A chance to hear the godson of composer Benjamin Britten give a talk about how musicians take inspiration from the countryside around them is on offer next week.

A chance to hear the godson of composer Benjamin Britten give a talk about how musicians take inspiration from the countryside around them is on offer next week.

Michael Berkeley, one of Britain's leading contemporary composers, as well as a distinguished conductor and broadcaster, is giving the annual Arthur Batchelor Lecture on Wednes-day at the University of East Anglia.

Entitled The influence of Landscape and Place on Music, Mr Berkeley will discuss how musicians such as his godfather, who advised on the creation of the university's School of Music, take inspiration from the countryside around them, with particular reference to East Anglia.

Mr Berkeley received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree at UEA in 2007 and has previously said that his earliest musical compositions were inspired by the north Norfolk landscape.

Son of the composer Sir Lennox Berkeley, Mr Berkeley started his musical career as a chorister at Westminster Cathedral, studied at the Royal Academy of Music and focused on composition in his late twenties.

The lecture is free and it starts at 7pm in Lecture Theatre 1. For further details, contact 01603 592130 or

e-mail events@uea.ac.uk.