Theo enjoys internship at prestigious Aldeburgh music and arts festival
Music student Theo Kelly recently enjoyed gaining some invaluable experience of the music industry, as well as performing, at the prestigious Aldeburgh Festival.
Theo, who will shortly start the third year of his BMus (Hons) Music course, spent two and a half weeks at the classical music and culture festival that was originally established by composer Benjamin Britten in Aldeburgh in Suffolk on the Hesse Student Scheme.
Artist liaison, social media content, helping backstage and supporting the technical team that stage the festival’s performances were among the areas that Theo was involved in, giving him a new perspective on how music is shared with audiences.
Discover more about studying music at the University of Huddersfield
The festival was established in 1948 by Britten and his partner, the singer Peter Pears , and has become something of a pilgrimage to the Suffolk coast for lovers of classical music and culture.
Covered extensively by BBC Radio 3, the festival is a much-loved fixture in the British musical calendar and Theo was delighted to get the chance to experience it from all angles.
"Benjamin Britten was very interested in supporting the next generation of musicians, so this scheme was created to get some students into festival every year and get them learning about the music industry," says Reading-based Theo, a classical guitarist.
"There was a lot of work experience across all different aspects of the festival. This included working with marketing, putting up flyers and contacting the press. We went into the BBC Broadcasting van to look at how they broadcast the performances, we worked in the box office, backstage and with lighting and stage management.
"I also got involved on the heritage side as well, working in the Britten Pears Archive because they worked very closely with the museum half of the Red House where Britten and Pears lived.
"There were so many different things I was involved with, and I saw loads of concerts. It has really opened my eyes to different things I could do within the music industry.
“They were long days, and I was exhausted but it was an amazing experience. It was full on, but I loved it.”
Theo also got to perform some of his own compositions to festival goers at recitals.
“The recitals were not in the programme, but we were allowed to perform in the Red House's library,” adds Theo. “I performed work by other people and my own compositions, which was incredibly exciting.
“I was attracted to Huddersfield because it has such a strong music department, and also the links to the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. I could see the support for music at the university and that, along with the Contemporary Music Festival, was a really strong draw for me.”
Senior lecturer in Musicology Daniel White adds, “The Hesse Student Scheme is a fantastic and competitive opportunity, and I’m so pleased that Theo was able to spend so much time getting to grips with different aspects of the festival. It will have been an invaluable experience that will I’m sure inform both his final year studies with us and a bright future career in the industry.”