The Aldeburgh Music Club was formed in 1952 by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears for local musicians, amateur and professional, to meet together to make music. At the outset club members practised amongst themselves in three groups consisting of recorders, singers and strings, and then met up to play at Club nights about once a month. Club nights were first held at Britten's and Pears's home, Crag House, and were for members only, the audience being provided by the non-occupied musicians.
Imogen Holst joined the Music Club shortly after its formation and she remained a member until her death, first acting as conductor and then as vice-president. Britten and Pears took an active part in the Club in the early years and then, when pressure of work prevented this, they provided their support in the roles of vice-president and president.
The club gave its first public concert on 26th August 1953 in Aldeburgh Parish Church in aid of the Friends of the Aldeburgh Festival, and the next year singers and recorder players performed Music on the Meare at Thorpeness during the Aldeburgh Festival. For many years the club continued this pattern of holding regular Club nights and occasional public concerts which raised funds for various causes.
Over the years the instrumental side of the club dwindled, with the result that outside orchestras have been engaged for concerts since 1982. The club singers, however, performed increasingly demanding works in several concerts a year and standards were raised. As the number of singers and scale of concerts grew, the club, now a choral society, performed in larger venues, including for the first time in April 1995, the Snape Maltings Concert Hall.
The Aldeburgh Music Club has performed a great wealth of music, both sacred and secular, since its formation, and members continue to meet together for the enjoyment of making music and to present public concerts in Aldeburgh and elsewhere in East Suffolk.
