08, Jan

In Association with Gloucester Music Society and the GMG

Benjamin Britten – A Time There Was
Dir: Tony Palmer
(UK 1979. 103 mins)

At a time when it was illegal to be openly homosexual, Britten and his lover Peter Pears faced up to a hostile world with unflinching dignity, producing a string of masterpieces that helped establish English music as internationally pre-eminent in the middle years of the 20th century. Contributors to this definitive portrait of the great composer include Leonard Bernstein, Sviatoslav Richter, Janet Baker, Julian Bream, Heather Harper, Imogen Holst, John Shirley-Quirk, Rudolf Bing and Henry Moore as well as Pears and Britten themselves.

Tony Palmer is one of the leading directors of music documentaries and historical drama films in the world. In the 60s he worked for Ken Russell and Jonathan Miller at the BBC before achieving considerable notoriety with All My Loving, a revolutionary examination of rock n’ roll and politics. Since then his hundred or so films have won scores of international prizes including the Prix d’Italia, twice. We are privileged to welcome him again to the Guildhall.

gmg members get a special concessionary rate of £4.50

07.30PM - 11:00PM |