Britten Pears Arts Unveils Autumn Winter 2026 Season
By Afton Markay(Photo credits: Sharp, Clarke, Williams)
Britten Pears Arts’ Autumn Winter 2026 season has been announced.
Here is a look at the vocal works on the program.
The Britten Pears Young Artist Programme presents a vocal and chamber recital.
Performance Date: Sept. 10, 2026
The Gesualdo Six present “Death of Gesualdo.” Owain Park directs.
Performance Date: Oct. 18, 2026
Baritone Roderick Williams stars in “My Father Cannot Speak,” a new one-act opera by Ben Parry and Garth Bardsley. The program also includes mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly performing Parry and Bardsley’s “Songs for Girls of a Certain Age.” The MFCS Ensemble and pianist Malcolm Martineau join. Parry conducts.
Performance Date: Oct. 24, 2026
English Touring Opera presents Gluck’s “Orpheus and Eurydice.”
Performance Date: Oct. 30, 2026
A double bill of Elena Langer’s “Ariadne” and Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” is performed by the English Touring Opera.
Performance Date: Oct. 31, 2026
Soprano Katherine Broderick performs in a concert honoring a friend of Britten Pears Arts, Anne Cuddigan.
Performance Date: Nov. 1, 2026
Mezzo-soprano Lydia Shariff and pianist Francesca Lauri give a concert featuring works by Sally Beamish, Mahler, Purcell, Handel, Britten, and Maurice Jacobson.
Performance Date: Nov. 6, 2026
The Christ Church Cathedral Choir present a concert in celebration of its 500th anniversary. Peter Holder directs.
Performance Date: Nov. 14, 2026
HAUI and Peter Hinton-Davis’ “Tiresias²” is performed. This new work was developed during their Residency.
Performance Date: Dec. 4, 2026
Soprano Alice Coote and pianist Christian Blackshaw perform Schubert’s “Winterreise.”
Performance Date: Dec. 5, 2026
Tenor Benjamin Hulett joins the BBC Singers, Britten Pears Chamber Choir, London Youth Choir (LYC Boys), and the Britten Sinfonia in a concert featuring Britten and Pärt. Owain Park conducts and Zoë Beyers directs the Britten Sinfonia.
Performance Date: Dec. 5, 2026
Scratch Choir, a Snape Maltings tradition presents Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols” with conductor Ben Vonberg-Clark and harpist Miriam Keogh.
Performance Date: Dec. 8, 2026
Soprano Ceferina Penny and baritone Jonathan Eyers solo in a concert of holiday classics with the Britten Pears Chamber Choir and BBC Concert Orchestra. Anne Maria Helsing conducts.
Performance Date: Dec. 11, 2026
Britten’s “Canticles” features soloists tenor Allan Clayton, countertenor Iestyn Davies, and baritone Peter Brathwaite. They are accompanied by pianist James Baillieu, harpist Olivia Jageurs, and horn player Richard Watkins.
Performance Date: Dec. 12, 2026
Errollyn Wallen’s opera “A Christmas Miracle,” inspired by Britten’s unrealised community opera, “A Christmas Sequence” stars sopranos Hilary Cronin, Emma Tring, countertenor Andrew Watts, mezzo-soprano Idunnu Münch, and baritone Robert Gildon with voice actor Nick Mercer. They are also joined by many community performers. Frederic Wake-Walker is the stage director, Jodi Rabinowitz is the lighting designer, and Ruth Paton is the designer. John Andrews conducts musicians from Ensemble X.
Performance Dates: Dec. 20 & 21, 2026
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