Page 502 - Aldeburgh Festival 2022 FINAL COVERAGE BOOK

the owner of the property you’re staying in. Nothing promotes a sense of
community and their (and by extension your) place in it than a conversation
over breakfast about shared connections.

The Red House – Britten and Pears home – open to the public offering
exhibitions about Britten and his work, access to the house itself and the
considerable Britten-Pears Archive

During my first stay on the first weekend of the Festival, I discover I’m renting
from a lady who used to be a stage manager for the English Opera Group,
worked with the English Chamber Orchestra at Snape from time to time, and
had lived through the Jonathan Reekie era of Aldeburgh Festival Management,
and now the still-relatively-new era of Roger Wright’s. Both are praised for
their individual achievements, unique qualities, and impact on the Festival,
but one thing remains clear from the conversation over our wholemeal toast:
building a connection with the local audience is vital for Britten’s continuing
legacy.

What I observe in the Concert Hall Café is that this connection is a matter of
course and one of pleasure for current Chief Executive Roger Wright. I
comment to the equally outgoing and interested Executive Director Sarah
Bardwell on the third night of my stay just how ‘visible’ both of them and their
counterparts Harry Young and Caro Barnfield are amongst the audience.
Watch Roger Wright walk hurriedly down the length of the restaurant and
there are multiple occasions when he stops to talk to concert-goers passing
the time with a cup of coffee and a slice of cake.