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THE BRITTEN–PEARS YOUNG ARTIST PROGRAMME

The Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme offers unique development and performance opportunities in the inspiring setting of the east coast of England. By forming an integral part of the international Aldeburgh Festival and a year-round programme of concerts and events, the Britten–Pears Programme has launched many artists' careers.

Aldeburgh and its festivals celebrate creative encounters made possible by an extraordinary artistic legacy and an extraordinary place. On the Suffolk coast, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, and the musicians who surrounded them, revelled in the isolation that allowed them to develop collaborations, creating performances and works of art out of the glare of - but profoundly influencing - the international music scene.

With its list of alumni including Thomas Adès (now the June Festival's Artistic Director), Ian Bostridge, Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Joan Rodgers (to name a few), the Britten–Pears Programme is the embodiment of those ideals.

For more information about Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, please visit the Britten–Pears Library website.

All masterclasses at the Britten–Pears Programme culminate in a performance. In addition, each year a number of alumni are selected from Britten–Pears Programme courses and invited to perform in the following year's Aldeburgh Festival and other showcase opportunities attended by agents, managers and promoters. Alumni from courses in 2008 will be selected to participate in two courses during the 62nd Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts (June 2009). We also plan to continue our exchange with Academie Européene at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence, giving opportunities for young artists selected by each organisation to perform in both festivals in the same season.

The Britten–Pears Orchestra offers the opportunity for emerging young professional musicians to work with leading conductors, soloists and orchestral musicians in the inspiring setting of the Suffolk coast. It makes an important link between conservatoires and the profession by providing the opportunity to perform at the highest level, guided by excellent professional support. Orchestra members are selected by annual international audition and many are from UK conservatoires or are recent graduates, although we also recruit from international institutions and members in 2006 and 2007 include those from the USA, Canada, South Africa, Russia and many European countries. Each year a pool of musicians is formed and players take part in up to four courses each year, with a number also joining other courses run by the Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme, including chamber music and new music courses. The orchestra's recent guest conductors include Oliver Knussen, Martyn Brabbins, Simone Young, Paul Daniel and Alexander Polianichko. In 2007, the Britten–Pears Orchestra linked with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski during the LPO's Aldeburgh Residency. A number of selected BPO players were chosen to take part in side-by-side rehearsals, providing an excellent opportunity to form links with players at the top of their profession. We plan to continue such professional orchestra links from 2009 onwards, when new rehearsal facilities open at Snape Maltings, giving additional spaces for such expanded courses and Residencies.

BRITTEN–PEARS BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

The Britten–Pears Baroque Orchestra was formed in 1992 and in that year gave two performances of Bach St John Passion conducted by Anthony Rolfe Johnson. The orchestra has a long and fruitful relationship with keyboardist and conductor Richard Egarr; with him it has performed Telemann's St Matthew Passion, Handel's Dixit Dominus and Acis and Galatea (broadcast on BBC Radio 3), Bach B minor Mass and Handel L'Allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato. In 2003 the orchestra worked with Emmanuelle Haïm on Charpentier's Acteon and provided the players for a new, fully-staged production of Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, at Snape Maltings and the Globe Theatre, London. In 2005 with Harry Bicket the orchestra gave a concert performance of Purcell's The Fairy Queen at the Aldeburgh Festival and worked with Andreas Scholl and Christian Rieger at the Snape Proms. Since then, the orchestra has played Purcell's King Arthur with Laurence Cummings at Snape Proms, and in 2007, gave a joint concert with members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Freiburg Baroque Orchestra during their Aldeburgh Residency, as well as performing Bach's B Minor Mass as the closing concert of the Aldeburgh Festival.

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