Page 29 - Aldeburgh Festival 2022 FINAL COVERAGE BOOK

. . . and Bushra El-Turk

It will also be a pleasure, and probably a relief, to find festival venues across the
region, such as the churches of Orford and Blythburgh. The main venue, Snape
Maltings, makes an impressive multi-venue hub these days, but the festival was
never meant to be rooted in one location.

Much of what it represents now was planned by Britten and Pears when they
founded the festival with librettist Eric Crozier in 1948. Britten’s music will play an
important role, as always, but is never dominant. , in particular because very little of
its production is awaiting rediscovery.

The expansion was driven by the acquisition of the entire Snape Maltings site, which
raised the profile of the job throughout the year. This includes top-level
masterclasses and young musicians from Aldeburgh, but much more: community
work in creative health, such as for patients with dementia and Parkinson’s disease,
and in criminal justice in local prisons.