A swirl of black specks, identifiable as a flock of birds, is the striking design for this year’s Aldeburgh festival programme. For a land of open skies and Suffolk wildfowl, this image of murmuration would suit any year: the one and the many, the symphony and the thousands of notes. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), with the tenor Peter Pears, founded the festival in 1948. He still has a greater number of works performed than anyone else. No complaints. He wrote enough music to avoid unwanted repetition.
Aldeburgh has evolved since Britten’s death, but its essence remains. Dedication to new generations is fierce, as it always was, but the atmosphere is more open, less cliquey. Across a fortnight of concerts, 45 premieres will have been performed. (The BBC Proms 2023, over eight weeks and 71 concerts, is doing well with 23.) This year’s featured artists are two contrasting composers of the same generation, the Icelandic Anna Thorvaldsdóttir (b 1977) and the Canadian Cassandra Miller (b 1976); Siberian-born pianist Pavel Kolesnikov and British baritone and composer Roderick Williams.
