Aldeburgh Festival 2025 Featured Artist, Allan Clayton shares his thoughts and experiences in a special interview for Britten Pears Arts.

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music and who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?

My family moved to Cambridgeshire when I was eight, and because two of my football-playing friends were in a boys’ choir, I went along with them on the nights they couldn’t play footy. It was run by a wonderfully mad Swede called Nicholas Bergström-Allen, who gave each kid a weekly singing lesson (for free) and made us all take Grade 5 singing and music theory exams.

I was exposed to all kinds of music – opera, choral, folk, pop – and we did at least one concert a month. Forty of us in matching jumpers, and all from memory (there were two junior choirs below us as well – it’s unthinkable now, sadly). It was also when I first sang solos of Britten’s music in his A Ceremony of Carols. I had no idea then how important and formative it was.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

Musically, there hasn’t been anything as all-consuming as Brett Dean’s Hamlet. It’s a staggering piece of music drama, and it’s bloody hard. I even dreamt last night that I was in a village hall rehearsing the sword fight with Laertes (sung by David Butt Philip)…

More personally/practically, I struggle with the lifestyle of a self-employed musician – I’m not a great traveller, and would generally rather be at home than abroad for nine months of the year.

There was also a difficult period when I left music college and singing became my job – there’s a different kind of pressure and mindset needed when a small, fragile part of the body is paying the rent (for the avoidance of doubt, I’m talking about my vocal cords here…).

Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?

As I said above, Hamlet was a very special event, with a wonderful group of people to make it happen (on/off/below-stage), and to have been able to perform it around the world has been a privilege.

More recently, Deborah Warner’s production of Peter Grimes has been everything that I could’ve hoped for, again with wonderful colleagues across the board. And I’m fresh off the back of performances of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s spectacular new opera Festen. The stars really aligned for that one, and I think it’s one of the most important and exciting operas of the last 50 years.

What do you do off-stage that provides inspiration on-stage?

I don’t know if it provides inspiration, but I do spend a lot of time with the music trying to work out how the character is feeling and how he might respond to the music at any given moment. Not just in opera, but in concert and song performances too. I hope it means I have more options when I’m in the moment on stage. I don’t know if that really answers the question.

What is your most memorable concert experience? Performing the round Ah! Poor bird in a Greek Orthodox Church outside Nablus with some locals and some close friends.

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

Making it on stage and performing the music as honestly as possible. Not being too annoyed with myself afterwards.

What advice would you give to young/ aspiring musicians? Perform as much as you can: whether it be at your school, the local pub, the village hall, busking outside Argos. You learn so much from these different circumstances, and your interaction with the audience (if there is one!) will help you develop different ways of approaching the music you’re making.

The above article is an edited version of the full interview with Allan Clayton, which can be found in this year’s Aldeburgh Festival Book.

This questionnaire was prepared and presented in partnership with Frances Wilson and Meet the Artist. For the complete archive of composer and artist interviews visit meettheartist.online