The Aldeburgh Festival 2024 is the 75th in the Festival’s history. So this promises to be a special year in the life of this Festival. After the first Festival in 1948, the writer E.M. Forster noted that “a festival must be festive and it must possess something which is distinctive and which could not be so well presented elsewhere. Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast fulfilled these conditions”. The Festival continues to be distinctive and is recognised nationally and internationally, not least for its unique combination of music and place, with events presented in the wonderful surroundings of Snape, Aldeburgh and other Suffolk settings. Four featured musicians – violinist Daniel Pioro, cellist Alban Gerhardt and composers Unsuk Chin and Judith Weir – form a backbone of the programming and there is an exciting mix of opera, orchestras, choirs, singers, dance, chamber music, recitals, films, talks and a thrilling range of music from the medieval to the brand new, alongside a fascinating visual arts programme. We will also reflect our rich heritage with a number of events which recreate significant moments in the Festival’s history. Join us in celebrating this remarkable milestone in the vibrant legacy of the Aldeburgh Festival 2024. We look forward to welcoming you in June.

Britten Pears Arts is a pioneering cultural charity based in Suffolk. It emerged from the determination of composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, singer Peter Pears, to ensure that everyone could enjoy and experience music. Britten Pears Arts aims to continue their legacy to develop talent, celebrate their heritage and engage with communities.

We use music to transform people’s lives, to bring communities together and enhance daily life. We want the arts to effect powerful positive change in, and for, society; or, as Britten himself would have put it, making the arts “useful.”

The organisation has a long history dating back to when Britten and Pears founded the Aldeburgh Festival in 1948 and moved into The Red House in Aldeburgh in 1957. It became Britten Pears Arts in April 2020 when Snape Maltings, formerly Aldeburgh Music, and the Britten-Pears Foundation, that ran Britten and Pears’ estate, merged.

Today, Snape Maltings and The Red House have become cultural destinations. There are independent shops, art galleries, restaurants and cafés, as well as the world-famous Snape Maltings Concert Hall. 100% of the profits from these businesses go towards the charitable work of Britten Pears Arts.

Our vision is to be both a locally relevant and internationally recognised cultural organisation, firmly rooted in the Suffolk countryside. In many ways, we are one of a kind.