As the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme celebrates its 50th anniversary, Tom Stewart speaks to past and present staff and students
Britten-Pears Arts
In October 1976, the tenor Peter Pears was in Canada to perform music by Benjamin Britten, his partner of 37 years. Midway through a newspaper interview, the phone rang. The news from Suffolk was bad: Britten, just 62 but with a failing heart, was fading quickly. As it was, he would be dead before Christmas. ‘The festival is secure, thank God. The big push now is to get the study centre at Aldeburgh properly established,’ Pears told the reporter after hanging up. It was, he said, ‘Ben’s greatest wish’.
Known today as the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme (BPYAP), the ‘study centre’ started life in 1972, when nine singers were invited to Snape Maltings to take part in a masterclass given by Pears alongside his teacher Lucie Manen. The following 50 years have seen musicians at the beginnings of their (very often illustrious) careers come to Aldeburgh to experiment, collaborate and take risks outside the hierarchical structures of music college. BPYAP has evolved away from the confines of the masterclass format in which it began, when Pears guided the students with patrician charm through music by Schubert, Purcell and, of course, Britten. Today, it comprises courses for instrumentalists, singers and composers, as well as residencies for chamber music groups. Everything is offered free of charge, with transport and accommodation costs covered too.
‘It’s a testament to the opportunities we get from Britten-Pears that we’re performing major roles at a venue like this,’ says current Britten-Pears young artist Jolyon Loy, who will make his debut at the Royal Opera House (ROH) Linbury Theatre in November. British baritone Loy takes up the role of Tarquinius in Britten’s second opera, The Rape of Lucretia, alongside singers from BPYAP and the ROH Jette Parker Artists Programme, with performances at Snape Maltings at the end of October before the production transfers to Covent Garden. ‘Every company is waiting for a sign from someone else that they should take the risk and employ you,’ Loy continues. ‘Without a chance like this, it’s just so hard to break through.’
New Zealand baritone Kieran Rayner stars alongside Loy as Junius, and agrees with his assessment. ‘Once you’re at the stage where you’re workin
