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Friday 9 December 7.30pm
Christmas Concert
Aldeburgh Voices · Group A · Ben Parry conductor
For our traditional Christmas Concert, Aldeburgh Voices joins forces with Aldeburgh Music’s talented youth music group. Together they present a sparkling programme of seasonal music and readings, to herald the start of the festive season and round off the old year in style.
Snape 7.30pm
Tickets £16, £14, £12, £10, £8 Under 27s half price

Sunday 11 December 4pm
Group A
Group A · Pete Letanka director
Aldeburgh Music’s Group A is an unauditioned group of thirty singers, aged between 14 and 18.
They work with an exhilarating line-up of professional singers, songwriters, guest directors
and choreographers. Led by Group A’s Artistic Director, Pete Letanka, this performance will be a celebration of the voice and young talent. Group A began their third year in September 2011 and will be presenting material that has been composed, arranged, and learnt over the past three months.
Britten Studio, Snape 4pm
Tickets £6 Under 27s half price

Wednesday 16 – Wednesday 21 December
Christmas Spectacular!
With the Co-op Juniors Theatre Company
Christmas Spectacular! returns to Snape Maltings Concert Hall for a seventh record-breaking year. Celebrate the true magic of Christmas with a two-hour extravaganza of music and dance...
100 performers, 700 costumes, a live orchestra, stunning lighting and video effects, all staged on an impressive moving set. A highlight of the festive season in Suffolk, with record audiences for the last six years: unmissable! The press called it ‘100 per cent pure gold’, and ‘Stunning ... impressive ... a sheer delight’.
‘Stunning entertainment ... a glittering explosion of colour, song and dance’ East Anglian Daily Times
‘A really seasonal spectacle ... the sheer intensity of this show is mind-boggling’ BBC Radio Suffolk
‘The dancing was superb, the singing marvellous, the costumes breathtaking, the settings magical’ East Anglian Daily Times
Snape 16 (4pm, 7.30pm), 17 (2.30pm, 6pm), 18 (2.30pm, 6pm), 19 (4pm, 7.30pm), 20 (4pm, 7.30pm), 21 (2.30pm, 6pm) No performances on 15 December.
Tickets £19, £16, £13 (Group discounts available)
For a taster of what to expect, why not watch the video preview on aldeburgh.co.uk and also visit coopjuniors.co.uk.
Enjoy a two-course Christmas buffet in the Concert Hall Restaurant before or after a matinee, or before an evening show. Spectacular Dining Deal £10.50, or £8 for
children under 12.

6 January – 30 March 12.15pm
Lunchtime Chamber Music
Some of the most promising young quartets from around the world have been invited to participate in this year’s Aldeburgh Chamber Music Residency scheme. Quartets’ study needs may change after the time of going to press. Please check the Aldeburgh Music website for up-to date details of the programme for each lunchtime concert.

Almandin Quartet
Friday 6 & Friday 13 January
Programmes to include Brahms, and Ligeti

Piatti Quartet Friday 20 January
Programme to include Haydn

Bennewitz Quartet
Friday 27 January & Friday 3 February
Programmes to include Dvor˘ák, Haydn and Bartók

Castalian Quartet
Friday 10 & Friday 17 February
Programmes to include Dvor˘ák and Mendelssohn

Excelsa Quartet Friday 24 February & Friday 2 March
Programmes to include Mendelssohn, and Bartók

Benyounes Quartet Friday 9 & Friday 16 March
Programmes to include Debussy, and Schubert

Wu Quartet Friday 23 & Friday 30 March
Programmes to include Beethoven, and Mendelssohn

Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh 12.15pm
(ends approx 1.15pm)
Tickets £9 (or £7 if you book 5 or more concerts) Under 27s half price

Friday 27 January 6.15pm
Festival Preview
A taster of the 2012 Aldeburgh Festival
Aldeburgh Music Chief Executive Jonathan Reekie and Dan Whitfield, Head of Artistic Planning preview the 65th Aldeburgh Festival (8–24 June). With musical illustrations, this is an excellent
opportunity for a behind the scenes introduction to selected highlights of the Festival.

Peter Pears Recital Room, Snape 6.15pm, followed by a glass of wine
Tickets Admission free, but please book (includes free glass of wine).
Light snacks will be available to purchase in the Hoffmann Building foyer, prior to the Belcea Quartet concert.


Friday 27 & Saturday 28 January
Belcea Quartet: Beethoven Cycle
Belcea Quartet
Beethoven Quartet Op.18 No.2 in G; Quartet Op.59
No.2 in E minor; Quartet Op.131 in C sharp minor A delightful combination of contrasting works from Beethoven’s early, middle, and late periods, the Belceas bring the second of their major year-long project to perform and record all Beethoven quartets, here at Snape. It is hard to believe that, at the time of composing Op.59 in 1806, the quartets met with some resistance among audiences – today, we hear them as harmonically rich and wonderfully balanced in layout. Clarity of form is a common feature between the middle and the late quartet, Op.131; in contrast the early Op.18 No.2, is almost a small concerto in places, with several virtuoso passages from the first violin.
‘With zeal and subtlety, the players shaped each idea and the extraordinary elaborate textures, their range of colour and pacing of events... were persuasive... a compelling performance’ The Irish Times

Britten Studio, Snape Friday 27 at 8pm; repeated on Saturday 28 at 4pm
Tickets £24, £18 Under 27s half price
Subscription Ticket 6 concerts for the price of 5 (future concerts 23 & 25 March; 18 & 19 May;
12 & 13 Oct; 1 & 2 Dec). For details, see aldeburgh.co.uk


Saturday 11 February 8pm
Faster Than Sound: I Burn for You
After Dracula by Bram Stoker
‘I Burn for You’ is an atmospheric new music theatre work inspired by Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire novel Dracula, created by composer Ian Wilson, librettist Joe O’Byrne and stage director Tom Creed. It brings together an astonishing line up of performers including the Hungarian death metal vocalist Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Sunn O))), and Void of Voices) – whose remarkable voice has been described as operatic – in the vampyric role. He is joined by virtuosic vocal improvisers Phil Minton and Elaine Mitchener, acclaimed musicians including saxophonist Cathal Roche, accordionist Ian Watson and electro-acoustic improviser David Toop, and video designer Jack Phelan.

Britten Studio, Snape 8pm
Tickets £15 Under 27s £10
Pre-event talk with the artists Jerwood Kiln Studio, Snape 6.30pm. Admission free, but please book.


Friday 17 February 4pm
Open Session: AYM Chamber
With members of Ensemble 360
Aldeburgh Young Musicians have worked with musicians from Ensemble 360 exploring chamber music repertoire through performance and composition. Guided by Naomi Atherton (horn), Judith Busbridge (viola), Amy Harman (bassoon) and Adrian Wilson (oboe), this is a discovery tour of iconic classical and contemporary chamber music.

Peter Pears Recital Room, Snape 4pm
Tickets £6 Under 27s half price


Friday 17 February 6pm
Open Session: AYM Meet Led Bib
Instant composition
Maverick jazz rockers, Led Bib travel to Suffolk to create music with Aldeburgh Young Musicians. With their own inimitable take on improvisation, Led Bib will work with AYM on writing music for improvisers and playing written music as an improviser. One of the most exhilarating and talked-about bands of recent times uncover improvisation as composition ‘in the moment’.

Britten Studio, Snape 6pm
Tickets £6 Under 27s half price


Saturday 18 – Sunday 19 February
PLACE: Taking the Waters
A Weekend Navigation
Aldeburgh Music’s new cross-arts winter weekend – curated by Gareth Evans and celebrating the cultures of place across the UK – takes to the waters this year with a wide-ranging exploration of the meanings of the marine, the estuarine and the waterway in film, art, literature and thought. Starting from Roger Deakin’s modern classic on swimming, Waterlog, a remarkable assembly of acclaimed writers, artists, film-makers and thinkers will reflect on the
paramount importance of the fluid spaces of the planet, in a unique location shaped so
profoundly by the tide and its impacts.


Saturday 18 February 11am
The Meanings of Water
With Noel Burch, Stephen Dillane, Jay Griffiths, Robert Macfarlane, Mark Padmore, Jules Pretty and Ken Worpole
A day-long enquiry into the cultural meanings of water, featuring exclusive presentations from
prize-winning author Robert Macfarlane on the late Roger Deakin and a staged reading from Deakin’s Waterlog by tenor Mark Padmore and actor Stephen Dillane, directed by Katie Mitchell. Acclaimed writer Jay Griffiths (Wild, an Elemental 7 Journey, described in The Observer as ‘a profound and extraordinary work’) will speak on the sea and its mysteries, while, alongside the photography of Jason Orton, writers Jules Pretty (The Luminous Coast) and Ken Worpole (350 Miles) will trace the Eastern Coast. Noel Burch will introduce the UK theatrical premiere screening of his pioneering documentary essay film The Forgotten Space (2010). Made with Allan Sekula, it follows the high seas global supply chain our consumer lives so depend on, and the lives left in its wake.

Britten Studio, Snape 11am (ends approx 6.30pm)
Tickets £25 Under 27s half price


Saturday 18 February 8pm
Swandown
Jem Finer, Andrew Kötting, Iain Sinclair
Work-in-progress world premiere of the remarkable new artists’ documentary feature, Swandown by artist film-maker Andrew Kötting and the visionary writer Iain Sinclair. Taking a Swan Pedalo from Hastings beach to Hackney’s Olympic site via the South Coast, the inland waterways of Kent and the Thames estuary, Kötting and Sinclair pursue a suitably English voyage into the heart of place and politics. A hybrid, multi-media presentation featuring
readings, soundscapes by acclaimed musician Jem Finer, map-making by project designer Julien Lesage and the startling pinhole photography of rising star Anonymous Bosch.

Britten Studio, Snape 8pm
Tickets £15 Under 27s half price


Sunday 19 February 10.30am, 1.30pm
‘The Garden’ and the Waters
Derek Jarman’s The Garden, with Ben Eastop, Rachel Lichtenstein, Manu Luksch and Simon Read
The weekend continues with a showing of the late, great Derek Jarman’s iconic feature, The Garden – a poetic and moving series of dreamscapes, filmed entirely on the Dungeness shinglescape – with a striking score by Simon Fisher Turner. We finish with presentations by – and discussions with – artists and curators Ben Eastop, Rachel Lichtenstein, Manu Luksch and Simon Read, all of whom have engaged directly with the waterscapes of the country in innovative, creative ways. The conversation will continue over an ideas-facilitated lunch, to explore the themes of the weekend, in the Trask Café at 1.30pm.

The Garden: Britten Studio, Snape 10.30am–1.15pm
Tickets £10 Under 27s half price
Discussion Lunch: Trask Artists’ Café 1.30pm–3.30pm
Tickets £17.50 (inc. two-course lunch) Weekend tickets £40 excluding Lunch; £65 including both Lunches


Sunday 26 February 6pm
Concert for Hugo’s 90th
Artists include Ian Bostridge; Brindisi Quartet; Solstice Quartet; and members of the Aronowitz Ensemble
Hugo Herbert-Jones has become an Aldeburgh legend, with his house and hospitality being a focal point for visiting young artists for over a generation. It is estimated he has provided over 3000 nights of accommodation for musicians, and his generosity continues with games of croquet and pots of home-made marmalade thrown in. As he approaches his 90th birthday, with his enthusiasm for music and being a host seemingly undimmed, we celebrate his extraordinary
contribution with a concert of his favourite music – including Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert and Vaughan Williams’s On Wenlock Edge – given by his musical friends.

Britten Studio, Snape 6pm
Tickets £25, £17.50 Under 27s half price
The surplus from this concert will go to Future Talent, a charity working with musically gifted young people who do not have the financial means or the opportunity to advance their musicianship.


Monday 5 – Saturday 10 March 7pm
A Celebration of Schools’ Music
This year sees us celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first Celebration, and the unique and longstanding partnership between Aldeburgh Music and Suffolk County Council. The week-long Celebration brings together schools from across Suffolk to provide us with a glimpse of the quality of music-making happening in the classroom across the county. About 1500 pupils from 50 schools will perform every kind of music imaginable – all ages and all abilities are brought together in this musical extravaganza. To celebrate this significant anniversary, we have invited Pete Letanka back to create a special Finale piece for the end of each evening’s performance. Working with visual artists, Butch Auntie, this year’s Finale will bring the Concert Hall alive, celebrating the past, present and future of this remarkable event. We would like to invite you to be part of the Finale piece by submitting your own memories of A Celebration of Schools’ Music – whether as a performer, a teacher or a member of the audience over the years, please get in touch as below.

Snape 7pm
Tickets £7 Under 27s half price


Thursday 8 March 6pm
Open Session: Toward the Sea
Michael Chance countertenor Lester Simpson singer James Boyd guitar
Guitarist/sailor James Boyd has been in residence this week with countertenor Michael Chance, workshopping some new work which will form part of Boyd’s cargo when he embarks on a musical voyage sailing around the British coastline during the summer. This Open Session includes the world premiere of a new work by Joseph Phibbs for countertenor and guitar, preliminary sketches from Jonathan Dove, Alasdair Nicholson, Tarik O’Regan and Anthony Powers, poetry by Irene Noel Baker and new songs from folk singer and songwriter Lester Simpson.

Jerwood Kiln Studio, Snape 6pm
Tickets £6 Under 27s half price


Sunday 18 March 4pm
Open Session: Group A
Aldeburgh Music’s youth group in action. Led by Artistic Director, Pete Letanka, the un-auditioned group made up of thirty local 14–18 year olds will showcase their unique sound, infectious energy and own vocal creations.

Britten Studio, Snape 4pm
Tickets £6 Under 27s half price


Friday 23 & Sunday 25 March
Belcea Quartet: Beethoven Cycle
Belcea Quartet
Beethoven Quartet Op.18 No.1 in F; Quartet Op.59 No.3 in C; Quartet Op.132 in A minor
The third in the Belcea’s bold year-long project to perform and record all Beethoven quartets. This concert features three works united by Beethoven’s search for new forms that would better express the ambitious architecture he had in mind for his quartets. Whereas the earliest quartet features the robust humour of a Scherzo as the middle movement, Op.59 No.3 offers a light and graceful Menuetto. The late Op.132, then, provides a perfect stage for the Belceas to show their dramatic range, from the tender Trio to the divine Adagio and the highly expressive Finale.

Britten Studio, Snape Friday 23 at 8pm; repeated on Sunday 25 at 4pm
Tickets £24, £18 Under 27s half price


Sunday 1 April 2pm
Aldeburgh’s Big BROADWAY Shout
Another opening, another show...
Join us for a wonderful afternoon of singing along with some of the all-time great musical theatre numbers. Everyone is the star of the show with Aldeburgh’s Big Shout! If you don’t want to join a ‘choir’ but want to be a part of communal singing then come and see what Aldeburgh’s Big Shout is all about. All ages, all abilities and you don’t need to read music. Fun for all the family!

Snape 2pm–4.30pm
Tickets £2 (unreserved seating)


Friday 6 – Sunday 8 April
Easter Weekend
Two compositions that erect monuments to vocal music in search of utmost expression frame a Beethoven recital by pianist, Elisabeth Leonskaja who makes a welcome return, following her acclaimed Aldeburgh debut in the 2011 Festival. Beethoven’s Ninth is a work that at the same
time emphatically fulfills, and transcends the confines of the classical symphony; this
lighthouse for symphonic developments to come later in the 19th century is interpreted, with appropriate verve, by the Britten–Pears Orchestra and soloists with dynamic young conductor, Antonello Manacorda. The two performances of Beethoven’s ode to the joy, then, find a substantial counterweight in his last three piano sonatas, performed here by Elisabeth
Leonskaja with her trademark ability to bring out, with elegance, the underlying musical architecture. Join us for an Easter Weekend that combines celebrations of joy and peace,
serenity and profoundness.


Friday 6 April 8pm
Beethoven 9
Britten–Pears Orchestra and Soloists
Aldeburgh Voices · London Voices Ben Parry music director Antonello Manacorda conductor
Schoenberg Friede auf Erden Beethoven Symphony No.9
Beethoven’s Ninth is at once a touchstone, a landmark in musical history and a work so powerful and universal that its ability to shock, to thrill and to uplift us is as great as ever. Schoenberg’s 8-minute short, passionate choral paean to peace from the first decade of the twentieth century also stands on the brink of a new era – its yearning lyricism and lush harmonies never to be returned to, its musing on mankind’s struggle to overcome the cruelty of war powerfully prophetic. Voices conveying human weakness and aspirations, conflict and consolation, odes to joy and to peace, these two musical milestones stand side by side, testament to two revolutionary composers.

Snape 8pm (ends approx 9.20pm). Please note there will be no interval.
Tickets £24, £21, £18, £14, £10 Under 27s half price


Saturday 7 April 8pm
Elisabeth Leonskaja
Elisabeth Leonskaja piano
Beethoven Piano Sonata in E Op.109; Piano Sonata in A flat Op.110; Piano Sonata in C minor Op.111
Like the Ninth symphony, Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas seem to strain at the bonds of a classical style, often breaking them completely. Heard individually these are startlingly original, profound and direct utterances; collectively, they form a titanic triptych. Elisabeth Leonskaja’s Aldeburgh debut at the 2011 Festival made a powerful impression, testament to an extraordinary technique but also to a free-thinking, spirited musicianship. Now in her fifth decade on the concert platform, here is a pianist at the peak of her powers and an opportunity to hear these piano masterpieces over the course of a single evening.

Snape 8pm (ends approx 9.15pm). Please note there will be no interval.
Tickets £22, £19, £16, £13, £10 Under 27s half price


Sunday 8 April 4pm
Beethoven 9
Britten–Pears Orchestra and Soloists
Aldeburgh Voices · London Voices Ben Parry music director Antonello Manacorda conductor
Schoenberg Friede auf Erden Beethoven Symphony No.9
Second performance – see page 15 for details.

Snape 4pm (ends approx 5.20pm). Please note there will be no interval.
Tickets £24, £21, £18, £14, £10 Under 27s half price


Friday 13 – Saturday 14 April 7.30pm
English Touring Opera
English Touring Opera returns to Snape Maltings Concert Hall with two of the most popular operas in the repertoire – Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and a new production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.
‘...a dazzling Onegin’ **** The Guardian
Combination ticket Book
both operas for only £55, £49, £41, £31, £21

Friday 13 April 7.30pm
The Barber of Seville
Thomas Guthrie director Paul McGrath conductor Rossini The Barber of Seville (in English)
Effervescent, high-spirited, vocally brilliant, a work of comic genius: Rossini’s masterpiece, The Barber of Seville is a favourite with audiences around the world. ETO’s new production, directed by the exciting and imaginative Thomas Guthrie and conducted by an experienced master of Italian opera, Paul McGrath, promises to be one of the highlights of the artistic calendar in 2012. The roguish young Count Almaviva, masquerading as the student Lindoro, will be sung by Nicholas Sharratt, one of the UK’s most promising Italianate tenors. Kitty Whately, winner of
this year’s Kathleen Ferrier Award, plays his beloved Rosina, as cunning as she is lovely.

Snape 7.30pm
Tickets £29, £26, £22, £17, £12 Under 27s half price
Pre-performance talk The creative team discuss the production Peter Pears Recital Room, Snape 6.30pm. Admission free, but please book.


Saturday 14 April 7.30pm
Eugene Onegin
James Conway director Michael Rosewell conductor Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin (in English)
ETO’s production of Tchaikovsky’s romantic classic Eugene Onegin received critical acclaim and popular ovations around the country in 2007. ETO Director James Conway and Conductor Michael Rosewell return to this striking production with a new cast, including emerging star Nicholas Lester in the title role. With its heartfelt arias and ensembles, its splendid choruses and ballroom scenes, and Tchaikovsky’s gift for melody, rich orchestration and drama, Eugene Onegin is a night at the opera for romantics of all ages.

Snape 7.30pm
Tickets £29, £26, £22, £17, £12 Under 27s half price
Pre-performance talk The creative team discuss the production. Peter Pears Recital Room, Snape 6.30pm. Admission free, but please book.


Saturday 14 April 4pm
Open Session: AYM
Music & Electronics
Working with live electronics in performance, this Open Session combines traditional acoustic instruments with electronic sounds, under the guidance of pianist and course leader, Sarah Nicolls and electronic musician and singer, Leafcutter John. AYM will control electronic sounds in physical, creative and visual ways and perform their own live electronics pieces, playing electronic sounds with the movement of their heads, bodies, and other control devices...
Britten Studio, Snape 4pm
Tickets £6 Under 27s half price


Friday 11 – Saturday 12 May 7.30pm
Danza Contemporanea de Cuba
A breathtaking company of dancers
Danza Contemporanea de Cuba returns by popular demand following their outstanding visits in 2008/2010, which resulted in Mambo 3XX1 by the Cuban, George Céspedes, being nominated for an Olivier Award. The programme for the 2012 UK tour will include the world premiere of a work by the renowned Israeli choreographer, Itzik Galili, and another chance to catch the incredible Mambo 3XX1.
‘An exotic hybrid of contemporary, classical and Caribbean styles.’ The Guardian
‘At moments, Céspedes reminds you of the young Twyla Tharp in the fanatical, joyous precision with which he moves his dancers through a frenzy of kicking legs, shimmying shoulders, clicking fingers and jiving arms. Brilliant.’ The Guardian

Snape 7.30pm
Tickets £24, £20, £16, £12 Under 18s £2 off
Post-performance talk on Friday 11 only. Snape 9.30pm. Admission free, but please book.


Friday 18 & Saturday 19 May
Belcea Quartet: Beethoven Cycle
Belcea Quartet
Beethoven Quartet Op.59 No.1 in F; Quartet Op.18 No.4 in C minor; Quartet Op.135 in F
The quartet Op.59 No.1 is a good example for Beethoven’s compositional approach – first singled out as early as 1813 by E.T.A. Hoffmann – to base every movement on a simple but rich theme that would evoke ‘in a restless flight, the most wonderful images’. Indeed, the finale features a Russian folksong as homage to the quartet’s dedicatee, Russian Count Razumovsky. The fourth quartet from Op.18 swings between pathos and sentiment, whereas only a few, bright colours are carefully used in Op.135 – which was to be Beethoven’s last quartet, and very personal summary of the genre.

Britten Studio, Snape Friday 18 at 8pm; repeated on Saturday 19 at 4pm
Tickets £24, £18 Under 27s half price


Friday 8 June 4pm
Open Session: AYM
Adventures with Tradition
What does it mean to play traditional music in this day and age? Can folk idioms have any relevance to present day life or is such immersion in the past a form of historical re-enactment? And why would forward looking contemporary musicians choose to revisit a forgotten world of fair maids and rambling sailors? The award-winning folk big band, Bellowhead, is made up of musicians with backgrounds in jazz, world, contemporary classical and electronica as well as folk music. Since 2004, they have been on a mission to bring the old-time popular music of
Britain to a wider audience. Members of Bellowhead will collaborate with Aldeburgh Young Musicians to create new works, contemporary in nature but with their roots in the past.

Britten Studio, Snape 4pm
Tickets £6 Under 27s half price


Friday 8 – Sunday 24 June
65th Aldeburgh Festival
Since the first Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, the Suffolk coast has become a world-renowned meeting place for classical music lovers. Every year, the Festival boasts an impressive programme of superb concerts, recitals, master-classes, films, lectures, walks, and free events in Snape, Aldeburgh and on the beach. In addition to the main Festival events, many rehearsals and master-classes throw open their doors – a fantastic opportunity to hear superb performances of great music at a minimal price… and share in the excitement of music-in-the-making. The full Festival programme will be available from early January 2012; general booking opens early March.

Friday 20 & Sunday 22 July
Aldeburgh World Orchestra
Specially created for the London 2012 Festival (the culmination of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad), the Aldeburgh World Orchestra brings together acclaimed British conductor, Sir Mark Elder and 124 top-calibre young artists (18–29 years) from across the globe, to create a true ‘world orchestra’. Comprising approximately equal numbers of participants from the UK, Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East, Oceania and Africa, the Orchestra builds on Aldeburgh’s unrivalled reputation as an international centre for the development of musical talent through the Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme, which is forty years old in 2012.
The AWO will perform some of the most thrilling orchestral repertoire of the last 100 years, including Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, the Sinfonia da Requiem by Britten and Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5, plus music by Mahler. The orchestral sections will be tutored by a galaxy of international orchestral principals. After Snape the AWO tours to Amsterdam, Ingolstadt and London.


Friday 20 July 8pm
Aldeburgh World Orchestra I
Aldeburgh World Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder conductor
Mahler Adagio from Symphony No.10 Shostakovich Symphony No.5
The unique international DNA of the Aldeburgh World Orchestra is brought to bear on two masterpieces with ambitions of universal human identification. Mahler’s 10th symphony, left unfinished at his death, contains in its one completed movement a searing expression of resigned personal grief. Shostakovich’s massive public celebration of the Stalinist regime’s achievements disguises a bitter and complex web of ironic dissent.

Snape 8pm Tickets £28, £23, £17, Prom £6.50 Under 27s half price
Pre-performance event There will be a workshop of a new BBC Commission by Charlotte Bray. For details, see aldeburgh.co.uk nearer the time. Snape 6pm. Admission free, but please book.


Sunday 22 July 6pm
Aldeburgh World Orchestra II
Aldeburgh World Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder conductor
Britten Sinfonia da Requiem Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
One of the most famous seismic shocks in musical history – the arrival of Stravinsky’s elemental, shattering ballet score for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes – caused a riot on its first performance. Controversy surrounded the Sinfonia da Requiem before a note had been even played. The 26 year old Britten had been commissioned by the Japanese Government for a piece to celebrate the 2600th anniversary of the Japanese Empire. What they got was a heartfelt and angry response to the tragedy and violence of war in which the influence of both Stravinsky and Mahler are absorbed into an entirely new musical voice.

Snape 6pm Tickets £28, £23, £17, Prom £6.50 Under 27s half price


Sunday 22 July
Exchanging Worlds
A celebration of musical talent as part of the London 2012 Festival
In addition to its concerts, the Aldeburgh World Orchestra will inspire a day-long celebration of
musical talent at Snape Maltings on 22 July, as part of Exchanging Worlds. This multi-dimensional project connects the AWO to the young people of Suffolk and the Eastern region,
through a technology project and the creation of an elite performance ensemble of under 18s.
AWO members will be invited to record and upload audio snapshots that reflect their diverse lives and cultures. Five Suffolk-based groups of young people will create their own music inspired by these sound samples. The project will culminate in an interactive installation and a live performance. Additionally, a new creative performance ensemble formed by Aldeburgh Young Musicians makes its debut, drawing its members from the most talented 8–18 year olds in the East of England, and bringing together musical influences from across the world. Through collaborative working and the exchange of global musical conversations, new work will be created for performance.

Exchanging Worlds Installation
Snape Maltings 12 noon Free, no ticket required

Exchanging Worlds Ensemble
Britten Studio, Snape 4pm
Tickets £6 Under 27s half price


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