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Wimbledon International Music Festival: Tales Behind the Music

Wimbledon International Music Festival: Tales Behind the Music

Storytelling is at the heart of this year’s Wimbledon International Music Festival…

This year, Wimbledon International Music Festival (WIMF) is celebrating its 16th anniversary and the focus is very much on storytelling. No one is better placed or integral to this theme than Tama Matheson, writer, actor and director who has over 20 years’ experience in theatre, film and opera.

He has written, directed and performed in plays all over the world, and has a particular passion for creating innovative and multidisciplinary dramatic works. This includes a series of music-plays or ‘lyric dramas’ which merge theatre and music, and at WIMF, Tama will be performing the classic tale of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra.

Tama will also be performing in a biographical concert-drama, The Wandering Tower, which tells the story of Prokofiev. He tells us: “This will be my third time at the WIMF and it is a fantastic music festival. It has so many wonderful players and genres, and founder Anthony Wilkinson is open to exploring many different forms.”

The approach aims to bring the classical music genre to a wider audience. “Anthony and I have struggled to find a word that describes the genre of merging theatre and music together. But it’s such an interesting concept and aims to break the mould in how classical music is presented.”

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Much of Tama’s work integrates the biographical story of the composer with their music, and he believes that in order to really appreciate music, then you need to know the people who created it. “In order to understand how deep and rich classical music can be, and how much it means, then people need to understand the context of the composer.”

“It’s my aim to grab people by the lapels through the drama of the story of the composer and then they are so much more receptive to the music they hear.” This year, Tama’s work at WIMF is largely based on Russian composer Prokofiev who had a hugely complex and intense life. “Sergei Prokofiev was working under the Russian Revolution, and then with the upheaval of the 20th century he went around Europe, as a kind of messenger of Russian ideology. He then moved back to Russia but very quickly he became at the mercy of Stalin, and his music was controlled. In some ways he wanted to be back in Russia, but in other ways he didn’t… It was a conflict for him.”

By immersing the drama within the music, the two work together to provide a wholly new experience. “When I did pieces around Bach, there was a point in the drama when we incorporated how a fugue is composed, and delivers an intricate description of the technique. This in isolation would be fairly dry but because it’s included in the drama then the audience is already hooked.” Tama started this type of genre years ago in Australia and the form has grown from there. “Regardless of the subject, I think the format works, both for those that know absolutely nothing to those that know everything. It covers all bases and leaves people immersed in richness. The music isn’t dumbed down or simplistic, it’s just easier to approach.”

Tama was born in London, and has lived in Germany, New Zealand and Australia. His father was a conductor. “I grew up with classical music everywhere and I couldn’t believe people wouldn’t love it as much as I do. It’s my big bid to make classical music rich, magical and exciting. There is such a tradition with classical pieces, whereby the audience can’t move and clapping in between movements is frowned upon… and that’s fine and has its place. But in order to make classical music more accessible to a wider range of people, we need to get rid of the affectations.”

WIMF Highlights 2-24 November

For the full listings, see: wimbledonmusicfestival.co.uk

Zuill Bailey & Piers Lane – Cello Recital

Zuill Bailey and Piers Lane, both co-commissioning partners with WIMF, offer two full-blooded romantic cello sonatas written by Chopin and Rachmaninov.

Leia Zhu, Violin Recital

Leia at just 17 is celebrated for her e Leia at just 17 is celebrated for her exceptional musical maturity and profound expressive interpretations. She is currently Artist in Residence with the London Mozart Players.

Steven Osborne, Piano Recital

Steven is one of the country’s most treasured musicians, and this recital will display the breadth of his musical interests, with the second half focusing on his particular love of jazz.

Joséphine, Counterpoise Ensemble

Joséphine tells the story, with text, visuals and movement, of the American-French dancer, singer and actress Joséphine Baker, notorious for her banana dance, but also a civil rights activist and champion of women’s rights.

Purcell: The Fairy Queen

The Armonico Consort have been in demand all over the UK to perform its version of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, but now the company turns its attention to Purcell’s greatest semi-opera with a specially adapted script from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.