Britten Sinfonia marks Britten’s 50th with Copland
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- Britten Sinfonia presented a concert program split mainly between works by Benjamin Britten and Aaron Copland, marking the 50th anniversary of Britten’s death.
- Zoë Beyers directed the performance from the violin, launching a taut, witty rendition of Britten’s Young Apollo, a fanfare commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Elizabeth Watts performed the soprano solo in Britten’s Les Illuminations, displaying expressive control across her vocal range.
- Paul Bowles’s Six Piano Preludes were interspersed, highlighting a historic dispute with Britten over piano rights in a Brooklyn Heights sharehouse.
- Oleg Shebeta-Dragan served as the Ukrainian clarinet soloist for Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, delivering a blistering, collaborative performance.
- Aaron Copland’s ballet Appalachian Spring was performed in its original chamber scoring, showcasing a range from crystalline vulnerability to rustic bowing and quasi‑machinic precision.
- Huw Watkins provided piano accompaniment throughout, his mercurial scales and glissando evoking audible giggles from the audience.
Why it matters: The concert gives audiences a fresh, immersive experience of Britten and Copland’s repertoire, revitalizing rarely heard pieces such as Young Apollo and Bowles’ Preludes, while highlighting the talents of emerging artists like Zoë Beyers and Oleg Shebeta‑Dragan, thereby strengthening the cultural relevance of mid‑20th‑century Anglo‑American music.
