Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was a giant of twentieth-century music, and arguably the greatest of English classical composers.  Gifted since childhood, he became a renowned pianist and conductor.  The compositions, however, are his prime legacy: solo works, chamber music of every description, and a wealth of choral and dramatic music ranging from delightful works for local children (Noye’s Fludde, A Ceremony of Carols) to iconic full-scale operas (Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, A Midsummer Night’s Dream).

Our text for this Colloquy will be Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music by poet and author Neil Powell.  While researching Britten, Powell lived in the coastal town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk where the composer spent his last thirty years, and the book examines how the proximity of the sea found its way into the music.  A particular emphasis is how Britten and his partner, the great tenor Peter Pears, survived as gay artists and conscientious objectors in the social fabric of wartime and postwar England.

Tina Spencer Dreisbach, Ph.D. (Musicology/Early Music Performance Practice, Case Western Reserve University).  She studied also at the Baroque Performance Institute, Oberlin College, and Aston Magna Institute, Bard College.  She is Emerita Professor of Music at Hiram College in Ohio, where she taught all eras of classical music, jazz, world music, early rock & roll, writing and interdisciplinary courses with faculty in history, art history, and English.  She is a singer and choral conductor and plays baroque and Irish flute and concertina.  Tina lives in Brooklin where she leads the mystery book group at Friend Memorial Library.