Britten Pears Arts
Britten Pears Arts is a large music education organisation based in Suffolk, England. It aims to continue the legacy of composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, singer Peter Pears, and to promote the enjoyment and experience of music for all. It is a registered charity.[1]
Nickname
Britten-Pears Arts
April 2020
Charity
- Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Suffolk, England
- The Red House Golf Lane, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England
The charity manages two historic locations on the Suffolk coast: Snape Maltings Concert Hall, a converted Victorian malting building on the edge of the River Alde in the village of Snape, Suffolk, and The Red House, the former home of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. The organisation was founded by Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Eric Crozier in 1947 as an organisation to present the first Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts in 1948.[2]
Each year Britten Pears Arts promotes the Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts, the Snape Proms, concert series at Easter and October, together with a year-round performance programme at Snape Maltings Concert Hall and other venues on the Snape site. The Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, formerly known as the Britten–Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies, provides development opportunities for musicians early in their professional lives, between the ages of 18 and 25.[3] Aldeburgh Young Musicians offers a programme of music mentoring for children from 8 to 18, who are of exceptional potential.[4] Aldeburgh Education offers an annual programme of work involving the wider community,[5] while Aldeburgh Residencies provides opportunities for established artists to develop their creative talents.[6]
History[edit]
While touring with the English Opera Group in Europe in 1947, the composer Benjamin Britten, tenor Peter Pears and producer Eric Crozier developed the idea of a music festival in Aldeburgh, where Britten had a house on Crag Path.[7] An executive committee was formed under the chairmanship of the Countess of Cranbrook[7] and the first meeting took place at Thellusson Lodge, Aldeburgh on 27 October 1947.[8] The first Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts was held from 5 to 12 June 1948, under the Artistic Direction of Britten, Pears and Crozier, with the Earl of Harewood as president and Elizabeth Sweeting as general manager.
Needing to expand the Festival into larger premises, in 1967, the Festival management acquired a lease on disused Victorian buildings at Snape Maltings, and converted the largest of the redundant malthouses into Snape Maltings Concert Hall. The Snape Maltings Foundation Ltd was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, no. 980281, on 21 May 1970 under the name of Snape Maltings Foundation Ltd. to manage the Snape buildings and develop further buildings on the site.[9] The initial subscribers were Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, Imogen Holst, Fidelity, Countess of Cranbrook, Marion, Countess of Harewood, Charles Gifford and The Lord Goodman. The company was registered with the Charity Commission as the Aldeburgh Foundation, registration number 261383, on 23 July 1970.[10] The company changed its name to Aldeburgh Festival–Snape Maltings Foundation Ltd (known as AF-SMF) on 7 September 1976, and to Aldeburgh Foundation on 12 October 1983. In November 1997, the name of the company was changed to Aldeburgh Productions, and from July 2006 until the merger in April 2020 it had the name Aldeburgh Music.
Background and ethos[edit]
Following its successful launch in 1948, the Aldeburgh Festival expanded year by year until it outgrew the available venues in the town. When redundant malting buildings in Snape became available in 1965, an initial 25-year lease was taken on the largest of the Victorian malthouses, and it was converted by Arup Associates (architects and engineers) and Wm. C. Reade (builders) into Snape Maltings Concert Hall. The 820-seat Hall was opened by HM The Queen on 2 June 1967.[11] From that date, the main events of the annual Festival were relocated to Snape Maltings Concert Hall. A major fire in 1969 led to the re-development of the site, re-opening the following year, and gradually what was once a Concert Hall for a three-week Festival, became a year-round venue, including the introduction in the 1980s of the annual Snape Proms.
From the very beginning, part of the artistic vision of the original directors had been the development of young musical talent. As early as 1953, Britten and Pears, committed to the musical development of young people, formed the idea of having a school of music at Snape.[12] The fundamental concept was "to prepare and promote young singers or string players for professional life at the very highest level." It took until September 1972 for the first masterclasses to be given, by Pears, and in 1975 a Snape Maltings Training Orchestra rehearsed and performed at the Hall for the first time. Following the death of Britten in 1976, the Benjamin Britten Memorial Appeal was launched, and the barley store adjacent to the Concert Hall was converted by Arup Associates into the Britten–Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies.[13] Opened on 28 April 1979 by the patron of the Aldeburgh Foundation, HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the School incorporated a 120-seat recital room (today named the Peter Pears Recital Room), a top-floor Seminar Room, with many practice rooms in between and a reference library, the Holst Library.
Over the years, such artists as Dame Joan Sutherland, Ann Murray, Sir Thomas Allen, Galina Vishnevskaya, Murray Perahia, Sir Charles Mackerras, Elisabeth Söderström and Dawn Upshaw as well as Pears himself have been notable teachers, while its many alumni have included Thomas Adès, Ian Bostridge, Simon Keenlyside and Dame Felicity Lott.[14]
From the beginning, the Festival was committed to working with and for its local community, breaking down the barriers between amateur and professional. Education and working with young people always featured, and this continues today with Aldeburgh Education involving the local community as creators and performers as well as audiences. The department now runs 3 year-round programmes and in 2011–12 delivered 432 sessions, with over 15,000 participants, over 17,000 audience members and 147 artists.[15] In 2012 the annual Celebration of Schools’ Music, presented in association with Suffolk County Council, celebrated its 25th year at Snape Maltings Concert Hall.[16]
Aldeburgh Residencies was launched in 2003 to offer bespoke development opportunities to established artists. The Residencies enable individuals and ensembles to come to Snape to create new work, develop new partnerships and explore new possibilities.
Aldeburgh Young Musicians is a Centre for Advanced Training (CAT), created in 2007 with funding from the government to provide advanced music mentoring for exceptionally talented young musicians aged between 8 and 18 based in the Eastern Region.
The growth of the work of Aldeburgh Music led to the need for more accommodation, and further semi-derelict buildings adjacent to the Concert Hall on the Snape Maltings site were acquired in 2006 on a 999-year lease, and the Aldeburgh Music Development Plan[17] launched to raise the money necessary for their conversion. Following a successful £16 million fund-raising campaign, a new Creative Campus was opened in May 2009, designed by architects Haworth Tompkins. The Hoffmann Building contains the Britten Studio (capacity 340), the Jerwood Kiln Studio (capacity 80) and a number of rehearsal spaces. The Britten–Pears Building has been redeveloped and now incorporates the Trask Artists’ Cafe. A small studio has been created out of the derelict Victorian Dovecote. In Aldeburgh, the Pumphouse, Aldeburgh Music's small alternative venue, has been redeveloped.
People[edit]
The first artistic directors of the Aldeburgh Festival were Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Eric Crozier.[7] Britten and Pears remained artistic directors until their respective deaths, in 1976 and 1986. After Britten died, the artistic direction of the Festival was shared; many world-class musicians joined the artistic team, including at various times Philip Ledger, Colin Graham, Steuart Bedford, Mstislav Rostropovich, Murray Perahia, Simon Rattle, John Shirley-Quirk and Oliver Knussen. In 1999, a sole artistic director in the Britten mould – composer, solo performer, accompanist and conductor – was appointed in Thomas Adès, joined in 2004 by composer John Woolrich, first as Guest Artistic Director then as an Associate Artistic Director. Adès had first appeared at an Aldeburgh Festival as a member of the Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme on the New Music course in 1992. Adès was succeeded by Pierre-Laurent Aimard in 2009, again supported by John Woolrich. Oliver Knussen returned for the 2012 Festival as Artist in Residence.
Chief executive of Aldeburgh Music from 1998 to 2014 was Jonathan Reekie, who left in spring 2014 to become Director of Somerset House Trust.[28] He was succeeded by Roger Wright, the former Controller of BBC Radio 3, who took up the post in September 2014.[29]
The current Chairman of the Aldeburgh Music Council is Sir Simon Robey. The President of Aldeburgh Music is the Lord Stevenson of Coddenham CBE, Aldeburgh Music Chairman from 2000 to 2012.[30]
Music[edit]
The Britten–Pears Library holds an archive of programmes dating back to 1948.[31] Aldeburgh Music has commissioned and presented many world premieres over the years, starting with many of Britten's own compositions from 1948.
A selection of composers whose works have been premiered by Aldeburgh Music include Thomas Adès, Gerald Barry, Richard Rodney Bennett, Harrison Birtwistle, Elliott Carter, Jonathan Dove, Deirdre Gribbin, Oliver Knussen, György Kurtág, Nicola LeFanu, Colin Matthews, Thea Musgrave, Dmitri Shostakovich and John Tavener.
Facilities[edit]
Aldeburgh Music is based at Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Saxmundham, Suffolk. It now has a 999-year lease, negotiated with the overall site owners, Johnny and Alesha Gooderham, in 2006, on all its facilities at Snape Maltings.[11][32]
Snape Maltings Concert Hall is an 830-seat international concert hall, converted from a redundant Victorian malthouse in 1967. The Concert Hall incorporates a Restaurant and the Oyster Bar, and displays exhibitions in the Concert Hall Gallery. A Visitor Centre off the main foyer houses the Box Office, an information point and a shop.
The Hoffmann Building, converted from semi-derelict malting and storage buildings adjacent to the Concert Hall, was opened in 2009 and houses the Britten Studio (340 capacity), the Jerwood Kiln Studio (80 capacity), the Foyle and the Weinrebe Studios, as well as office and circulation space.
The Britten-Pears Building was converted from an old barley store in 1979 to create the Britten–Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies, now renamed the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme. The building contains the Peter Pears Recital Room (120 capacity) and a number of practice and seminar rooms, and the Holst Library. Adjacent is the Trask Artists' Cafe.
The Pond Gallery is a small art gallery, let to local artists, and adjacent is a long room currently known as Building 19, awaiting further development.
In Aldeburgh itself, Aldeburgh Music has a full-time Box Office on the High Street, and runs the Peter Pears Gallery and The Pumphouse. During the Festival, performances are presented at the Jubilee Hall and the Aldeburgh Parish Church, as well as other venues around Suffolk including the churches of Orford and Blythburgh. Site-specific events have been held in a number of locations, including Aldeburgh and Sizewell beaches, Bentwaters Airbase, and Leiston Long Shop Museum.