for over half a century. 

This is the second of their popular end-of-week 

concerts this year. Pumphouse, Aldeburgh 5pm 

(ends approx 6pm) 

AT The 2nd Aldeburgh fesTivAl in 1949 ArThur rAnsome, AuThor of 

swAllows And AmAZons, gAve A TAlk enTiTled ‘sAiling in eAsT AngliA’.

44 


SNAP: the discussion 

A number of the contributing artists will join the 

panel, discussing the ways in which their works 

engage with Britten and his legacy. 

Britten Studio, Snape 5.30pm (ends approx 6.50pm) 

Tickets £5 Students free 


Britten Dance Juniors 

Aldeburgh Young Musicians and DanceEast Academy 

Inspired by Britten Dances, the landscape and 

Britten’s music, Aldeburgh Young Musicians and 

DanceEast Academy take the idea of theme and 

variations to create new, site-specific performances 

around Snape Maltings. Exploring the relationship 

between choreographers, composers, performers and 

unusual spaces, these mini-collaborations provide 

an informal platform for our young regional talent. 

Various venues at Snape 7pm (ends approx 7.45pm) 

Admission free, no ticket required 


Britten Dances 

The Royal Ballet 

Royal Ballet Flanders 

Britten Sinfonia 

Barry Wordsworth, Ben Pope conductors 

Alasdair Beatson piano 

Tom McKinney guitar 

See Thursday 20 June for details. 



Coach £4 (6.30pm) 

43 

over 1,000 18–25 yeAr olds hAve ATTended 

The Aldeburgh fesTivAl for free As ‘hesse 

sTudenTs’, A scheme seT up in 1959 by 

princess mArgAreT of hesse And The rhine, 

enAbling young people To receive free 

TickeTs And AccommodATion in reTurn for 

AdminisTrATive help.






Cast includes: Alan Oke, Giselle Allen, David Kempster 


The Chorus of Opera North and the 

Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama 




beach. More information will be sent to bookers. 


Aldeburgh beach 8.30pm (ends approx 11.45) 

Tickets: Bench seating £75 Sitting on the shingle £50, 

£40, £20 Under 27s half price 

For Grimes in Aldeburgh package deals, see page 4 

Generously supported by the Robey Family and the 

Haskel Family Charities 

44 

Aldeburgh residencies provide 

opporTuniTies for over 50 composers, 

musiciAns And oTher ArTisTs per yeAr 

To creATe new work And re-chArge 

Their creATive bATTeries. 

45

46 

45 


Piano Century: The Year 1913 

Tamara Stefanovich piano 

Nenad Lecic piano 


Debussy Jeux 

Zimmermann Monologue 

Stravinsky The Rite of Spring 

Pierre Boulez Structures (Book 2) 

Two of the pivotal moments in musical history, from 

exactly a hundred years ago, thrill in radical and 

revealing couplings. A mysterious alchemy occurs 

when orchestral scores are heard played on two 

pianos. Rhythms become tauter, highly sprung, 

harmonies crystallise, tiny details of the music’s 

inner workings emerge with new clarity and focus. 

‘i Am in A dAmned muddle Trying To compromise beTween pAcifism & communism’ (6 mAy 1937) 

britten was struggling to reconcile the diverse views of his circle. he went on to take a strong pacifist stance, 

registering as a conscientious objector in 1943, and later, during the cold war while others were burning bridges 

with russia, britten built friendships, inviting shostakovich, richter and rostropovich to Aldeburgh.

Debussy and Stravinsky are heard afresh in piano 

arrangements by the composers. Zimmermann’s work 

(itself an arrangement of an orchestral score) teases 

us with fragments from Beethoven and Bach to 

Boogie-Woogie and quotes directly from Jeux, with 

which it shares a fl uidity, quicksilver changes of 

direction and almost improvisatory air. The controlled 

venom, intricate organisation and relentless impetus 

of Stravinsky’s infamous Rite fi nd a parallel in 

Boulez’s innovative Structures – precisely and 

minutely organised but with a momentum, percussive 

power and glittering brilliance that makes an 

explosive, visceral impact. 

Britten Studio, Snape 11am (ends approx 1.10pm) 

Tickets £20, £16 Under 27s half price 

Coach £4 (10am) 

There will be a 30-minute interval. 

46 

composers whose works hAve been premiered 

AT The Aldeburgh fesTivAl in The pAsT 30 yeArs 

include briTTen, TurnAge, goehr, hollowAy, 

knussen, weir, rorem, coplAnd, TAkemiTsu, 

nAncArrow, sciArrino, AdÈs, kAgel, birTwisTle, 

cArTer And kurTÁg. 


Ian Bostridge 

Masterclass Course Recital 

Ian Bostridge tenor Julius Drake piano 

Singers, instrumentalists and composers from the 

Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme 

The fruits of a week’s intensive masterclasses, 

Britten’s songs – so central to his musical legacy – 

are performed alongside the new English songs they 

have inspired, including a guest appearance by 

course tutors Bostridge and Drake themselves. 

Aldeburgh Parish Church 2.30pm (ends approx 4.30pm) 


This project has received funding from the European 

Network of Opera Academies with support from the 

European Commission 




47

48 


Epigrams: Tribute to Elliott Carter 

Presented by Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Oliver Knussen 



Elliott Carter Epigrams (world premiere); Trije 

Glasbeniki; String Trio; Rigmarole (UK premieres) 

The music of Elliott Carter, who died in November 2012, 

has been, and will remain a constant presence at 

Aimard’s Aldeburgh Festivals. With Oliver Knussen, 

another musician linked so closely with this modern 

master, he discusses the man and his music and 

presents glittering chamber music miniatures from 

the last two years of his life, including the world 

premiere of his last ever work, a piano trio intended 

for Aldeburgh but left incomplete at his death. 

‘By turns lyrical, dramatic, complex, amusing and poetic, 

this grand master of polyphony understood the challenges 

of his time and entertained us with great intelligence.’ 

Pierre-Laurent Aimard 


Tickets £8 Under 27s half price Coach £4 (5pm) 


Dialogues 


Oliver Knussen conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano 

Britten The Sword in the Stone 

Hans Werner Henze The Emperor’s Nightingale 

Elliott Carter Dialogues II (UK premiere) 

Magnus Lindberg new work (world premiere*) 

Lutoslawski Venetian Games 

Legends, fairy stories and games accompany major 

premieres in Knussen’s alluring programme. Britten’s 

knights’ tales joust with Henze’s delightful orientinfused 

‘ballet-pantomime’. Lutoslawski loosens the 

foundations of modernist musical architecture to 

incorporate individual choice and freedom. Fantasy, 

wit and craftsmanship fuse Carter’s 70th birthday 

present for Daniel Barenboim and a major new work 

from Magnus Lindberg. 

*2013 RPS/BPF co-commission (see page 10) 



Coach £4 (6.30pm) 

Supported by George & Angie Loudon


Albert Herring Feast 

Taking inspiration from Britten’s comic opera Albert 

Herring, we are holding six community feasts around 

Suffolk in the course of our Britten Centenary year. 

Come and join us at the Snape feast on the last day 

of the Festival for a fun-fi lled treat, suitable for all 

ages. Bring some food and join in the ‘feastivities’, 

taking place outside Snape Maltings Concert Hall. 

Oyster Bar Lawn, Snape 12.45pm 

Free admission, no ticket required 

With the generous support of the 

Chapman Charitable Trust 

Working in partnership with the Britten–Pears 

Foundation with public funding from the 

National Lottery through Arts Council England 

47 


The Young Person’s Guide: 

Family concert 

The Hallé Orchestra 

Sir Mark Elder conductor and narrator 

Britten The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra 

Britten wrote his Variations and Fugue on a Theme 

of Purcell as a way to introduce children to the 

instruments of the orchestra and the piece has 

become one of the most popular orchestral works of 

the 20th century, known primarily by its subtitle, 

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. If you 

have ever thought about bringing children to a 

concert, this is your chance to bring them to perhaps 

the most exciting introductory piece ever written, 

performed by one of the UK’s best-loved orchestras 

and conductors in a very short, family-friendly event. 

Snape 2.30pm (ends approx 3pm) 

Tickets £10 Under 16s £5 Coach £4 (1.30pm) 

eAch yeAr Aldeburgh music works wiTh 9% of All Juvenile offenders in cusTody in englAnd And wAles. 

49

50 


The Hallé Orchestra 

Emma Bell soprano 

Sir Mark Elder conductor 

Wolfgang Rihm new work (world premiere*) 

Britten The Prince of the Pagodas – Pas de Six; Our 

Hunting Fathers; Variations and Fugue on a Theme of 

Purcell (The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra) 

Is there a more joyous, thrilling moment in twentieth 

century music than the closing pages of Britten’s 

Purcell-inspired concerto for orchestra? The triumphal 

return of Purcell’s ancient but familiar theme at the 

conclusion to this riotously inventive, colourful tour 

de force simply takes the breath away. 

48 

Including the fifth and final Aldeburgh world premiere 

in the Royal Philharmonic Society / Britten–Pears 

Foundation commissions, this concert traces 

Britten’s music from the rarely heard exoticism of 

an orient-inspired ballet via his first major orchestral 

song cycle as a fitting celebration to end the 

centenary Festival. Sir Mark Elder brings his Hallé 

Orchestra to Snape Maltings less than twelve months 

after his unforgettable concerts with the Aldeburgh 

World Orchestra. 

* 2013 RPS/BPF co-commission (see page 10) 



Coach £4 (2.30pm) 

With the generous support of the 

Chapman Charitable Trust 

Also supported by the Britten Centenary Circle 

‘i feel i Am infiniTely wise in choosing This plAce’ (29 June 1937) 

britten on his plan to move back to suffolk from london and convert the old 

mill at snape, which he completed the following year.

52 

Saturday 8 – Sunday 30 June (closed 24 & 25 June) 

SNAP 2013 

Art inspired by Britten 

Contributing artists from the SNAP 2011 and 2012 

exhibitions return to show a diverse body of new work 

inspired by Britten and sited all around the grounds 

at Snape, often in unconventional and irregular 

locations, and to be viewed as a trail. The group 

contains both emerging and established, international 

artists, all of whom have a strong connection to 

the region. 

Artists include: Darren Almond, Don Brown, Glenn 

Brown, May Cornet, Cerith Wynn Evans, Mark Fuller, 

Ryan Gander, Maggi Hambling, Scott King, Emily 

Richardson, Johnnie Shand Kydd, Abigail Lane, 

Simon Liddiment, Sarah Lucas, Julian Simmons, 

Cally Spooner, Juergen Teller, Gavin Turk, 

and artists from Wysing Arts in Cambridge and 

Norwich Outpost. 

‘SNAP’s size and setting foster dialogues: between 

modern and contemporary, between the art and the 

landscape’ Financial Times 

Exhibition open 12 noon – 5pm or the start of the 

evening performance 

See www.snapaldeburgh.co.uk for more details. 

Some of the SNAP artists will discuss their work in 

a talk on SNAP discussion on Friday 21 June at 

5.30pm. See page 43.

Britten Trail 

From Easter 2013 onwards, visitors to Aldeburgh will 

be able to explore the town that so inspired Britten 

through a self-guided walking tour. Local community 

groups have come together with the Britten–Pears 

Foundation to interpret the places most closely 

associated with the composer. Full details – including 

leaflets, a booklet and an audio tour – will be 

unveiled in the spring at www.brittenpears.org. 

The Red House re-opens 

At The Red House, where Britten lived and worked 

for much of his life, the Britten–Pears Foundation 

is preparing to open up the site as never before. 

A purpose-built new home for Britten’s outstanding 

archive, designed by award-winning architects 

Stanton Williams, opens at the start of the 2013 

Aldeburgh Festival. The studio where Britten wrote 

masterpieces such as War Requiem will be recreated, 

and highlights from BPF’s collections will be on show 

in an inspiring new exhibition about the man and his 

music. See www.brittenpears.org for details. 

Both projects have been generously supported by the 

Heritage Lottery Fund. 

49 

musiciAns And ArTisTs come To sTAy AT 

Aldeburgh music ThroughouT The yeAr – 

To perform, experimenT, live And work 

TogeTher. in 2012 Aldeburgh music 

AccommodATed over 1,400 ArTisTs, or An 

AverAge of 27 per week. 

Philip Vile 

53

54 

How to find us 

By Car Signposted from the 

A12, take the A1094 off the 

A12, turn right at Snape Church 

for Snape Maltings. There is no 

charge for parking at Snape. 

By Train National Express East 

Anglia operate a service from 

London–Saxmundham via Ipswich. 

Tel: 0845 600 7245. 

By Taxi We advise you pre-book a 

taxi from Saxmundham; contact 

A2B cars: 01728 633003 or 

01728 832202. 

New Penny Taxis: 01728 452142 

Oscar/Amber Taxis: 01728 830614 

Gull Taxis: 01728 602344 

By Bus There are bus services from 

both Aldeburgh and Woodbridge to 

Snape with a bus stop outside the 

Maltings. Tel: 0871 200 2233. 

50 

Framlingham 

Woodbridge 

A12 

A14 

Snape Thorpeness 

A1094 

Aldeburgh 

B1069 Snape Maltings 

A1152 

Concert Hall 

B1078 

Orford 

Felixstowe 

briTTen’s birThplAce, lowesTofT, is The eAsTern mosT 

poinT in The uk, wiTh coordinATes of 52°28.87’n 1°45.77’e. 

A12 

Lowestoft 

A12 

A1095 

Southwold 

Blythburgh 

General information 

Friends and Advance Booking List 

Aldeburgh Music runs a year-round 

programme of events. Priority 

booking is available to Friends and 

those on the Advance Booking 

List. Additionally Friends enjoy an 

exclusive year-round social and 

cultural programme. For further 

information, please phone 

01728 687100 or email 

joinus@aldeburgh.co.uk 

Support our work 

Aldeburgh Music relies on 

the generosity of numerous 

individuals, businesses, trusts 

and foundations to carry out its 

ambitious artistic programme. 

If you would like to be involved 

either individually as an Annual 

Donor or through your business or 

a trust, or would like information 

on leaving a legacy, please contact 

Kate Lloyd on 01728 687100 or 

email klloyd@aldeburgh.co.uk 

Visitor Centre 

Our new visitor and information 

centre adjacent to the Concert Hall

Foyer is now open, selling recordings 

of music and artists, new releases 

and bestsellers. 

Tel: 01728 687100 

Aldeburgh Alumni Club 

Our alumni have been getting 

back in touch with us from all over 

the world. See what friends and 

colleagues are up to and visit us 

on www.aldeburgh.co.uk. Please 

contact alumni@aldeburgh.co.uk if 

you have any submissions or would 

like further information. 

Aldeburgh American Scholarships 

give the top young musicians 

from the USA an opportunity to 

add an international dimension to 

their professional development by 

attending courses at the Britten– 

Pears Young Artist Programme. 

Booking Details 

Priority booking for Annual Donors 

until Tuesday 22 January, Friends 

from Wednesday 23 January, and 

Advance Booking List (including 

e-ABL) from Wednesday 6 February 

You can now use priority online 

booking. Alternatively, send back 

your completed form as soon as 

possible after receiving it. Forms 

are processed in order of receipt, 

according to membership level. 

Please return forms to: 

Aldeburgh Music 


Snape, Suffolk IP17 1SP or 

email: boxoffice@aldeburgh.co.uk 

General Booking opens on 

Wednesday 13 February 

Our improved online booking now 

offers seat selection – visit 

www.aldeburgh.co.uk 

Phone and In Person booking opens 

on Wednesday 13 February 

Tel: 01728 687110 

Please note we cannot take any 

telephone or in person bookings 

until this date. 

Box Office opening hours: 

Aldeburgh High Street 

Mon–Sat 10am–4pm 


Mon–Sun 10am–4pm 

August–September 9.30am–4.30pm 

or the start of the evening concert 

Discounts 

Group Discounts 

10% discount available for groups 

of 12 or more. 

Wheelchair Users 

A concession of 50% is available 

to companions of wheelchair users. 

All discounts are made subject to 

availability, and discounts cannot 

be combined. 

Returned Tickets 

We are happy to re-sell returned 

tickets for sold-out concerts. 

A 10% handling charge will be 

deducted from your refund. 

55

56 

Access 

Please inform the Box Offi ce if you 

have access requirements so that 

they may advise you on the most 

appropriate seats. 

Parking for people with disabilities 

at Snape 

Spaces are provided for blue/ 

orange badge holders and must 

be booked in advance. Should you 

require one please inform the Box 

Offi ce when booking. Please arrive 

early to secure your parking space. 


Britten Studio, Hoffmann Building 

The Concert Hall and the 

Hoffmann Building have space 

for wheelchairs, lift access to all 

levels, and operate an infra-red 

hearing system which can be used 

with or without a hearing aid. 

Please call the Box Offi ce for 

access details about Grimes on 

the Beach and The Borough. 

Orford Church 

Aldeburgh Cinema 

Aldeburgh Parish Church 

Blythburgh Church 

Pumphouse, Aldeburgh 

Peter Pears Recital Room, Snape 

Eating at Snape 

Aldeburgh Music’s new catering 

team will be providing an excellent 

choice of dining options for the 

Festival. 

• A delicious range of hot food and 

puddings in the informal and 

refurbished Oyster Bar 

• A cold food counter stocked with 

a variety of salads, snacks, 

substantial platters and puddings 

• A fully stocked bar 

• Traditional waiter-service in the top 

fl oor Restaurant, open before and 

after performances in the Concert 

Hall. Please pre-book your table 

through the Box Offi ce on 

01728 687110. 

The Oyster Bar is open two hours 

before concerts, and again 

afterwards.

For performances in the Britten 

Studio, the Hoffmann Building is 

equipped with a fully stocked bar, 

and will serve some snacks and 

coffee. The bar will open one hour 

before the performance. 

For a more substantial meal before 

Britten Studio events we 

recommend trying one of Snape’s 

three excellent pubs (see page 62). 

Options and ideas for dining before 

Grimes on the Beach will be sent 

to bookers in advance of the event. 

For all catering bookings and 

enquiries please contact the 

Box Office on 01728 687110. 

We regret that picnics are not 

allowed anywhere on the site. 

To receive this brochure 

in another format, please 

call 01728 687100. 

Snape Maltings Concert Hall seating plan 

Please note the seating plan 

differs for dance events, some 

hire events, and Christmas 

Spectacular. Please ask the 

Box Office for details. 

C 

B 

D 

E 

A 

C 

Key 

A Highest ticket price 

B 

C 

D 

E Lowest ticket price 

D 

D 

E 

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Our advertisers are important to 

us – please tell them you found 

them here. 


Where to stay 

B&B and Self-catering 

At Snape Maltings Stunning two 

bedroom apartments with a private 

terrace, looking onto the courtyard, 

available for rental throughout the 

year. Part of the new courtyard 

residential development. 

Private carparking. 

Tel: 01728 688303 

www.snapemaltings.co.uk 

An amble to Snape Maltings 

Flemings Lodge, recommended 

in Which? Good B&B Guide. 

Tel: 01728 688502 

edwards815@btinternet.com 

A short walk to The Maltings 

Where Benjamin Britten lived and 

wrote Peter Grimes. The Old Mill, 

Snape. Tel: 01728 687906 

www.oldmillsnape.co.uk 

info@oldmillsnape.co.uk 

Albion House, Snape. 

Welcoming B&B plus self-catering 

studio, overlooking view that 

inspired Benjamin Britten. A short 

stroll from Snape Maltings. 

Tel/Fax: 01728 687612 

www.albionhouse-bandb.co.uk 

Snape BandB close to Maltings 

Three quiet comfortable bedrooms, 

music room. Own produce. 

Tel: 01728 689173 

quartethelen@aol.com 

www.snapebandb.co.uk 

Snape Cottages Rural, beautiful 

and high quality. Sleep 2–14. 

Short breaks & dogs welcome. 

Tel: 07802 878172 

www.snapecottages.co.uk 

Snape, A delightful period cottage. 

Luxury B&B. Walking distance 

Snape Maltings. 

Tel: 01728 689003 

M: 07740422065 

maggiescorer@yahoo.co.uk 

Snape B&B. 2 double rooms (one 

ensuite) and 1 single. Off-street 

parking. Short walk to Maltings. 

Tel: 01728 688862 

Snape Period cottage. 

Sleeps 2-4. Log fire. Short 

breaks. Dogs welcome. 

Tel: 01728 688144 

www.click4cottages.co.uk 

Snape Peaceful location set in 5 

acres sleeps 2+, dogs welcome 

Tel: 01728 688221 

www.waterfieldscottage.co.uk 

Snape Rose Tree Cottage 

sleeps 2-4 short walk to Maltings 

dogs welcome. 

Tel: 07957 212118 

www.snape-cottage.co.uk 

Snape Summerhouse. B&B or 

self-catering, 5 mins walk from 

Snape Maltings, pets welcome. 

Tel: 01728 688750 

www.thesummerhouseinsnape.co.uk 

Aldeburgh very comfortable B&B. 

In room TV, WiFi, hot drinks etc. 

Famous breakfasts. Reserved 

parking. 2-min walk to High Street 

and beach. 

Tel: 01728 453323 

Aldeburgh Luxury B&B Quiet but 

close to the High Street and sea. 

Delicious award-winning breakfasts. 

Tel: 01728 453271 

www.aldeburgh-bedandbreakfast.co.uk

Aldeburgh, Sleeps 6. Well-equipped 

house at top of Town Steps. 

Pretty garden, sea views. 

Tel: 01787 222535 

maryseymourtaylor@googlemail.com 

Aldeburgh, Beech House B&B. 

Near beach, town centre. 

Tel: 01728 452597 

beechhousealdeburgh@gmail.com 

www.beechhousealdeburgh.co.uk 

Aldeburgh B&B, in former convent. 

Large rooms, seaviews. 

Tel: 01728 453859 

M: 07792 629859 

www.aldeburgh-bed-and-breakfast.com 

The Anchor, Walberswick 

– Currently 400 yards from the 

beach. We provide simple B&B 

accommodation in 6 spacious garden 

rooms (some newly refurbished) 

and two rooms upstairs, all 

en-suite. Fresh seasonal food and 

beer and wine matching. We have 

a private dining room, ideal for 

functions and individual menus. 

Food and drink events available. 

Tel: 01502 722112 

www.anchoratwalberswick.com 

Ashanwell B&B, Orford. En-suite 

accomodation, off-road parking. 

Tel: 01394 450882 

katharina_willan@ashanwell.com 

www.ashanwell.com 

Bawdsey Hall Luxury B&B. Situated 

in beautiful tranquil gardens of 10 

acres, off-road parking. Short drive 

from Snape. 

Tel: 01394 410220 

www.bawdseyhall.co.uk 

Benhall Suffolk Cottages, two 

luxury self-catering properties. 

Minsmere cottage with hot-tub. 

Tel: 07919 357515 

www.suffolk-cottages.net 

Benhall Green, Gr.II 17C thatched 

cottage, sleeps 5–7, woodburner/ 

rayburn etc, gardens, 10 mins 

Maltings, 4 mins station. 

Tel: 01728 604169 

wendymulfordb@keme.co.uk 

Close to Snape a Beautiful Period 

Cottage in Tunstall. Sleeps 7–8. 

Tel: 07733 113754 

sarahinton@btinternet.com 

Country House B&B. Idyllic Grade II 

house in Alde Valley. Beautiful 

rooms, delicious breakfasts. 

Tel: 01728 663445 

smarshall@aldevalleybreaks.co.uk 

www.aldevalleybreaks.co.uk 

Darsham Old Hall C13th house 

within 60 acres and home to 

Melford Green Alpacas 

provides luxury B&B 

accommodation. 

Located near Dunwich between 

Southwold and Aldeburgh 

Tel: 01728 668446 / 07972 906141 

www.darshamoldhall.co.uk 

Friston Woodside Barn lovely 

well-converted barn sleeps 6, selfcatering, 

pets welcome. 

Tel: 0845 268 0785 

www.woodsidebarncottages.co.uk 

The Golden Key Historic village pub 

offering 3 beautifully appointed 

en-suite rooms. Short walk from 

Snape Maltings located in 

Snape village. 

Tel: 01728 688510 

www.snapegoldenkey.co.uk 

Iken B&B spacious double room 

ensuite, delightful position, 

2 miles from Snape 

Tel: 01728 688801 

www.thedriftiken.co.uk 

Luxury Holiday Lodge overlooking 

beach. Sleeps 4. Between 

Minsmere and Thorpeness. 

Tel: 07778799175 

isherwood184@btinternet.com 

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The Old Rectory, Campsea Ashe. 

A beautiful Georgian rectory set 

in acres of tranquil gardens. So 

much more than a B&B, with 

dinner and afternoon teas. Seven 

delightful en-suite bedrooms. 

Snape only 3 miles. 

Tel: 01728 746524 

www.theoldrectorysuffolk.com 

Sudbourne B&B Ground floor 

Double/Twin en-suite, garden 

room. Own entrance 

Tel: 01394 450468 

gbedd@btinternet.com 

Thorpeness 1 The Haven central 

sunny traditional house. Sleeps 10 

but cosy enough for 2. Weekly or 

shorter lets. Good dogs welcome 

Tel 01284 810408 

www.onethehaven.co.uk 

Thorpeness Newly refurbished, well 

equipped cottage. Short stroll to 

village, shop, pub, beach, Meare. 

Sleeps 6+. 

Tel: 01473 625875 

www.thorpenessholidaycottage.com 

Thorpeness Lovely 5-bed house 

in heart of village. Sleeps 9. 

Available April-October. 

Tel: 020 7737 7306 

www.no2westgate.co.uk 

Ufford Luxuriously furnished 1 bed 

16thC cottage. Open fire. 

Tel: 01473 411700 

hopecttg@gmail.com 

www.hopecottagesuffolk.co.uk 

Accommodation Agencies 

Best of Suffolk Over 100 stylish 

holiday cottages in the seaside 

town of Aldeburgh and surrounding 

beautiful countryside. 

Tel: 01728 638962 

www.bestofsuffolk.co.uk 

Suffolk Cottage Holidays Aldeburgh, 

Snape and throughout Suffolk. 

Self-cater in style. 

Tel: 01394 389189 

Tel: 01728 454724 

www.suffolkcottageholidays.com 

www.bighouseholidays.co.uk 

Heritage Hideaways A more 

personal approach to cottage 

holidays in Suffolk and Norfolk 

Tel: 01502 578278 

www.heritagehideaways.com 

SUFFOLK Secrets Over 280 selfcatering 

properties across the 

county, all of them VisitEngland 

approved. 

Tel: 01502 722717 

holidays@suffolk-secrets.co.uk 

www.suffolk-secrets.co.uk 

Hotels 

The Brudenell Hotel, Situated in 

an idyllic seaside setting, just a 

pebble’s throw from Aldeburgh’s 

shingle beach, the privatelyowned 

Brudenell typifies all of 

the elements of a luxury four star 

seaside hotel. Refurbrished in 

2010, the hotel has 44 bedrooms, 

many with beautiful sea and 

country views. Enjoy fabulous food 

served in the sea-facing AA two 

rosette restaurant or al fresco on 

the beachfront terrace. 

Tel: 01728 452071 

info@brudenellhotel.co.uk 

www.brudenellhotel.co.uk 

The Bell Hotel, Saxmundham. A 

beautiful 10 bed boutique hotel. 

Fine dining, lite bites and events. 

Tel: 01728 602331 

www.bellhotel-saxmundham.co.uk

Best Western Ufford Park Hotel 

located in 120 acres of historic 

parkland close to Woodbridge and 

less than 10 miles from Snape. 

Restaurant, Luxury Spa and 

Championship Golf Course. 

Tel: 0844 4776473 (local rate) 

enquiries@uffordpark.co.uk 

www.uffordpark.co.uk 

The Crown and Castle, Orford. 

10 mins drive from the concert 

hall at Snape. 19 en-suite 

bedrooms offer either distant 

sea views or semi-private garden 

terraces. The highly-rated Trinity 

bistro offers pre-concert dinners 

(local fish/shellfish a speciality). 

Tel: 01394 450205 

www.crownandcastle.co.uk 

Milsoms Kesgrave Hall, 23 bed 

4* hotel in 38 acres of woodland 

The brasserie serves all day so 

there is no need to rush. Rooms 

from just £125 room only. 

Tel: 01473 333741 

www.milsomhotels.com 

For advice on camping near Aldeburgh, call 

Aldeburgh Music reception on 01728 687100 

Seckford Hall, Woodbridge. Highlycommended 

16th-century country 

house hotel and restaurant. Indoor 

heated swimming pool, beauty 

salon and 18-hole golf. Early/late 

suppers. 

Tel: 01394 385678 

reception@seckford.co.uk 

www.seckford.co.uk 

Thorpeness Hotel A short drive from 

Aldeburgh and overlooking the 

Meare and golf course, Thorpeness 

Hotel has 36 en-suite bedrooms. 

The restaurant and bar are open 

daily to non-residents for morning 

coffee, light lunches, afternoon 

tea and dinner. Sunday roasts 

a speciality. 2–5 bedroomed 

self-catering properties are 

also available for short breaks 

throughout the year. 

Tel: 01728 452176 

info@thorpeness.co.uk 

www.thorpeness.co.uk 

The Wentworth Hotel A country 

house hotel overlooking the sea. 

35 bedrooms many with sea views. 

Elegant and comfortable lounges 

with open fires, antique furniture 

and paintings. Sunken terrace 

garden in which morning coffee, 

bar lunches and afternoon teas are 

served. Restaurant awarded 2 AA 

Rosettes. Private car parking. 

Tel: 01728 452312 

stay@wentworth-aldeburgh.co.uk 

www.wentworth-aldeburgh.com 

White Lion Hotel is a newly 

refurbished beachfront hotel which 

prides itself on its relaxed and 

informal atmosphere, where the 

emphasis is on comfort, fantastic 

food and outstanding hospitality. 

Seasonally-inspired menus are 

served in the vibrant setting of 

the Bar & Brasserie, with produce 

sourced from the land and sea 

close to Aldeburgh. Open for 

morning coffee, lunch, afternoon 

tea and dinner. 

Tel: 01728 452720 

info@whitelion.co.uk 

www.whitelion.co.uk 

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Where to eat 

The Plough & Sail, Snape Maltings. 

Only 100 yards from the concert 

hall, our team are proud to 

offer local, quality produce 

in a welcoming and relaxed 

atmosphere. Pre- and post-concert 

dining available all year. 

Tel: 01728 688413 

www.theploughandsailsnape.co.uk 

The Golden Key Beautiful historic 

pub with low beams and plenty 

of character located in Snape 

village. We offer real ale, a large 

selection of wine by the glass and 

homecooked food using seasonal 

& local ingredients. Pre-concert 

bookings taken from 5.30pm. 

Post also available. 

Tel: 01728 688510 

www.snapegoldenkey.co.uk 

Lady Florence River Cruise 

Restaurant. Cruises from Orford, 

morning brunch, a la carte lunch 

and dinner. Vouchers available. 

M: 07831 698298 

info@lady-florence.co.uk 

www.lady-florence.co.uk 

The Lighthouse, 77 High Street, 

Aldeburgh. Sara Fox & Peter Hill. 

Morning coffee, lunchtime and 

evening restaurant open 7 days. 

Good Food Guide, Harden’s, Bib 

Gourmand in Michelin. 

Tel: 01728 453377 

www.lighthouserestaurant.co.uk 

152 Aldeburgh, High Street, 

Aldeburgh. Morning coffee, lunch 

and dinner 7 days a week. Pre and 

post-concert suppers. Recommended 

in Good Food Guide. 

Tel: 01728 454594 

White Horse, Rendham, freehouse, 

from A12 take B1119 towards 

Framlingham. A traditional village 

pub serving real ales and real food. 

Evening meals from 6.30pm. 

Tel: 01728 663497 

www.whitehorserendham.co.uk 

What else to do 

Snape Maltings is a unique collection 

of home and kitchen-ware shops, 

galleries, book shop, Samphire 

clothing & accessories, Little 

Rascals children’s shop, food hall, 

tea shop, café and public house, 

which fill the Victorian Malthouses. 

Enjoy the monthly farmers markets, 

river trips and RSPB guided walks 

along the Alde Estuary. Open daily 

from 10am; free car park. 

Tel: 01728 688303 


Antique & Collectors Centre, Snape 

Maltings, 10am–5pm daily. 40 

dealers offering an eclectic range 

for all pockets & interests. 

Tel: 01728 688038 

Aldeburgh Music Club Choir 

Enjoy Singing? Come and join 

us on Tuesdays from 7.30 at 

Aldeburgh Community Centre. 

No audition required. Next 

concert Saturday March 23 at 

Snape Maltings. Music by Mozart 

including Requiem. 

Tel 01728 602217 

www.aldeburghmusicclub.org.uk 

The Gainsborough String Quartet 

can add something special to your 

wedding or party. 

Tel: 07768986014 

gainsboroughquartet@gmail.com

Good Neighbours Scheme. There 

are more than 20 volunteer-run 

schemes in Suffolk who assist 

people with errands, shopping, 

befriending and transport. In the 

Aldeburgh area call Agnes on 

07773 031064 or Aldringhamcum-Thorpe 

07521 047843. For 

more information about setting up 

a scheme: 

Tel: 01473 345300 

communitysupport@suffolkacre.org 

Lady Florence River Cruise 

Restaurant. Cruises from Orford, 

morning brunch, a la carte lunch 

and dinner. Vouchers available. 

M: 07831 698298 

info@lady-florence.co.uk 

www.lady-florence.co.uk 

Long Shop Museum, Main Street, 

Leiston. Open from 1st April to 

end of October. Home of the 

Garrett collection. Agricultural, 

Industrial and Social History. 

www.longshopmuseum.co.uk 

O&C Butcher Ladieswear, 

Menswear, Footwear. 129–131 

High St Aldeburgh. Wide range of 

quality town and country clothing 

available in store or online. 

Tel: 01728 452229 

www.ocbutcher.co.uk 

Slaughden Wines, 142 High Street, 

Aldeburgh. Fine wine retail outlet 

of Richard Kihl Ltd. 

Tel: 01728 454455 

www.richardkihl.ltd.uk 

The Southwold Concert Series offers 

creative and bold programmes, 

combining the traditional with 

more progressive repertoire, and 

young artists feature prominently. 

Concerts are in St Edmunds 

Church, a 15th-century building in 

Southwold. Tickets £12. 

Tel: 01502 726161 

lucy.aldous@springagency.co.uk 

Aldeburgh Music will be helping to 

co-ordinate audience car sharing. 

If you would like to be put in touch 

with other audience members from 

your area please contact us. 

Tel: 01728 687100 


Other exhibitions 

Aldeburgh Gallery 

6–12 June 10am–5pm daily 

James Dodds and Helen Napper. 

Exhibition to celebrate Britten’s 

Centenary Year around the theme 

of Noye’s Fludde to include 

Aldeburgh Boat Trail. 


Artists Voices: Mark Hearld, Emily 

Sutton, Colin Wilkin 

Three young artists taking Britten’s 

landscape, seascape and music 

often as a starting point, and each 

with their own distinctive voice. 

The exhibition also includes a room 

of modern British work. 


Karen Cooley, Landscapes, 

Portraits and Still Life. 

143 High Street, Aldeburgh 

For details of all these exhibitions 

Tel: 01728 453203 

www.aldeburghartsgallery.co.uk 

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64 

Gallery 44 

9–23 June Sundays 12–2, other 

days 11–5. Images of Grimes an 

interpretation of Crabbe’s poem 

The Borough by Victoria Crowe 

OBE RSA RSW 

Sandhill, Priors Hill Road Aldeburgh 

Tel: 01728 452035 

a.cuddigan@btinternet.com 


Snape Maltings Gallery 

7 June–4 July daily from 10–5.30pm 

Tessa Newcomb. Her new collection 

for the Gallery at Snape Maltings 

is inspired by ‘Animals, Great and 

Small’ from her delightful 

dachshund Nina to a Suffolk Punch. 

Snape Maltings, Snape 

Tel 01728 688303 


Lookout Britten 

The Aldeburgh Beach South 

Lookout, stunningly located on the 

same beach that Britten created 

his music, is now a unique place 

for artists to create, make and 

exhibit, all in one magical tower. 

Each day during June a different 

artist, poet, writer or performer will 

present their own contemporary 

interpretation of Benjamin 

Britten’s legacy. 

The Aldeburgh Beach Lookout and 

The Art House, 31 Crag Path, 

Aldeburgh, Suffolk, IP15 5BS 

Tel: 01728 452754 

caroline@carolinewiseman.com 

www.aldeburghbeachlookout.com 

Aldeburgh Cinema Gallery 

8–23 June 10–5pm daily. 

Jane Mackay presents Gloriana: 

a new collection of oil paintings 

celebrating the 60th anniversary of 

Britten’s opera. 

High Street, Aldeburgh 

Feetham Gallery Exhibition 

8–17 & 21–23 June 

Will include works by Ardizzone, 

Ralph Maynard Smith, Elizabeth 

Vellacott and other mid C20th 

British artists and illustrators: also 

paintings by Caroline McAdam 

Clark and a selection of studio 

ceramics and sculpture. 

Hill Lodge, Church Walk, Aldeburgh 

Tel: 01728 452209 

www.piersfeethamgallery.com 

Aldeburgh Studios Trail 

Open all weekends of the Festival. 

Based in Aldeburgh, we are an 

eclectic group of artists and 

makers. We invite you to take time 

off to visit our studios. All within 

walking distance of one another. 

www.aldeburghstudiostrail.co.uk 

Studio Exhibition 

8–23 June Weekends 11.30am– 

4pm, weekdays by appointment 

Artist Sula Rubens and classical 

guitar maker Jake Fuller exhibit 

with guests, classical guitars, 

paintings, prints and sculptures 

40 Wangford Rd (opposite Randolph 

Hotel) Reydon, Southwold IP18 6PY 

Tel: 01502 723408 

www.sularubens.com 

www.purnellguitars.com 

Advertise here 

To advertise your accommodation 

or business here please contact 

Nikki Horton, Operations 

Administrator on 01728 687161 

or mail nhorton@aldeburgh.co.uk 

www.aldeburgh.co.uk

Acknowledgements 

Aldeburgh Music gratefully 

acknowledges generous 

support from: 

Recipient of a Catalyst Arts: 

Endowments grant to raise 

£1m for the Aldeburgh Music 

Endowment Fund and have these 

funds matched £ for £. 

Aldeburgh Music Endowment Fund 

is a registered charity No. 282610 

Aldeburgh Music works in close 

association with the Britten–Pears 

Foundation and gratefully 

acknowledges its substantial 

financial support for the Britten– 

Pears Young Artist Programme. 

Open Space, Aldeburgh’s 

expanded residency programme 

is generously supported by 

We also thank the many other 

trusts and foundations, individuals, 

businesses and other private 

organizations that support our work. 

Aldeburgh Music is a registered 

charity No. 261383 and a company 

limited by guarantee registered in 

England and Wales No. 980281 

Aldeburgh Festival is a 

registered trademark ® 

The right is reserved to substitute 

artists and vary the advertised 

programme if necessary. All 

information is correct at time of 

going to press. 

Graphic design: Silk Pearce 

Printed by: The Five Castles Press 

on FSC ® certified paper 

Cover photo: Grimes on the beach 

by Philip Vile 

Some concerts are being recorded 

by BBC Radio 3. Please consult the 

programme book for the date 

of broadcasting. 

International 

media partner

FRIDAY 7 JUNE 

Peter Grimes in concert 7.30pm * ˚ 

SATURDAY 8 JUNE 

Aimard & Aimard 11am 

SNAP 2013 Launch 1pm 

Angels in Blythburgh 4pm 

Cabaret Songs 6pm 

Les Illuminations 8pm * ˚ 

Cabaret Songs 10.30pm 

SUNDAY 9 JUNE 

Friday Afternoons 3pm 

Voices for Today 4.30pm ˚ 

Peter Grimes in concert 7.30pm 

MONDAY 10 JUNE 

Hesse Lecture 11am 

Vertavo Quartet 3pm * 

Sadrine Piau 7.30pm 

˚ 

TUESDAY 11 JUNE 

Schubert Octet 3pm 

Piano Century: 1913–2013 7.30pm 

WEDNESDAY 12 JUNE 

Festival Walk I 9.30am 

Guy Barker: That Obscure Hurt 

7.30pm * 

˚ 

THURSDAY 13 JUNE 

Britten on Film I 2pm 

He Who Pays the Piper 5.30pm 

Songs from the Same Earth 7.30pm * 

* Accompanied by pre–performance event/talk 

Recorded or Broadcast by BBC Radio 3 

˚ 

FRIDAY 14 JUNE 

Britten–Pears Young Artists I 11am 

Perspectives on Britten 3pm 

Hesse Students Concert 5pm 

Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra I 

7.30pm * ˚ 


Quatuor Mosaïques I 11am ˚ 

Composer Portrait: Harvey 3pm 

A Tribute to Jonathan Harvey 5.45pm 

Poem of Ecstasy 7.30pm * 

Stockhausen: Kontakte 10pm 

SUNDAY 16 JUNE 

Quatuor Mosaïques II 3pm ˚ 

Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra II 6pm 

The Church Parables: Curlew River 

9.30pm 

MONDAY 17 JUNE 

Ronald Blythe: Time by the Sea 3pm 


The Burning Fiery Furnace and 

The Prodigal Son 7pm 

Grimes on the Beach 8.30pm 

TUESDAY 18 JUNE 

Chamber Music Century: 

1913–2013 3pm 

Christian Zacharias 7pm 

The Church Parables: Curlew River 

9.30pm * 

WEDNESDAY 19 JUNE 

Festival Walk II 9.30am 

The Church Parables: The Burning Fiery 

Furnace and The Prodigal Son 7pm 


THURSDAY 20 JUNE 

Britten on Film II 11am 

Dowland Songs and Dances 3pm 

Britten Dances 8pm * 

FRIDAY 21 JUNE 

Tokyo Quartet 11am ˚ 

Britten–Pears Young Artists II 3pm 

Hesse Students Concert 5pm 

SNAP: the discussion 6pm 

Britten Dances 8pm 



Piano Century: The Year 1913 11am 

Ian Bostridge Masterclass 

Course Recital 2.30pm 

Tribute to Elliott Carter 6pm 

Dialogues 7.30pm ˚ 

SUNDAY 23 JUNE 

Albert Herring Feast 12.45pm 

The Young Person’s Guide 2.30pm 

The Hallé Orchestra 4pm ˚ 

PLUS Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake 

public masterclasses on 16, 17, 18, 

20, 21 June 2.30pm 

Aldeburgh Music Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Suffolk IP17 1SP 

Box Office 01728 687110 boxoffice@aldeburgh.co.uk www.aldeburgh.co.uk

Festival 2013 Text AW.indd - Aldeburgh Music

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