Page 27 - Aldeburgh Festival 2022 FINAL COVERAGE BOOK
P. 27
Festival co-founders Benjamin Britten, left, and Peter Pears, circa 1965 ©
Popperfoto via Getty Images
There is no other festival like Aldeburgh. Located on the windswept east coast of
England, it overlooks the gray expanse of the North Sea and the flatlands of Suffolk.
In the stillness of this endless landscape, Britten found his perfect place to live and
work, and on a hazy night it is still possible to imagine the anti-hero fisherman of his
opera Peter Grimes stalking the shore. Britten’s spirit and his ambitions for music
here continue to cast a powerful spell.
No festival, however, can afford to stand still. In 2022, Aldeburgh will present the
largest number of new music creations in its history, including 19 commissions from
composers such as Laura Bowler, Francisco Coll, Bushra El-Turk, Colin Matthews,
Mark-Anthony Turnage and Tom Coult, including ‘opera Purple gets its first delayed
performance.
Among the featured artists are violinist Nicola Benedetti, playing baroque music and
the work of Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time, cellist Laura van der Heijden, the
Doric string quartet and Mark Simpson, clarinetist and composer of the day, after his
breathtaking violin concerto earlier this year.
