Britten 100 - First Instalment
On 19 October Southampton staff and students mounted the first of several events celebrating Benjamin Britten's centenary. As part of Turner Sims's inaugural Folksong Day, Southampton's Professor of Performance and Head of Keyboard, David Owen Norris, led student singers and pianists through Britten's complete folksong arrangements, works for voice and piano based on traditional tunes.
Musicians from the Southampton-based Fo'c'sle Folk club joined the students for the Best of Britten: performances of Britten's best-loved folk song arrangements, with contrasting performances of traditional versions of some of the songs Britten arranged, as well as some Southampton-inspired folksongs of more recent vintage.
Music's next event for the Britten centenary - Britten and Mahler is on 17 November. Britten's landmark Serenade and his choral cantata Rejoice in the Lamb, in a rarely-heard orchestration by Imogen Holst, feature alongside an unaccompanied anthem the composer wrote age 16, and Mahler's Blumine, which received its UK premiere under Britten’s baton at the 1967 Aldeburgh Festival.
