Britten Sinfonia announces 2023-24 season

British chamber orchestra Britten Sinfonia has revealed the details of its upcoming 2023-24 season. Following the successful launch of the ensemble’s crowdfunding campaign Play On, the upcoming season is set to include a mix of premieres, concert collaborations and opera as well as three tours.

Following a 100% cut in Arts Council England funding which left a £1m hole in the ensemble’s budget over the next three years, Britten Sinfonia will present a full 2023-24 season thanks to fundraising efforts launched earlier this year. Having recently passed over £300,000 in donations, the ensemble is on its way to its £1m target.

Meurig Bowen, Britten Sinfonia’s chief executive and artistic director, said: ‘There is still a long way to go, but we are in conversation with a number of individuals and organisations whose contributions could generate significant steps towards our £1m goal. Play On is all about securing our future – the best kind of future, that enables us to programme future seasons at our usual high level of artistic ambition. Happily, the support we have received so far has ensured that our current and immediately forthcoming activity is in no way compromised.’ 

The season will kick off next week at Saffron Hall (14 October) with the launch of a tour with soprano Elizabeth Watts. The programme will feature the world premiere of Richard Blackford’s new song cycle Songs of Nadia Anjuman which sets poems by the Afghan poet, alongside the premiere of a new work by Ryan Latimer commissioned by Britten Sinfonia. The programme will travel to Norwich and London as well as to the Spanish city of Bilbao. Britten Sinfonia’s touring performance of Handel’s Messiah in Mozart’s arrangement under the leadership of conductor Sofi Jeannin will also start out in Saffron Hall before traveling to London’s Barbican Hall.

Britten Sinfonia will welcome a host of collaborators throughout its upcoming season, with cellist and composer Abel Selaocoe joining the orchestra for a concert inspired by Tavener’s and tenor Nicky Spence and horn player Ben Goldscheider performing a programme of Britten, Mozart and Judith Weir alongside the ensemble. Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, recorder player Michala Petri and violinist Jacqueline Shave will also join Britten Sinfonia for a complete cycle of Bach’s keyboard concertos, further collaborators will include tenors Allan Clayton and Guy Cutting, horn player Martin Owen, clarinettist Anthony McGill, and saxophonist Jess Gillam.

The orchestra will also work with New York City Ballet on a performance of Rotunda, with choreography by Justin Peck and music by Nico Muhly as well as with The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Singers on operas by Martinu and John Harbison.

Despite the hit to its budget, Britten Sinfonia will continue its engagement programmes including its Magnum Opus and Opus 1 composer development programmes, its residency at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and its work in schools across the East of England. The orchestra will also launch a new project encouraging young people to compose and a new residency, We Are Breckland.