(Credit: Britten Pears Arts)

Britten Pears Arts has launched the O’Hare Music Centre, a music education and artist development hub housed in the newly refurbished Britten Pears Building at Snape Maltings in Suffolk.

The Centre brings the organization’s work with children, young people, and emerging professional musicians under one roof, with programs ranging from early years sessions to advanced training for musicians up to age 18. It also hosts training and creative development for established professionals through the Britten Pears Young Artist and Residencies programs. The refurbishment is phase one of the organization’s Capital Programme.

A new partnership with the Norfolk & Suffolk Music Hub will support the Centre’s work with young people over the next several years. It includes termly performance opportunities, a weekly Saturday school during term, and new singing groups on Friday afternoons. The organization will also focus on young people who cannot access mainstream education, including those who are home educated or attend Pupil Referral Units, and will later develop resources for music provision for students with special educational needs and disabilities.

“The O’Hare Music Centre is an exciting new chapter for Britten Pears Arts and for music-making in Suffolk. Rooted in the vision of our founders, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, it will bring artists, young people and communities together at Snape Maltings to learn, experiment and make music,” Chief Executive Andrew Comben said, per an official press release.

From June of next year, the Centre will operate within the Aldeburgh Festival, including the annual Festival Academy. The Young Artist Programme, founded in 1972 by Britten and Pears, and the Composition and Performance course, established in 1992 by Oliver Knussen and Colin Matthews, will also continue at Snape Maltings.