Read the press reviews from our 77th Aldeburgh Festival performances.
The annual gathering at Snape Maltings has Britten at its heart, but a whole world of talent at its fingertipsFiona Maddocks, The Observer
12 and 13 June: Pelléas et Mélisande
13 June: Lise Davidsen: Schubert
I’ve heard few operatic voices as beautiful as thisNicholas Kenyon, The Telegraph
Bachtrack *****
Opera Now *****
14 June: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Steven Osborne
jazz energy meets its match in French insouciance
17 June: London Sinfonietta: Henze’s Voices and Britten Sinfonia: Cello Symphony
I loved it... struck just the right balance between revolutionary fervour and wry irony
18 June: Britten Sinfonia: Phaedra
Iain Farrington relished the storming scales and swooping glissandi of the piano part and the strings played with such unanimous rhythmic drive they ended sharing beaming grins with each other. We all smiled too
20 June: BBC National Orchestra of Wales II: Tamsin Waley-Cohen
Tamsin Waley-Cohen with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
©Britten Pears ArtsGenerous, disciplined, written for exactly the player performing it – Aldeburgh’s world premiere doesn’t cower
21 June: Last Impressions: Schubert
We came for Schubert. What we got was something rarer
23 June: Carducci Quartet: Kurtág and Reich
Coaxing sounds from silence’s invisible fabric... wonderfully triumphantPwyll ap Sion, Bachtrack
25 June: Electric Twilight
Sean Shibe performing in front of The Family of Man, by Barbara Hepworth
©Britten Pears Arts...nothing beats being present in a moment when something beyond the sum of its musical and visual parts is experienced – something unique, vital, unmatchable and irreplaceable
27 June: Knussen Chamber Orchestra I: Lawrence Power
Knussen Chamber Orchestra
©Britten Pears Artscast a perceptible spell over the Snape Maltings Concert Hall