Misplaced Pages

Aldeburgh Festival

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
#768231

61-665: The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the town of Aldeburgh , Suffolk and is centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. The Festival was founded in 1948 by the composer Benjamin Britten , the singer Peter Pears and the librettist/producer Eric Crozier . Their work with the English Opera Group (which they had founded with designer John Piper in 1947) frequently took them away from home, and it

122-529: A City of London merchant, Thomas Fonnereau : and memorably described it as "a venal little borough in Suffolk". It lost its representation under the Great Reform Act of 1832. In 1908 Aldeburgh became the first British town to elect a female mayor: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson , whose father, Newson Garrett , had been mayor in 1889. In 2006, Sam Wright became Aldeburgh's town crier and mace bearer at 15, and so

183-522: A clear stratigraphy of Red Crag deposits above Corralline Crag . Aldeburgh Hall Pit is a shallow pit 0.8 ha (2.0 acres) in area, featuring a section of Corralline Crag. It is seen as one of the best sites in Britain for Neogene fauna. The town's churches include the pre-Reformation Anglican parish church of St Peter and St Paul and the Catholic Church of Our Lady and St Peter . Aldeburgh has

244-560: A key influence in Berkeley's technical development as a composer. In 1936, he met Benjamin Britten , also a former pupil of Gresham's School , at the ISCM Festival in Barcelona . Berkeley fell in love with Britten, who appears to have been wary of entering a relationship, writing in his diary, "we have come to an agreement on that subject." Nevertheless, the two composers shared a house for

305-481: A memorial service was held for him at Westminster Cathedral , London. Berkeley's earlier music is broadly tonal , influenced by the neoclassical music of Stravinsky. Berkeley's contact and friendship with composers such as Ravel and Poulenc and his studies in Paris with Boulanger lend his music a 'French' quality, demonstrated by its "emphasis on melody, the lucid textures and a conciseness of expression". He maintained

366-756: A need to revise his style of composition, later telling the Canadian composer, R. Murray Schafer that "it's natural for a composer to feel a need to enlarge his idiom." He started including tone rows and aspects of serial technique in his compositions around the time of the Concertino, Op. 49 (1955) and the opera Ruth (1955–56). His shift in opinion was demonstrated in an interview with The Times in 1959: I'm not opposed to serial music; I've benefited from studying it, and I have sometimes found myself writing serial themes – although I don't elaborate on them according to strict serial principles, because I'm quite definitely

427-429: A negative view of atonal music at least up until 1948, when he wrote: I have never been able to derive much satisfaction from atonal music. The absence of key makes modulation an impossibility, and this, to my mind, causes monotony [...] I am not, of course, in favour of rigidly adhering to the old key-system, but some sort of tonal centre seems to me a necessity. However, from the mid-1950s, Berkeley apparently felt

488-408: A port, gained borough status in 1529 under Henry VIII . Its historic buildings include a 16th-century moot hall and a Napoleonic-era Martello Tower . A third of its housing consists of second homes. Visitors are drawn to its Blue Flag beach and fisherman huts, where fresh fish is sold, to Aldeburgh Yacht Club and to its cultural offerings. Two family-run fish and chip shops have been rated among

549-606: A seaside resort. Much of its distinctive, whimsical architecture dates from that period. The river is now home to a yacht club and a sailing club. Between 1959 and 1968, the village was the location of a Royal Observer Corps monitoring bunker, to be used in the event of a nuclear attack. The bunker was later demolished and no trace survives. Aldeburgh is on the North Sea coast, about 87 miles (140 kilometres) north-east of London , 20 mi (32 km) north-east of Ipswich and 23 mi (37 km) south of Lowestoft . Locally it

610-609: A town council and lies within the East Suffolk non-metropolitan district . Aldeburgh ward, including Thorpeness and other communities, had a population of 3225 in the 2011 census , when the mean age of the inhabitants was 55 and the median age 61. The town is located within the Suffolk Coastal parliamentary constituency represented since 2024 by the Labour MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter . The constituency

671-862: A traditional English cottage hospital, the Aldeburgh Library, which also relies on volunteers, and the Aldeburgh cinema, which puts on films and cultural events. Lennox Berkeley Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley CBE (12 May 1903 – 26 December 1989) was an English composer. Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford , England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James Charles Harris , former British consul in Monaco, and Royal Navy Captain Hastings George FitzHardinge Berkeley (1855–1934),

SECTION 10

#1732852118769

732-812: A year, living in the Old Mill at Snape , Suffolk, which Britten had acquired in July 1937. They subsequently enjoyed a long friendship and artistic association, collaborating on a number of works; these included the suite of Catalan dances titled Mont Juic , and Variations on an Elizabethan Theme (the latter also with four other composers). He worked for the BBC during the Second World War , where he met his future wife, Elizabeth Freda Bernstein (1923–2016) whom he married on 14 December 1946. Together they had three sons: their eldest son Michael Berkeley , Baron Berkeley of Knighton,

793-534: Is (1862) mentioned as a landmark. Aldeburgh also features in Joseph Freeman's novel Arcadia Lodge as "Seaburgh", and in the M. R. James story A Warning to the Curious . The Maggi Hambling sculpture appears in an early scene, as do various other landmarks. Aldeburgh is notable for its line fishing for amateur anglers ; it has been called "a great spot for bass, flounders, sole, dabs, cod, whiting and eels". However,

854-469: Is 4 mi (6 km) south of the town of Leiston and 2 mi (3 km) south of the village of Thorpeness . It lies just north of the River Alde , with the narrow shingle spit of Orford Ness all that stops the river meeting the sea at Aldeburgh – instead it flows another 9 mi (14 km) to the south-west. The beach is mainly shingle and wide in places, allowing fishing boats to draw up onto

915-471: Is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk , England, north of the River Alde . Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Aldeburgh Festival of arts at nearby Snape Maltings , which was founded by Britten in 1948. It also hosts an annual poetry festival and several food festivals and other events. Aldeburgh, as

976-799: Is also a composer, and their youngest son is the photographer Nick Berkeley . He wrote several piano works for the pianist Colin Horsley , who commissioned the Horn Trio and some piano pieces, and gave the first performances and/or made the premier recordings of a number of his works, including his third Piano Concerto (1958). He was Professor of Composition in the Royal Academy of Music from 1946 to 1968. His students included Richard Rodney Bennett , David Bedford , Adam Pounds , Richard Stoker , Clive Strutt, John Tavener and Brian Ferneyhough . Ferneyhough felt that he learned nothing from Berkeley because of

1037-521: Is home to Aldeburgh and Thorpeness Rugby Club, based at Kings Field in Aldeburgh. The club runs an adult team in the Eastern Counties Leagues, an Under-15s team, Midi/Mini rugby, and Women's touch rugby. The club started out in nearby Thorpeness and moved in 2015 to work with Aldeburgh Town Council and Aldeburgh Community Centre. Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia . Television signals are received from

1098-433: Is meant to be enjoyed both visually and in a tactile way: people are encouraged to sit on it and watch the sea. The upright portion of the shell splits into three sections positioned at different angles. The positioning of these effects a visual transformation, depending on the vantage point from which the sculpture is viewed. The sculpture is controversial in the local area, with some local residents considering it "spoils

1159-469: Is within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), with a number of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and nature reserves in its locality. The Alde-Ore Estuary SSSI covers the area surrounding the river from Snape to its mouth, including the whole of Orford Ness. This contains several salt marsh and mudflat habitats. The Leiston-Aldeburgh SSSI extends from

1220-500: The East Anglian Daily Times says "countless years of commercial over-fishing has all but destroyed many of our [Suffolk's] offshore sea fisheries" and traditional, sustainable inshore fishing is under threat, with likely knock-on effects for the coastal community. Local fishermen featured in the "Fish Fight" campaigns of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Greenpeace , supporting small-scale inshore fishermen. Aldeburgh

1281-584: The Royal Shakespeare Company made regular appearances; Princess Grace of Monaco came to take part in a poetry recital. Sviatoslav Richter played for Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother . The size and capacity of the Concert Hall enabled the Festival to present full-scale orchestras for the first time, and for many years Simon Rattle brought his City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to Snape. There

SECTION 20

#1732852118769

1342-455: The Tacolneston TV transmitter and the local relay transmitter situated north-east of the town. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Suffolk , Heart East , Greatest Hits Radio Ipswich & Suffolk and Alde and Blyth Community Radio (ABC), a community radio station. The town is served by the local newspaper the East Anglian Daily Times . These include Aldeburgh Cottage Hospital ,

1403-645: The Tudor town, has now been lost to the sea. In the 16th century, Aldeburgh was a leading port and had a flourishing shipbuilding industry. The flagship of the Virginia Company , the Sea Venture is believed to have been built here in 1608. Aldeburgh's importance as a port declined as the River Alde silted up and larger ships could no longer berth. It survived mainly on fishing until the 19th century, when it also became

1464-575: The Zorian String Quartet . Over the years the festival grew and took in additional venues in nearby Orford , Blythburgh and Framlingham . However, the lack of a large venue was holding back the further development of the festival until one of the largest mid-nineteenth century maltings in East Anglia , at Snape , a village just outside Aldeburgh, became available. Britten, who had lived in Snape in

1525-577: The non-metropolitan county of Suffolk. A successor parish was formed covering the same area as the former district and its parish. In 2019 Aldeburgh became part of East Suffolk district. Aldeburgh is linked to the A12 by the A1094 road , at Friday Street in Benhall . The B1122 leads to Leiston . There are direct bus services from the town to Saxmundham , Beccles , Halesworth , Woodbridge and Ipswich . Buses in

1586-450: The 1930s, had the vision that the largest of the malthouses could be converted into a Concert Hall. Most of the building's original character, such as the distinctive square malthouse roof-vents, was retained. The new concert hall was opened by the Queen on 2 June 1967, at the start of the twentieth Aldeburgh Festival. Two years later, on the first night of the 1969 Festival, the concert hall

1647-496: The Concert Hall, with Pears in the role of Aschenbach. In 1976, in what was to be Britten's last Festival, Janet Baker sang the premiere of his dramatic cantata Phaedra in a festival that included performances by André Previn , Elisabeth Söderström , Sviatoslav Richter and the entire Rostropovich family. In 1979, Rostropovich conducted the Britten–Pears School in a performance of Eugene Onegin (with Pears as guest in

1708-494: The Festival as composer-in-residence. Imogen Holst introduced early choral music, and soon works by European composers rarely heard at that time in England were in the repertoire, such as Berg , Mahler , Schoenberg , Poulenc , Boulez , and Webern . Later, Copland , Dutilleux , Lutoslawski and Kodály were to come to the Festival. In contrast, John Dankworth and Cleo Laine , Joyce Grenfell , Peggy Ashcroft and actors from

1769-591: The Festival by Pierre-Laurent Aimard in 2009. In 2009, a suite of new spaces at Snape Maltings , including the Hoffmann Building's Britten Studio and the Jerwood Kiln Studio, was opened with the premiere performance of Harrison Birtwistle 's opera The Corridor . The 2012 Festival had Oliver Knussen as Artist in Residence, and the typically eclectic programme included new productions of Knussen's Where

1830-435: The Festival had to that date presented new works by over 75 composers, with world premieres of fifteen operas. Concert goers were over the ensuing years to see new works not only by Britten himself, but by composers such as Lennox Berkeley , Richard Rodney Bennett , Elliott Carter , Hans Werner Henze , Alfred Schnittke , Toru Takemitsu , Michael Tippett , Mark-Anthony Turnage and Malcolm Williamson , many of whom came to

1891-624: The Peter Pears Gallery over July and August, showing the work of its members. The town of Aldeburgh, or "Owlbarrow", is the setting of a series of children's illustrated books centred on Orlando (The Marmalade Cat) written by Kathleen Hale , who spent holidays in the town. Many illustrations in the books feature landmarks in the town, including the Moot Hall. The town features in the 1989 thriller Cross of Fire by novelist Colin Forbes , as do

Aldeburgh Festival - Misplaced Pages Continue

1952-685: The Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! , a concert series exploring the work of Helmut Lachenmann , recitals by Menahem Pressler , Ian Bostridge , Peter Serkin , Miklós Perényi , Dezső Ránki and the Arditti and Keller Quartets, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with the UK premiere of a work by Elliott Carter , as well as dramatised performances with film at the Leiston Long Shop Museum,

2013-728: The area are operated by First Eastern Counties and Borderbus. Aldeburgh railway station opened in 1860 as the terminus of the Aldeburgh Branch Line from Saxmundham, but was closed in 1966 under the Beeching Axe . Nowadays, the nearest railway station is Saxmundham on the East Suffolk Line , approximately seven miles (eleven kilometres) away. Saxmundham station is served by hourly weekday services to Ipswich , for connections towards London Liverpool Street , and to Lowestoft for connections to Norwich . The RNLI station in

2074-559: The artistic team included Philip Ledger , Colin Graham , Steuart Bedford , Mstislav Rostropovich , Murray Perahia , Simon Rattle , John Shirley-Quirk and Oliver Knussen . From the beginning, the Festivals were characterised by an eclectic range of music, from the classics – Bach , Haydn , Mozart – to contemporary work, with young composers in particular being commissioned. By 1982, Britten–Pears archivist Rosamund Strode calculated that

2135-452: The beach above the high tide, but it narrows at the neck of Orford Ness. The shingle bank allows access to the Ness from the north, passing a Martello tower and two yacht clubs at the site of the former village of Slaughden. Aldeburgh was flooded in the North Sea flood of 1953 , after which its flood defences were strengthened. The beach received a Blue Flag rural beach award in 2005. The town

2196-507: The beach in the afternoons. Created from stainless steel by the Suffolk-based artist Maggi Hambling , it stands 15 feet (4.6 metres) high and was unveiled in November 2003. The piece is made up of two interlocking scallop shells, each broken, the upright shell being pierced by the words, "I hear those voices that will not be drowned," taken from Britten's opera Peter Grimes . The sculpture

2257-1083: The beach". It has been vandalised with graffiti and paint on thirteen occasions. There have been petitions both for its removal and retention. A nearby aerodrome, Royal Naval Air Station Aldeburgh, was used in the First World War as a night landing ground and for training observers . Outside the town, the Snape Maltings is the venue for the Aldeburgh Festival held every June. Aldeburgh Music Club, founded by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears in 1952, has since evolved into one of East Anglia's leading choirs, with about 100 members and more than 120 supporting patrons. It rehearses from early September to late May each year and holds three major performances, two of them at Snape Maltings Concert Hall . The annual Aldeburgh Carnival in August has been held at least since 1892 and possibly since 1832, when "Ye Olde Marine Regatta"

2318-457: The complete church parables in Orford Church, and new works by Harrison Birtwistle , Wolfgang Rihm , Judith Weir , Magnus Lindberg and Richard Rodney Bennett . The Aldeburgh Festival retains a unique character, largely due to its location in rural Suffolk. It also continues to emphasise the presentation of new music, new interpretations and the rediscovery of forgotten music. It has seen

2379-447: The complete screening with live accompaniment of Britten 's 1930s film scores, a promenade performance of John Cage 's Song Books in the Hoffmann Building under the banner of #Faster than Sound , and open-air community events on Aldeburgh Beach. The centenary of Britten's birth was held between November 2012 and November 2013, and the 2013 Festival, the 66th, featured a new production by Tim Albery of Britten's opera, Peter Grimes ,

2440-462: The country's best. The independent Aldeburgh bookshop has been in business for more than seventy years, is locally thought to have been the site of the birthplace of George Crabbe (1754–1832) and has organised the annual Aldeburgh Literary Festival since 2002. The name "Aldeburgh" derives from the Old English ald (old) and burh (fortification), although this structure, along with much of

2501-634: The direction of R. M. Phipson , chief architect of the Diocese of Norwich , in which Aldeburgh then stood. There are 64 other listed historic buildings and monuments in the town. A unique quatrefoil Martello Tower stands at the isthmus leading to the Orford Ness shingle spit. It is the largest and northernmost of 103 English defensive towers built in 1808–1812 to resist a threatened Napoleonic invasion. The Landmark Trust now runs it as holiday apartments. From May 2015 to May 2016, an Antony Gormley statue

Aldeburgh Festival - Misplaced Pages Continue

2562-551: The former venues. For the first six years of the Aldeburgh Festival, the joint Artistic Directors remained Britten, Pears and Crozier; in 1955, Britten and Pears were in sole charge, then the following year they were joined by Imogen Holst , who remained a member of the Artistic Directorate until her death in 1984. After Britten's own death in 1976, the artistic direction of the festival was shared; musicians who joined

2623-565: The gap between their musical conceptions, remembering him as "a notably urbane and well-meaning presence" whose "Nadia Boulenger [ sic ] influenced gallic aesthetics were completely unable to deal with my compositional needs." 1954 saw the premiere of his first opera, Nelson , at Sadler's Wells . He was knighted in 1974 and from 1977 to 1983 was President of the Cheltenham Festival . He resided at 8 Warwick Avenue, London, from 1947 until his death in 1989. On 20 March 1990

2684-446: The hazardous North Sea coast. The South African writer Laurens van der Post did his writing there for more than thirty years. Since 2010, the lookout has provided an artistic space for residents and tourists, with Antony Gormley sculptures on display between the lookout and the sea. On Aldeburgh's beach, a short distance north of the town centre, stands a sculpture called Scallop , dedicated to Benjamin Britten , who would walk along

2745-921: The illegitimate and eldest son of George Lennox Rawdon Berkeley, the 7th Earl of Berkeley (1827–1888). He attended the Dragon School in Oxford, going on to Gresham's School , in Holt, Norfolk and St George's School in Harpenden , Hertfordshire. He studied French at Merton College , Oxford, graduating with a fourth class degree in 1926. While at university he coxed the college rowing eight . He became an honorary fellow of Merton College in 1974. In 1927, he went to Paris to study music with Nadia Boulanger , and there became acquainted with Francis Poulenc , Igor Stravinsky , Darius Milhaud , Arthur Honegger and Albert Roussel . Berkeley also studied with Maurice Ravel , often cited as

2806-514: The main exhibition of contemporary art has been promoted under the title SNAP, at various locations around the Snape Maltings site, organised by Abigail Lane . In 2012, featured artists included Glenn Brown , Brian Eno , Ryan Gander , Maggi Hambling and Gavin Turk . 52°9′50″N 1°29′51″E  /  52.16389°N 1.49750°E  / 52.16389; 1.49750 Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( / ˈ ɔː l b ər ə / AWL -bər-ə )

2867-543: The nearby villages of Dunwich and Snape Maltings . James Herbert based his book The Jonah in the area, using several names represented in the local area for characters, including Slaughden. Aldeburgh (spelt there Aldborough) is the location of a key scene in Wilkie Collins 's novel No Name , where Captain Wragge and Magdalen Vanstone enact their conspiracy against Noel Vanstone and Mrs Lecount. The town's Martello Tower

2928-574: The northern edge of the town over a range of habitats, including grazing marsh and heathland . It includes Thorpeness Mere and the North Warren RSPB reserve , an area of wildlife and habitat conservation , and nature trails run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds . Two smaller geological SSSI units lie on the southern edges. Aldeburgh Brick Pit, of 0.84-hectare (2.1-acre), shows

2989-471: The premieres of several works by Britten ( A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1960; Death in Venice in 1973) and also Harrison Birtwistle 's Punch and Judy in 1968, The Io Passion in 2004, The Corridor in 2009 and The Cure in 2015. The Aldeburgh Festival has always included the visual arts as well as music, and a number of exhibitions are curated each year to accompany the music programme. From 2011,

3050-405: The regular performers in the early days, followed later by Alfred Brendel , Ian Bostridge , Thomas Allen , Philip Langridge and Ann Murray . The Concert Hall proved very capable of being turned into an opera stage. The Royal Opera presented A Midsummer Night's Dream in the first season, and on 16 June 1973, the first performance of Britten's final opera, Death in Venice , was given at

3111-469: The role of M. Triquet, and Eric Crozier as the valet Guillot). In subsequent years, the school regularly performed an opera during the festival. The 2020 festival was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a virtual one was held in its place. The organisation responsible for running the Aldeburgh Festival changed its name to Aldeburgh Music in 2006. Thomas Adès was succeeded as Artistic Director of

SECTION 50

#1732852118769

3172-432: The town was operating two lifeboats in 2016. The Moot Hall is a Grade I listed timber-framed building, used for council meetings for more than 400 years. The Town Clerk's office remains there and it houses the local museum. It was built in about 1520 and altered in 1654. The brick and stone infilling of the ground floor is later. The hall was restored and the external staircase and gable ends were rebuilt in 1854–1855 under

3233-427: The youngest in the world. In 1885 Aldeburgh became a municipal borough which became part of the administrative county of East Suffolk in 1889, the district contained the parish of Aldeburgh. On 1 April 1934 part of Hazlewood parish was added Aldeburgh parish and district from Plomesgate Rural District when Hazlewood was abolished. On 1 April 1974 the district was abolished and became part of Suffolk Coastal in

3294-582: Was a strong connection with Russian music: Rostropovich and Richter became frequent visitors, and in 1970 Shostakovich 's 14th Symphony , dedicated to Britten, had its first performance outside the USSR at the Concert Hall. Peter Pears, in addition to his role as joint Artistic Director, was a regular performer, often accompanied by Britten, and often appearing in up to ten concerts during the Festival. Janet Baker , Julian Bream , Osian Ellis , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau , John Shirley-Quirk and Robert Tear were among

3355-399: Was burnt in 1974 after becoming unsafe. The four-storey windmill at the southern end of the town was built in 1824 and converted into a dwelling in 1902. A WW2 tank trap can be seen next to Slaughden Road. The Aldeburgh Beach Lookout is a historic landmark on the Aldeburgh seafront. Grade II listed, it was built in about 1830 as a lookout tower to assist or plunder shipping along

3416-451: Was destroyed by fire. Only the shell of the outer walls remained. For that year the Festival was moved to other local venues and only one performance was lost. By the following year the hall had been rebuilt and once again it was opened in the presence of the Queen, this time at the start of the 1970 Festival. The new Concert Hall at Snape Maltings became the main focus for the Aldeburgh Festival, although performances continued to be held at all

3477-592: Was held from 5–13 June 1948 and used the Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall, a few doors away from Britten's house in Crabbe Street, as its main venue, with performances in other venues such as Aldeburgh's fifteenth century Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul . It featured a performance of Albert Herring by the English Opera Group; Britten's newly written Saint Nicolas ; and performances by Clifford Curzon and

3538-475: Was mentioned. The focal point today is a carnival procession featuring locals and visitors dressed in homemade costumes and on floats, often with a topical or local theme. In the evening, a parade with Chinese lanterns and a firework display are traditional. The procession has been led for more than thirty years by Chief Marshal Trevor Harvey, also a Carnival Committee member for more than fifty years. The Suffolk Craft Society hold an annual themed exhibition in

3599-468: Was on display on the roof as part of his LAND art installation. The Martello Tower is the only surviving building of the fishing village of Slaughden, which had been washed away by the North Sea by 1936. Near the Martello Tower at Slaughden Quay are barely visible remains of the fishing smack Ionia . It had become stuck in the treacherous mud of the River Alde and was then used as a houseboat . It

3660-462: Was previous seen as a safe seat for the Conservatives , having been represented by John Gummer from 1979 to 2010 and Thérèse Coffey from 2010 to 2024. Aldeburgh was a parliamentary borough from 1571 and returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), the right to vote being vested in the town's freemen. By the mid-18th century it was classed as a rotten borough , as the votes were controlled by

3721-479: Was while they were on tour in Switzerland with Albert Herring and The Rape of Lucretia in August of that year, that Peter Pears said "Why not make our own Festival? A modest Festival with a few concerts given by friends? Why not have an Aldeburgh Festival?" The English Opera Group would provide a core programme of opera productions, but the vision was soon widened to include readings of poetry, literature, drama, lectures and exhibitions of art. The first festival

SECTION 60

#1732852118769
#768231