British Composer Judith Weir
Medal of Music Winner Popularizes Storytelling through Modern Opera
Medal of Music winner Judith Weir tells stories through music by collaborating with theater, film and narrative arts.
Like any good writer of opera, British composer Judith Weir enlists the whole field of performance arts when it comes to composing music. Known for her collaborations with storyteller Vayu Naidu and her work with filmmaker Margaret Williams, Judith Weir writes music that becomes part of the fabric of narrative.
This 53-year-old composer admits that she might find music in itself a little boring. But her music seems to interest audiences enough to inspire the BBC to hold a celebration in her honor, playing her works over BBC Radio 3 from Jan. 18-Jan. 20. Called Telling the Tale, the festival featured performances by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Schubert Ensemble and the BBC Singers, among others.
The Queen also appears to like Weir's music: Judith Weir is the first composer to be awarded the Queen's Medal of Music, presented by HM The Queen and Weir's colleague Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
Weir's Beginnings
Weir was born in 1954 to a Scottish family, yet grew up in the London area. Childhood music lessons included some study under John Tavener. She later studied at King's College, Cambridge under Robin Holloway.
The Storyteller
Judith Weir has written and composed 3 operas, 2 of which reflect some part of Weir's own childhood and life. A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987) explores a period of time that ran parallel to Weir's own childhood, the Cultural Revolution that spanned the decade from 1966-1976. The Vanishing Bridegroom (1990) twines together 3 tales from Weir's native Scotland. Finally Blond Eckbert (2006) relates the tragic drama of a couple who entertain a mysterious stranger in their German mountain home. She is now planning to write another opera while she still has energy to work in this rather demanding medium.
Her collaboration with Margaret Williams resulted in the 1-hour film opera Armida. The opera converts a 400-year-old poem into a story about a TV journalist who falls for a soldier in the war-torn modern Middle East.
In this way, her musical stories blend the fantastic with the real and the ancient with the contemporary. Judith mixes the mythology and literature of the past with current events in order to tell a complete story, transporting the listener off into history and back again.
Sources
"Judith Weir." Chester Novella.
Judith Weir: Blond Eckbert (Pocket Version)." Chester Novella.
"Judith Weir: Telling the Tale." BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Morrison, Richard. "The Wonderful Judith Weir." Jan. 18, 2008. The Times Online.
"Desert Bloom." Dec. 1, 2005. The Guardian.
