Wimbledon International Music Festival Has Dance Theme


International musicians will perform across SW19

The seventh Wimbledon International Music Festival will be taking place at various venues in the town from November 14-29.

This year, its major theme is 'dance'. There will be dance music everywhere from ‘Strictly Medieval to Renaissance’, Rameau and Bach on the harpsichord, Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms on the piano, string quartet, reed quintet, piano quintet and orchestra.

Live tango dancers will move sensuously to Piazzolla's Four Seasons of Buenos Aires while Russian pianist Mikhail Rudy returns with the WIMF original danced production of 'Petrushka' with which he has been touring major UK festivals and Europe.

The global Festival Partnership has this year commissioned Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin to write a chamber music dance suite inspired by Picasso’s celebrated painting of 'The Three Dancers', which is on display at Tate Modern.

This also has the distinction of being separately choreographed by Dutch choreographer Didy Veldman for Rambert Dance, and this production will be performed in early November at Sadler’s Wells and in Rambert's national and international touring schedule until 2018.

Another theme sees performance of ‘Last Works’. Sir Andras Schiff will bring a recital of the last sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. Zuill Bailey plays the last cello sonatas of Beethoven, Prokofiev and Chopin, and the Emerson Quartet include ‘Last Quartets’ in their programme.

The lunchtime series of concerts presenting some young artists will continue, including two masterclasses. Of note is a major evening recital by 17-year-old Chinese viola player, Ziyu Shen -the youngest winner of the prestigious Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition.

St Cecilia's Day on November 22 will be celebrated with a community event: a Family Concert featuring a lively musical survey of the animal world. And the day before that, there is a celebration of the 150th anniversary of 'Alice in Wonderland'.

For more information, go to the website at: Wimbledon International Music Festival.

October 13, 2015