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The International Wimbledon Music Festival takes to the stage again in November. Festival Founder Anthony Wilkinson writes
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s I write, two international musketeers are duelling with rackets on Centre Court. The camera pulls back from a glistening Shard, across the heart of London, to reveal the leafy suburb of SW19. ‘Wimbledon’! It has worldwide recognition as the ‘best’, with ‘excellence’ at its core, and looks a great place to live. Benefiting from the Wimbledon brand, the International Wimbledon Music Festival, formed a group of six international festivals: in Australia, two in the USA, in Alaska touring Canada, and Switzerland. Founded in 2009, the International Wimbledon Music Festival quickly established itself on the world stage. The Festivals co-commission new works, benefitting from shared costs and giving composers the opportunity for multiple performances with premieres on three continents. Future commissions will include a ballet to be performed by Rambert Dance. The Wimbledon Festival stands out for the world-class quality of the musicians it presents. The Evening Standard, the Strad, and Jessica Duchen of The Independent have all praised the Wimbledon Festival for its ability “to attract such high calibre artists to the suburbs.” Coming to Wimbledon in November are the renowned pianist Angela Hewitt, Covent Garden’s great bass Sir John Tomlinson, the superb Brodsky Quartet with celebrated clarinetist Michael Collin, the extraordinary Dutch Calefax quintet, superstar organist Jennifer Bate with legendary trumpeter Crispin Steele-Perkins, not forgetting our patron, the world-famous cellist Raphael Wallfisch and his musical trio of soulmates.
American cellist Zuill Bailey with Australian pianist Piers Lane. Both Artistic Directors of Wimbledon's International Festival partners. Photo from last year's IWMF, at St John's Spencer Hill. Photographyer John Yip.
This Festival has also developed important local community partnerships with Wimbledon College of Art and Merton Music Foundation (we are proud that more than 17,000 Merton children have been actively involved in IWMF projects, and that last year’s 'The Journey’ started in Wimbledon and ended up in the Albert Hall).
“the word ‘International’ usually merges into the surrounding wallpaper. But not so with Wimbledon…” BBC Music Magazine
But the crowning glory of these community and international partnerships will, hopefully, one day see a major international Concert Hall in Wimbledon. Tickets on sale now. Festival 9th – 23rd November. Details on www.wimbledonmusicfestival.co.uk Tel: 020 8946 5078 darlingmagazine.co.uk | sep-oct 2013
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