“What and where is North? Well, North is North. It's a point on a compass. But what kind of North depends on where you are geographically and what your thoughts are about Northerness.”

Join writer and musicologist, Dr Lucy Walker, as she introduces the exploration of North that forms an intriguing thread of the programming for the 76th Aldeburgh Festival.

Three events form the heart of this idea. On 17 June, we welcome the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Iceland Philharmonic Choir for Northern Lights, a special recording of Friday Night Is Music Night for BBC Radio 3.

Speak of the North, discusses words and music inspired by our contemporary sense of northern-ness and the notions of living at the margins. This will be further brought to life in The Idea of North which includes a major new song cycle from award-winning composer Gavin Higgins.

The thread weaves further through the Festival encompassing celebrations of the summer solstice, symphonies by Sibelius and Nielsen and two Finnish stars, Anu Komsi and Sakari Oramo, who will join us for collaborations including Kurtág’s Kafka-Fragments.