‘We never seem to get over looking for the next Benjamin Britten. It’s a stupid game’ – Robert Saxton, Professor of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and teacher of Thomas Adès.

Benjamin Britten famously only had one student. Despite this, his legacy remains unavoidable for the contemporary British composer, with the premiere of Peter Grimes in 1945 kickstarting a revival of the British opera scene. This lecture will look at different forms of British opera post-Peter Grimes, featuring both composers who revered Britten and those who tried to escape his shadow.

We will begin with works created in Britten’s lifetime by Vaughan Williams and Tippett, and continuing to explore right up to works of this decade by George Benjamin and Roxanna Panufnik.