The lecture will explore this fascinating friendship, bringing the arts together and celebrating the hundredth anniversary in 2013 of Britten’s birth. Benjamin Britten met the Pipers in 1936 and their friendship lasted until Britten’s death in 1976. John designed many opera sets and costumes and Myfanwy created three librettos including Death in Venice and The Turn of the Screw. As Alan Blyth wrote in his book on Britten “their friendship began, developed and strengthened through their working together, and that succeeded because they all had a passion for a unity of the Arts in the Theatre. What sounded good must look good, and what made musical sense must also make visual and poetic sense as well”.
Ms Janet Canetty Clarke is a Lecturer in Music for the Centre for Community Engagement at Sussex University, with individual lectures for Cambridge University, for London University , and for U3A and the WEA. Conductor Emeritus of The Sussex Chorus for 37 years. Guest conductor of Frauen-Kammerorchester von Österreich in Vienna for 16 years.