Aldeburgh Festival 2018
8–24 June 2018
Aldeburgh Festival 2018 celebrated Britten and America. It also reflected 1948 – the remarkable period in post-war British history when the festival began and when so much of what we now regard to be the backbone of our cultural life was launched.
Opening Weekend
Britten, Bernstein & America I
Friday 8 June, 7pm
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
John Wilson conductor
Robert Murray tenor
Cédric Tiberghien piano
Mark O’Keeffe trumpet
James Horan cor anglais
Britten Sinfonia da Requiem
Britten orch. Colin Matthews Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Aldeburgh Festival commission, world premiere)
Copland Quiet City
Bernstein Symphony No.2: The Age of Anxiety
To See The Invisible
8, 10 & 12 June 2018
A new chamber opera with music by Emily Howard, words by Selma Dimitrijevic after a short story by Robert Silverberg
Orsino Ensemble
Saturday 9 June, 11am
Janáček Mladi (‘Youth’)
Britten Movement for Wind Sextet
Simon Holt Bagatelarañas
Martinů Sextet for Piano and Winds
Bach in Blythburgh
Saturday 9 Jun 2018
Phantasm viol consort
Sean Shibe guitar
3pm:
Fugues K405 (arr. Mozart)
Lute Suite in A minor BWV 997
The Art of Fugue (excerpts)
10pm:
The Art of Fugue (excerpts)
Lute Suite in E minor BWV 996
Fugues K405 (arr. Mozart)
Britten, Bernstein & America II
Saturday 9 June, 7pm
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
John Wilson conductor
Pavel Kolesnikov piano
Claire Chase flute
Britten Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes
Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra
Bernstein Halil
Copland Billy the Kid Suite
John Wilson Orchestra
Sunday 10 June, 7:30pm
John Wilson Orchestra
John Wilson conductor
Louise Alder soprano
Kim Criswell mezzo-soprano
Damian Humbley tenor
Nadim Naaman baritone
Leonard Bernstein New York, New York; Lonely Town; I Can Cook, Too (from On The Town)
Dream With Me (from Peter Pan)
A Little Bit In Love; One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose A Man (from Wonderful Town)
Spring Will Come Again (from The Skin of Our Teeth)
Pass The Football (from Wonderful Town)
Imaginary Coney Island Ballet (from On The Town)
Overture; I Am Easily Assimilated; Nothing More Than This; Glitter and Be Gay (from Candide)
Take Care Of This House (from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue)
Dance At The Gym; Maria (from West Side Story)
Island Magic (from Trouble in Tahiti)
Wrong Note Rag (from Wonderful Town)
First Week
Talk: The Spirit of '48
Monday 11 June, 11.30am
Simon Heffer and Peter Hennessy in conversation
Film: Kind Hearts and Coronets
Monday 11 June, 11.30am
Festival Masterclasses: The 21st Century Singer
Monday 11 - Saturday 16 June
John Fisher vocal coach / piano
Julia Faulkner soprano
Matthew Rose bass
Singers and pianists from the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme
Goldberg Variations
Monday 11 June, 9.30pm
Melinda Maxwell oboe d’amore
Clio Gould violin
Jane Atkins viola
Kate Gould cello
Simon Holt Llanto (para las chumberas) Lament [for the prickly pears] (Aldeburgh Festival commission, world premiere)
Bach arr. Sitkovetsky Goldberg Variations
Film A Tale of Tanglewood: Peter Grimes Reborn
Tuesday 12 June, 11am
Introduced by Humphrey Burton
Cédric Tiberghien
Tuesday 12 June, 4pm
John Cage Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano
Music for the Royal Fireworks
Tuesday 12 June, 7.30pm
Le Concert Spirituel
Hervé Niquet conductor
Charpentier Marches pour les trompettes (extracts 1 & 2 H.547); Te Deum H.146 – Prélude
Handel Water Music Suite I HWV 348
Water Music Suite II HWV 349
Corelli Concerto grosso No.8 in G minor
Handel Water Music (1717) Suite III HWV 350
Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749) HWV 351
Italian Baroque at Ely Cathedral
Wednesday 13 June, 7:30pm
Le Concert Spirituel
Hervé Niquet conductor
Benevolo Mass: Si Deus pro nobis
Interspersed with plainchant, and choral and instrumental music by Monteverdi, Frescobaldi and Palestrina
Film: Something Wild
Thursday 14 June, 11am
Le Concert Spirituel
Thursday 14 June, 7:30pm
Hervé Niquet conductor
Charpentier
Overture from Le Malade Imaginaire H495a
In Honorem Sancti Ludovici regis Galliae Canticum H365
In Assumptione Beata Mariae Virginis H353
In honorem Sancti Xaverij canticum H355
Epithalame en l’honneur du Duc de Bavière
Marche pour les Trompettes H547
Te Deum H146
Density 2036
Thursday 14 June, 3pm
Claire Chase flute
Jonathan Green sound
Du Yun Gradient Density for tape (European premiere)
Steve Reich Vermont Counterpoint for flute and pre-recorded flutes
Suzanne Farrin The Stimulus of Loss for glissando flute and pre-recorded ondes martenot (2016) (European premiere)
Mario Diaz de Leon Luciform for flute and electronics (2013) (European premiere)
Varèse Density 21.5 (1936)
Marcos Balter Suite from PAN, for flute, live electronics and an ensemble of community members (2017-18) (European premiere)
Britten-Pears Young Artists Alumni I
Friday 15 June, 11am
Fleur Barron mezzo-soprano
Oddur Jónsson baritone
Jonathan Ware piano
Schubert Six Heine-Lieder from Schwanengesang; Totengräbers Heimweh, D.842; Die Männer sind mechant! D.866 No.3; Lich und Liebe, D.352
Schumann Die Kartenlegerin; Der Soldat; Mein Wagen rollet langsam
Schubert Wandrers Nachtlied II, D.768; Auf der Bruck, D.853
Brahms Da unten im Tale
Pfitzner Five Lieder Op. 9
Brahms Auf dem Kirchhofe; Alte Liebe; Unbewegte laue Luft; Meerfahrt; Botschaft; Vergebliches Ständchen
Schubert Geheimes, D.719; Fahrt zum Hades, D.526
Schumann So wahr die Sonne scheinet
Tamara Stefanovich
Friday 15 June, 3pm
Copland Piano Variations
Messiaen Cantéyodjayâ
Bach Aria variata alla maniera italiana
Ives Sonata No.1
Belcea Quartet
Friday 15 June, 7:30pm
Dvořák Quartet ‘American’
Janáček Quartet No. 1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’
Mozart Quartet in Bb K589 ‘Prussian’