Alumni news

admin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:17:23 +0000

40th Anniversary Celebration of the Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme, April 2012

We are planning a Easter weekend celebration of the 40th anniversary of the BPP with Beethoven's 9th Symphony on April 6th - 8th, 2012. We are assembling an all-star lineup of BPP Alumni soloists who will be performing with the Britten–Pears Orchestra conducted by Antonello Manacorda. We do hope that you will come back that weekend and see the amazing things that are happening here and to find out more about the plans for Britten's Centenary Celebrations in 2013.

The Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme 2012-2013 brochure is now available online and you can see what we are offering next year. We are still, after all these years, Britain's leading and largest programme for young professional musicians. The music-making and creative output is at the highest international level and next season they will have the opportunity of working with such prominent tutors as Sir Mark Elder, Dawn Upshaw, Menham Pressler, Pierre Laurent-Aimard, Malcolm Martineau and the Arditti Quartet to name just a few. Some of them are Aldeburgh Alumni too!

The Aldeburgh World Orchestra is launching in 2012! Aldeburgh Music will bring together renowned conductor, Sir Mark Elder and 124 of the most talented young musicians (18-29 years) from across the globe, to create a true ‘world orchestra’. It is being developed out of the BPO ranks to create an orchestra from all the continents of the world to perform in the Cultural Olympiad, BBC Proms and at Snape Maltings Concert Hall following a residency with world famous orchestral tutors (some of them BPP alumni) at Aldeburgh Music.

Dr. James McDonald - tenor, teacher and director died last winter in Colorado. At the invitation of Sir Peter Pears, he studied at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies on the Handel Singing Course, Schubert Singing Course, English Song from Purcell to Britten in 1977 & Bach Week in 1978 where he studied with Sir Peter Pears, Eric Crozier, John Shirley-Quirk, and Gerhard Huesch. He returned as a Vocal Consultant in 2001 to the newly named Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme to assist Sir Thomas Allen in the Wolf Mörike and Goethe Lieder course. Ruth Ann emailed me “Jim was a decades-long lover and proponent of the music of Benjamin Britten. There was rarely a recital when he didn't program Britten's music. On the first anniversary of Britten's death, he sang in the New York Memorial Concert presented by The American Friends of The Aldeburgh Festival and gave the opening address at the memorial service of Eric Crozier. It's a great loss, not only to our family, but to his students, as he was a truly fine man and an outstanding voice teacher.”

Other Alumni news

Francisco Coll Garcia(Contemporary Performance and Composition, 2009) enjoyed his Aldeburgh Festival debut last summer with his clarinet quintet Sguardo verso l’interno and has been signed to Faber Music. He currently studies privately with Thomas Adès and is at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Sean Shepherd(Contemporary Performance and Composition, 2007) has also been signed exclusively by Boosey and Hawkes.

Gabriele Lefkowitz (Death in Venice, 2007) has just become the concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in Tennessee.

John Tessier(English Song, Peter Pears' Memorial Course, 1996) is currently appearing at the Royal Opera House as the Steersman in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer.

Awards

Steven Daverson(Contemporary Performance and Composition, 2007) is the youngest prizewinner in the history of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation's Composers' Prize.

Stephanie True(Handel's Saul 2010) won the Adair Prize, Keri Fuge(Russian Song, 2011) won the Michael Oliver Prize and Emily Alford(Strauss and Wolf, 2010) won the audience prize and the London Handel Competition. They swept the boards! Congratulations.

HUGO HERBERT-JONES

Hugo Herbert-Jones has very kindly agreed to be interviewed in order to capture his unique relationship with the Britten–Pears Programme and Aldeburgh over many years of highly entertaining generosity. In anticipation of his 90th year his 'Hugo-ness' can be preserved for eternity!

Here's a playlist of Hugo and his many entertaining stories ...

Aldeburgh Music Alumni News

Alumni news

Other Alumni news

Awards