Snape Maltings Concert Hall in Aldeburgh will reopen from Friday 21 August with live audiences. It joins the likes of London's Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall, both of which opened recently following the coronavirus lockdown.
Britten Pears Arts – the organisation which oversees the concert hall – has announced it will be offering short concerts every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as a series of free, informal outdoor performances by local musicians throughout the summer months.
The concerts will have reduced capacity to ensure social distancing guidelines are met, and face coverings will be required for all audience members.
The concerts will be shorter than usual, running at no longer than 45 minutes with no interval. This is to allow time for sufficient cleaning between each performance. There will be no printed tickets or programmes available.
The first weekend of live concerts will include a performance of works by Florence Price and Schubert from the Chineke! Chamber Ensemble; violin sonatas by Brahms and Franck from violinist Tasmin Little and pianist Martin Roscoe; a recital of Beethoven, Bridge and Rachmaninov from cellist Sheku and pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason.
Further concerts over the next few weeks will include performances from the London Philharmonic Orchestra strings, tenor Toby Spence, accordionist Samuele Telari, saxophonist Jess Gillam and the Elias Quartet.
The afternoon weekend performances will be 'pay what you can', while the evening concert tickets will cost £15.