This Friday, 22 November, at 2pm, Turner Sims, Southampton’s concert hall, hosts The Britten Stream, a live webcast as part of the international celebrations to mark the 100th birthday of composer Benjamin Britten.
The Britten Stream – a Friday Afternoons project
As part of the centenary celebrations over 100,000 young people across the world will sing Benjamin Britten’s ‘Friday Afternoons’ songs. ‘Friday Afternoons’ is a set of 12 songs composed by Britten between 1933 and 1935. The simple songs, with witty piano accompaniments, are dedicated to Britten’s schoolmaster brother, Robert, and the boys of Clive House preparatory school, Prestatyn – a school in which choir practice and singing lessons regularly took place on a Friday afternoon.
300 children from schools across Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton will sing a selection of the songs from the cycle in a live webcast hosted by pianist and broadcaster David Owen Norris. The event will also see the premiere of three new short films made by Southampton-based film organisation City Eye reflecting the local associations with Britten and his music.
The Britten Stream is a project devised and led by Turner Sims with its Music Hub partners in Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton. The project is supported with funding in kind from partners and with a grant from Aldeburgh Music and Arts Council England.
Three ways to watch the live webcast from Turner Sims
1) Via the University of Southampton’s page at www.livestream.com:
http://new.livestream.com/UniversityofSouthampton/events/2548464
2) Via the Friday Afternoons national project website:
http://www.fridayafternoonsmusic.co.uk/watch-live
3) Via The Guardian newspaper’s website as part of their Britten focus this week:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/series/britten-100-at-aldeburgh
Please note: This event will only be streamed online – there will be no seating available in Turner Sims to watch this event live.
The Britten Stream will be available to view for a limited time after Friday. Full details of this will be uploaded to the Turner Sims website turnersims.co.uk