Benjamin Britten
British Hallé Orchestra in Manchester performs tonight (3/10/13) the public premiere of music written by Benjamin Britten for radio broadcasts during World War II. The concert led by Music Director Mark Elder opens with ‘Britten in Wartime’ which journeys back to 1942 when an anxious public in Britain and America tuned in to a special CBS radio broadcast jointly commissioned with the War Office – ‘An American in England’. Benjamin Britten had been brought onboard to score the series of drama documentaries. The premiere this evening explores one of the broadcasts, ‘Women of Britain’, which focused on the role of British women and their part in the war effort. Samuel West will narrate excerpts from the original script, as the Hallé perform Britten’s music in public for the first time, 70 years after it was composed.
