Gloriana

To celebrate the 50th anniversaries of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I and of the opera written by Benjamin Britten to celebrate that event, Gloriana, the 56th Aldeburgh Festival presented two gala, semi-staged performances of the opera. The opera has, over the years, gained a reputation as one of the finest in the 20th century repertoire and Genesis is proud to have been able to help in making this revival possible, with performances that are bound to further enhance its reputation.

Gloriana is a succession of tableaux that gives a dignified and poignant portrait of Queen Elizabeth I as both a public and private individual and deals with her later years as well as her relationship with the much younger Essex.

The Aldeburgh Background

This celebration of Britten's opera Gloriana is being given at a suitable place. The Aldeburgh Festival was founded in 1948 by Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Eric Crozier. The idea for a Festival sprang from their desire to find a home for their touring opera company, the English Opera Group. From its inception it has aspired to be an international festival that drew on the distinctness of Aldeburgh and its surroundings. These Suffolk roots included not only the community as onlookers but also as participants.

Aldeburgh strives to be a Festival that is distinct. It is unique in that its parent, Aldeburgh Productions, also is responsible for the Britten Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies, Snape Maltings Concert Hall and Aldeburgh Education, all of which considerably enrich the festival mix.

In 1999 the Festival entered an exciting new phase when one of this country's leading young composers, Thomas Ad's, became Artistic Director. At only 29 Ad's already has an international reputation as a composer, pianist and conductor.

The Festival's audience come from all over the world, making the Festival important to the local economy, but a substantial number are locals.

The Facts

• In 1948 The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts was founded by the composer Benjamin Britten, the singer Peter Pears and the writer producer Eric Crozier.
• Centred on a small east coast fishing town in England, the Festival brought together many of the founder's friends - some of the world's leading musicians - for performances in the town's Jubilee Hall, the local parish church and other local venues.
• Many works by Britten and other composers were inspired by Aldeburgh and premiered in the town.
• The Festival, and its parent Aldeburgh Productions, always aspires to draw on the distinctness of Aldeburgh and its surroundings. From the very beginning, the local community have been involved as inspiration, onlookers and participants.
• Eventually, the spaces in Aldeburgh could no longer contain the audiences and artistic aspirations of the Festival. Plans were drawn up and funds raised to convert part of a large maltings at nearby Snape.
• Snape Maltings Concert Hall was opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1967.
• From a single annual Festival, activities have evolved continuously to encompass a year-round calendar of events and performances.

Aldeburgh Productions is now responsible for a wide variety of activity (classical, folk and jazz concerts, opera, contemporary dance), the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies, an education department and the management of one of the finest concert halls in Europe.