This year’s typically adventurous Aldeburgh Festival programme ranges from Bach and Mozart (his sublime wind serenade known as the Gran Partita), via Berg and Britten, to minimalist composer Steve Reich’s lyrical settings of Hebrew Psalms, Tehilim. Highlights include a recital of Britten and Tippett song cycles (with Ian Bostridge), piano and chamber music, and Illuminations, a newly-commissioned staging directed by Struan Leslie fusing music and contemporary circus performance, inspired by Britten’s Rimbaud song cycle Les Illuminations. On the Wednesday we shall visit the Red House, Britten and Pears’s former home on the edge of Aldeburgh. We shall be staying at the three-star White Lion Hotel, right on the seafront.
Monday 13 June
1.00 onwards Arrival at the White Lion Hotel, Market Cross Place, Aldeburgh
IP15 5BJ (01728 452720)
3.00-4.45 Study session at the White Lion, with coffee break
5.20 Exodus to Snape (7-8 mins by car)
6.00 Concert in Snape Maltings. Illuminations: Music by
Britten, Debussy (String Quartet), etc, Sarah Tynan soprano, Aurora Orchestra, conductor Nicholas Collon, plus an ensemble of international circus performers.
8.00 Dinner in the White Lion (3 courses, with choice for each course)
Tuesday 14 June
10.30-12.30 Study session, with coffee break
3.00 (optional) Concert in Aldeburgh Church:
Thomas Zehetmair (violin), Ruth Killius (viola)
Skalkottas Duo
Mozart Duo in B flat, K424
Bartók Duos
Martinu Three Madrigals
6.50 Exodus to Snape
7.30 Concert in Snape Maltings:
Les Siècles London Voices, François-Xavier Roth conductor
Bach Magnificat
Steve Reich Vermont Counterpoint
Tehilim
Soup and sandwiches will be available in the hotel after the concert
Wednesday 15 June
10.30-12.30 Study session, with coffee break
2.30 Visit to the Red House, Britten and Pears’s home, now a Britten
museum
5.30 Dinner in the hotel (3 courses)
8.00 Concert in Snape Maltings:
Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano, Thomas Zehetmair violin, François-Xavier Roth conductor
Berg Chamber Concerto
Mozart Gran Partita for 13 wind instruments, K361
Thursday 16 June
10.30-12.30 Study session, with coffee break
12.45 (optional) Lunch in a pre-booked Aldeburgh restaurant
Free afternoon
7.30 Concert in Snape Maltings:
Ian Bostridge tenor, Julius Drake, Steven Osborne piano, Arcadia Quartet
Britten Six Hölderlin Fragments
Winter Words (song cycle)
String Quartet No. 1
Tippett Piano Sonata No. 2
The Heart’s Assurance (song cycle)
Soup and sandwiches will again be available in the hotel after the concert