Richard Alston Dance Company, Mark Padmore, Allison Cook, Andrew West, Britten Sinfonia, Pekka Kuusisto, Aldeburgh Voices

Aldeburgh Music and DanceEast present a compelling combination of Benjamin Britten’s music with choreography by Richard Alston, one of the most influential figures in dance, internationally recognised for his instinctive musicality. The programme features the world premiere of Alston’s choreography to Britten’s string orchestra arrangement of his beloved Henry Purcell’s Chacony.

The taut drama of Phaedra (nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production), contrasts with his succinctly intimate Holderlin Fragments (‘choreography that dazzles’ – The Stage). Rejoice in the Lamb ‘matches the charm of the music and whimsy of the text, and suggests the filtering, imagistic quality of Smart’s imagination’ – The New York Times. And the sheer exhilaration of Les Illuminations takes wild imagery from the life of French poet Arthur Rimbaud and lifts it to the heights in Britten’s inspired setting.

Britten Sinfonia, Pekka Kuusisto and Allison Cook resume their acclaimed collaboration with Richard Alston Dance Company, performing on-stage with one of the world’s leading tenors, Mark Padmore, Aldeburgh Voices and Andrew West.