A lovely interview by the Cheltenham Festival has gone online, in which I talk about getting children to try Classical Music. It’s all in preparation for the performances I’ll be giving there this summer, with the extraordinary Orchestra of the Music Makers from Singapore.
The article is titled: Maestro – but of course the true maestro will be the Singaporean conductor Chan Tze Law, a charming man, passionate about getting children and new audiences to concerts.
The first performance is on Saturday July 7th at 12 noon, in the beautiful Town Hall in Cheltenham. I’m really looking forward to returning to the festival and honoured to be working with such top notch musicians. There will be a repeat performance at the Lichfield Festival – details to follow very soon!
Here’s the interview. There is a link after it for booking tickets, if you are interested!
Live painting to live music – thatís quite an unusual combination. What should people expect from the concert?
The Orchestra of Music Makers will be performing one of my absolute favourite pieces, Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. He was a magician with the orchestra, who loved turning fairy tales and legends into music. He was really a musical illustrator! As well as narrating the stories I’ll also be creating big illustrations, live on stage, as the orchestra plays. The pictures give children an accessible way in to understanding what the music is about. So audiences can expect to be swept along by the glorious music, hear tales from the Arabian Nights, and watch pictures grow and change on a big screen, before their very eyes!
Why did you choose Arabian nights?
I loved old movies about Sinbad and magical genies when I was a child, and they led me to the Arabian Nights. What a treasure trove of stories! They are full of pictures I want to draw and paint! Rimsky-Korsakov did not want to be very specific about which stories inspired him, but he left several clues. I have tried to be as authentic as possible. In reading many versions of the Arabian Nights I have found all sorts of fascinating and sometimes less famous stories that are extraordinarily strange and beautiful. Expect tales about pomegranates and genies and sea monsters and diamonds as big as rocks, and a princess as beautiful as the moon…!
Why is it important for children to experience the arts?
All children are naturally creative. They want to explore making marks and sounds. It’s all about communicating. But nowadays there are so many distractions, some children don’t find time to hear the whole arc of a story, to lose themselves in music, or to explore making pictures. Yet all these things are important if we want our children to know how to express themselves. Being creative is a useful skill in any walk of life. I also believe that the arts simply improve the quality of life. Introducing a child to the concert hall at a young age is a wonderful gift. Combined with art and storytelling, this is the perfect introduction to classical music.
Should families try drawing to music at home?
Yes! Absolutely! I always listen to music when I paint. You need music that isn’t too long and is ‘catchy’ (has tunes!), and get them to draw or paint in time to the music, finishing as the music does. Sometimes it’s fun racing along with a short piece, like The Flight of the Bumble Bee (about a Russian prince who has been turned into a bee by a magic Swan-Princess). Or you could try something longer like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. You can paint the story, or just make abstract colourful pictures. The 1812 overture by Tchaikovsky is good for that! YouTube is great for finding pieces to use this way.
What’s next for you?
I love exploring the folk tales and legends behind the music. I’m absolutely passionate about this, and I truly believe it is a unique and magical combination of the arts for children. There are many themes to explore: heroes like William Tell, mythology like Prometheus, literary stories, like Shakespeare: all have been immortalized in fantastic music. Everyone knows the William Tell overture… but how many children know the story? My mission is to restore these great works to the original stories in a fun way, with illustrations to bring them alive. It’s a huge task, but I love every minute of it! How many people get to stand on a stage with a whole orchestra and have Rimsky-Korsakov’s music swirling around them? It’s truly a flying carpet that transports you to a land of magic and imagination!
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