continues

A Nursing Sister from Queen Charlotte’s Hospital
with the latest Oxygen tent. 1948 © TopFoto
SEPTEMBER southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise | tickets: 0844 847 9913
10
1945 – 1975
A weekend of talks and films, plus concerts in September and October
which uncover post-war Britain through Benjamin Britten’s music.
‘I believe in roots, in associations, in backgrounds, in personal relationships’,
Benjamin Britten once said, and there is perhaps no composer whose work
has so powerfully grappled with ideas of place, identity and community. The
windswept fishing town of Aldeburgh was the place Britten called home. His
works channel the rhythm of the waves, the vast expanse of the ocean, and
the sense of isolation and marginalisation, feelings as English in their way as
the imperial certainties of earlier times. Britten was a steely individual – in the
fraught Cold War atmosphere after the war, Britten’s pacifism, his socialist
leanings and his homosexuality contributed to his own sense of being an
outsider. While Britten was fully engaged with the avant-garde music of his
time, his constant belief in the duty of the musician to communicate to the
modern audience led to his music being viewed with suspicion by some.
‘I believe in roots, in associations,
in backgrounds, in personal
relationships’ benjamin britten
Britten’s dark and brooding operatic masterpiece Peter Grimes tells the story of
a fisherman driven to a watery grave by a claustrophobic and oppressive village
community. First staged a month after VE day, it secured Britten’s status as
one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. As Britten changed the face
of British opera, we look at the other changes that were occurring in post-war
Britain from the Windrush Generation to the National Health Service.
Residents of Hawes Steet Byker prepare to
celebrate the Queen’s Coronation, June
1953 © Trinity Mirror / Mirropix / Alamy
Benjamin Britten on the
beach at Aldeburgh
© britten100.org /
Photo: Hans Wild
SATURDAY 28 –
SUNDAY 29 SEPTEMBER
weekend events from 10am
Music that moved a nation.
In the fraught atmosphere of the Cold War, despite Britten’s pacifism,
socialist leanings and homosexuality, he became one of the most
celebrated composers of his time. However, his tonal, communicative music
was viewed as suspicious by some of his avant-garde contemporaries. We look at his
remarkable work in the context of post-war Britain.
IN DEPTH DISCUSSIONS
• Alex Ross, author of The Rest Is Noise,
looks at how composers navigated the
fractured cultural universe at the end of
the Second World War.
• Alexandra Harris, author of Romantic
Moderns, discusses how George Piper
and Graham Sutherland returned to
landscapes after the Second World War
with artist George Shaw.
• Paul Kildea, author of Benjamin Britten:
A Life in the Twentieth Century gives a
survey of this original and complex mind.
• The arrival of the SS Empire Windrush
in June 1948 marked the beginning of
post-war mass migration. Paul Gilroy,
Lawrence Scott and Susheila Nasta
discuss The Windrush Generation.
BITES: YOUR WHISTLE-STOP TOUR
15 minutes on some of the need-to-know
topics of the era.
• We look back at the life and labours
of the National Health Service, now
almost 60 years old.
• Following the destruction of the
Second World War there was a great
rise in pacifism across Britain.
• Imogen Holst – the overlooked but
talented composer who travelled the
world, helped composers exiled by fascism
and was an invaluable support to Britten.
• The Angry Young Men included writers John
Osborne and Kingsley Amis in their ranks.
But who were they angry with and why?
FOR MORE DETAILS, SPEAKERS, TOPICS AND TIMINGS, GO TO
SOUTHBANKCENTRE.CO.UK/THERESTISNOISE
BREAKFAST WITH Britten
Grab a coffee and delve inside the music
of The Rest Is Noise festival. Composer
John Browne leads a fun and informal
workshop about Britten’s Peter Grimes.
LIVE MUSIC
Britten and Russia – Alexander Ivashkin
and Andrew Zolinsky present a programme
of Britten’s cello music inspired by the
composer’s friendship with Shostakovich
and Rostropovich.
Noye’s Fludde – Britten’s colourful opera
inspired by Noah and his ark.
LISTEN TO THIS
Don’t know where to start? Michael
Berkeley, broadcaster, composer and
Britten’s godson, brings Britten’s music
to life in these beginner’s guides.
FILM SCREENINGS
Including our feature film
Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson.
DAY PASs £15*
WEEKEND pASS £25*
*Concerts are not included in the
Day or Weekend Passes
BFI Southbank presents a season focused
on Britten on Film and TV in September and
October bfi.org.uk/britten
TURN OVER FOR
FULL DETAILS OF
THE WEEKEND
SEPTEMBER
southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise | tickets: 0844 847 9913
11