This was the 19th course at Snape since Olly Knussen and I founded it in 1992, bringing the total number of composers who have taken part to 111. It could hardly have been more successful, although we’ve come to expect an extraordinary level of performance from the ensemble and singers, performing new work every day as well as mainstream contemporary repertoire under the expert direction of Jonathan Berman. To his left are the 6 composers who took part, from right to left, Connie Harris, Agnes Vrânceanu, Goi Ywei Chern, Jingyu Chen, Ben Pease Barton and Leo Gatty. Sonya Knussen, who took the photo, gave support throughout, as she has over many years, alongside the incredibly helpful production team of Matt Walker and Betsa Collins.
Composing a piece from scratch in little more than a week is very demanding, but although there were a few scary moments, all of the composers successfully managed to write around 5 minutes of really accomplished music, four of them setting their own words for our two excellent sopranos, Olivia Moss and Emily Beech, who were happily supervised by Claire Booth. The composers will have the opportunity to rework their pieces for next year’s Aldeburgh Festival.