Dear Ben…

Cantate concludes its year-long focus on Benjamin Britten with a festive look at the composer’s era through the lens of his correspondence with musical contemporaries. On the program will be works by Francis Poulenc, Dmitri Shostakovich, Imogen Holst, Aaron Copland, Percy Grainger, and Lennox Berkeley. Excerpts from letters they exchanged with Britten will also be read, providing a musical tour of sorts through the 20th century.  In addition, the winning piece, by Joshua Fishbein, from Cantate’s 9th biennial Young Composers’ Contest will be performed.  This year’s competition entries were based on a quote from the introductory note of Britten’s A Simple Symphony, Op. 4.