Britten Centenary

A Festival of Britten at Gresham’s

Plans for a festival to commemorate the centenary of OG Benjamin Britten’s birth in 2013 are now well in hand with many exciting events planned both regionally and nationally.  As a pupil in Farfield between 1928 and 1930, and just before Britten studied at the Royal College of Music, Gresham’s stands in a unique position in the composer’s life and we are therefore proud to be hosting a great many events which will make the school a focus for the centenary.

Pictured right a young Benjamin Britten

Our annual world-class subscription concert series, which has in the past attracted such names as Alison Balsom (Female Artist of the Year Classical Brit Awards 2011) and Stephen Hough, will continue to bring the very finest professional performers to our Auden Theatre.  We are delighted that Thomas Hobbs (tenor), as a past recipient of the Peter Pears Scholarship at the Royal College of Music, has agreed to recreate a concert that Britten and Pears gave in Big School in 1964.

Performances by the school’s musicians will include a year-long emphasis on Britten’s choral music with concerts to include large scale works such as the War Requiem and St Nicholas, as well as the smaller choral pieces such as ‘Hymn to the Virgin’ which Britten wrote in the school’s sanatorium in 1930. 

 
Pictured Auden Theatre with the Britten Memorial Stone  

Pictured right OG composers; Britten and Sir Lennox Berkeley (Howsons 1914-18)

Other highlights of the school’s festival include a specially commissioned dramatisation of Britten’s years at the school and the performances of a number of Britten’s original manuscripts held in the school’s archive, including a song entitled ‘Farfield’ which Britten wrote for the school’s ‘Grasshopper’ magazine in 1955.  The school will also host an exhibition with various artefacts associated to Britten at Gresham’s and we are very pleased to be welcoming visiting Britten scholars, including Dr Lucy Walker of the Britten-Pears Foundation, to give a series of lectures on Britten to be held rather appropriately in our Auden Theatre.

There will be many opportunities for the local community to get involved with the Festival of Britten at Gresham’s with exciting collaborations planned with North Norfolk District Council, Orchestras Live, and many local schools.

To view the proposed Britten 100 events at Gresham's click here

For further information on the Festival of Britten at Gresham’s, please contact Nathan Waring, Director of Music, on 01263 714584 or by emailing nwaring@greshams.com..
 

The photo below features the title page to a song dedicated to Britten's boarding house during his time at Gresham's, first published in the school magazine in 1955

This web page will continue to be updated with events and news once planned, please check the site regularly for updates.