Aldeburgh Festival | June 2026

Stirred by the vast skies and moody seas of Suffolk, Benjamin Britten was inspired to launch a festival that has since blossomed into a year-round concert venue at Snape Maltings. Every June, established solo artists assemble alongside up-and-coming musicians and internationally acclaimed orchestras to bring us works both old and new, grand and small-scale, performed in Snape Maltings’ world-famous Concert Hall as well as the venue’s newer buildings and local churches.

 
Concerts exemplify Britten's wide-ranging musical interests, the astonishingly high calibre of the Aldeburgh 'family' of artists, and the legacy of education championed here each summer.

 
We open with a new semi-staged production of Debussy’s enigmatic Pelléas et Mélisande, a work so innovative the director of the Paris Conservatoire forbade his students from attending performances. A clutch of operatic greats – including Sophie Bevan, Sarah Collony, Jacques Imbrailo and John Tomlinson – will take to the stage, while award-winning actor Rory Kinnear directs and featured artist Ryan Wigglesworth conducts. We will attend the festival’s second performance before delving into the myriad of musical offerings presented on the following afternoons and evenings.

 
At the heart of the programming is the much-lauded conductor, composer and pianist Ryan Wigglesworth – Aldeburgh’s featured artist in 2026. Leading the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with pianist Steven Osborne, he will present works by Elizabeth Ogonek and Ravel alongside his own piano concerto.

 
Much-loved composers take pride of place, from Schubert’s engrossing Lieder (including Der Tod und das Mädchen and Erlkönig) sung by prize-winning Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, to a selection of Bach Sonatas with acclaimed violinist Isabelle Faust and harpsichordist Kristian Bezuidenhout; while the Maxwell Quartet presents chamber works by Prokofiev and Brahms alongside a new work by Jamaican composer Eleanor Alberga, OBE. We are particularly pleased to be in Aldeburgh for the Sunday morning festival service, this year featuring music by Britten and Howells courtesy of the Britten Pears Chamber Choir.

 
Appropriately for an anniversary tour, our final concert spotlights Britten’s Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op 68. There could be no better ensemble to bring this famous work to life than the innovative Britten Sinfonia with cellist Laura van der Heijden, winner of the 2012 BBC Young Musician of the Year award. Works by Steve Stelios Adam, Lisa Illean and Brett Dean feature alongside Britten’s masterpiece.
 
Taking advantage of our stay in Suffolk, the tour will offer the opportunity to soak up the atmosphere and heritage of the local area. We will learn about the life and legacy of Britten with a visit to The Red House, the composer’s former home, and make an excursion to Sutton Hoo – site of the famous Anglo-Saxon ship burial, the discovery of which was dramatised in the British film The Dig.

 
Our base for the tour will be the characterful four-star Brudenell Hotel, situated a stone’s throw from Aldeburgh’s beachfront. The rooms, which have been sympathetically decorated, command beautiful views of the sea or Suffolk countryside.

Tour Director Nicholas Wearne, BA, MPhil – a former ACE Bursary student – is Senior Tutor at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and a busy freelance musician. His career as a solo organist has taken him all over the world and he is a previous winner of the Poul Ruders Prize at the Odense International Organ Competition. Nicholas has held prestigious positions at New College, Oxford; St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh; and St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square.