Britten Pears Arts is thrilled to return to live music-making with audiences indoors at Snape Maltings from Friday 21 May, subject to the rollout of the government’s ‘roadmap’.

From 21 May to early September there will be a busy Summer at Snape programme, with concerts and events at Snape Maltings throughout the period. In May, June and July, Britten Pears Arts will again be offering short concerts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday – usually with two performances a day – and bringing together musicians who would have performed at last year’s Aldeburgh Festival and Snape Proms, in addition to other star performers. In August Snape Maltings Concert Hall will host daily performances in the spirit of the Snape Proms from outstanding artists and ensembles from the worlds of classical music, folk and jazz.

The opening weekend from 21 – 23 May will feature the BBC Symphony Orchestra with pianist and conductor Ryan Wigglesworth, a recital from Dame Sarah Connolly and pianist Joseph Middleton and pianist Nicholas McCarthy showcases repertoire for the left hand. There will then be a weekend of folk music from 28 – 30 May with Alden & Patterson and The Shackleton Trio, The Young ‘Uns, Honey & the Bear and Maz O’Connor joining singers from Britten Pears Young Artists with pianist Roger Vignoles to perform folk songs and their Britten arrangements. On bank holiday Monday (31 May) Michael Tilson Thomas will conduct the London Symphony Orchestra with solo pianist Yuja Wang.

In June, performances and repertoire will include activity which should have been presented last June during the Aldeburgh Festival, together with projects new to 2021. These will include several significant first performances of repertoire commissioned by Britten Pears Arts including music by Tansy Davies, Colin Matthews and Mark Anthony Turnage. There will be world premieres of music by John Tavener, John Woolrich and Stephen Hough and first performances of music theatre productions featuring Nadine Benjamin and Juliet Fraser.

A series of world premieres will feature new arrangements of the music of Benjamin Britten: Colin Matthews’ string orchestra versions of Double Concerto and Charm of Lullabies, Robin Holloway’s orchestration of the song cycle Winter Words in July with the tenor Nicky Spence, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Edward Gardner and a new chamber version by Joseph Phibbs of Our Hunting Fathers to be sung by the soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn and the Hebrides Ensemble in August.

The centenary of the horn player Dennis Brain will be marked by performances of Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings and Canticle III: Still falls the rain, both of which were written for Brain. There will also be a performance of Britten’s In Memoriam Dennis Brain and music for horn by featured composer Tansy Davies (“Yoik”) and Peter Maxwell Davies (“Fanfare-Salute to Dennis Brain) performed by Ben Goldscheider.

Other performers will include Allan Clayton and Andrew Staples (tenors), Britten Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra, Nicholas Daniel (oboe), Feargal Mostyn-Williams and Andrew Watts (counter tenors), Roderick Williams (baritone), Olivia Jaguers (harp), James Baillieu and Alisdair Hogarth (pianos).

Roger Wright, Chief Executive of Britten Pears Arts, commented, “Having helped to lead the way last year with our determination to keep on presenting live performance and supporting musicians, it will be an enormous pleasure and privilege to welcome performers and audiences back to our venues. As part of our distinctive mix of programming, we are proud to be presenting so many world premieres, as well as hosting established and up and coming musicians. We will remain flexible and ready to respond to changing circumstances, whilst keeping audiences, musicians and our colleagues safe. Our wide-ranging summer programme is part of our ongoing commitment to the creative community and to our audiences, as we continue to celebrate music’s unique power to transform lives and bring communities together.”

Full listings and tickets available online at www.snapemaltings.co.uk

CBSO to stage eighteen socially-distanced concerts at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall between May and July

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is to return to Symphony Hall Birmingham as restrictions are lifted to allow live performances for the first time this year, with concerts for socially-distanced audiences to take place each Wednesday from 19 May – 7 July.

A new acoustic screen has been installed at the rear of the Symphony Hall stage, allowing a larger number of musicians to play together while maintaining social distancing than has previously been possible; this means CBSO audiences will see possibly the largest orchestra performing regularly anywhere in the UK at this time.

Each programme will be performed twice, at 2pm and 6:30pm, to allow as many people as possible to join in person whilst seating capacity is still restricted due to Covid regulations.

Highlights of the concerts announced today include two programmes with Music Director Mirga Gražinyt?-Tyla, featuring the world premiere of Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel Symphony (16 June) and a programme of Weinberg and Mahler with mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill (23 June); Edward Gardner conducting Stephen Hough in Saint-Saëns’ energetic Piano Concerto No. 4 (19 May) and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.1 with Alina Ibragimova (7 July); the UK premiere of Julian Anderson’s major new cello concerto Litanies with Alban Gerhardt conducted by Kazuki Yamada (30 June); a concert showcasing one of the twentieth century’s biggest masterpieces, Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5, conducted by Nicholas Collon (26 May); Beethoven’s sparkling Piano Concerto No.2 with soloist Paul Lewis and conductor Chloé van Soeterstède (2 June); a programme of English music with tenor Ian Bostridge conducted by Michael Seal (9 June); and a special Friday Night Classics programme of Summer Classics with conductor Michael Seal and violinist Jonathan Martindale (Friday 2 July).

Stephen Maddock, Chief Executive of the CBSO, said: ‘We are so thrilled to be able to welcome audiences back to our home at Symphony Hall and to be able to share the joy of live orchestral music with them once more. Today we’re announcing our programme for eight weekly pairs of concerts from May onwards and we feel sure that the people of Birmingham and the Midlands will want to rush back to enjoy the glorious sound of full-scale orchestral music after more than a year in which we have all been denied this opportunity.’

For full concert listings visit the CBSO website