cellist Matthew Barley unveils his newest cross-arts collaboration, alongside creating the Matthew Barley Arts Basis.

Matthew Barley [Photo: Madeleine Farley]

After I first interviewed cellist Matthew Barley again in 2012 [see my interview], he was making ready for a tremendous 100-venue tour of Britain for Britten 2013, combining Britten and Bach for solo cello, together with specifically commissioned visuals from Yeast Tradition, with Barley controlling the animations himself through foot pedal!

Since then his curiosity in cross-arts initiatives has continued and in 2023 he established the Matthew Barley Arts Basis (which has not too long ago achieved charitable standing). The Basis goals to create prime quality music and different artwork for efficiency and dissemination that’s made in a means that at all times treats all folks concerned and adjoining to its creation with equity and respect, with initiatives combining motion, sound, the digital visible realm and a spread of repertoire and musical kinds, offering a platform and coaching for the subsequent era of musicians, serving to them to think about how they too may push boundaries.

Barley’s subsequent venture, to be launched within the Autumn, is a chief instance. Mild Tales, a brand new multidisciplinary collaboration with specifically commissioned visuals from manufacturing firm Yeast Tradition, and on-screen dancer, Mavin Khoo, explores the transformative energy of music to heal, console, and uplift.  There shall be two performances as a part of the Southbank Centre’s Up to date Edit programme (28 September 2024), with subsequent performances together with the Royal Welsh Faculty of Music & Drama, as a part of the Cardiff Music Metropolis Pageant (3 October), and St George’s Bristol (11 October).

Mild Tales weaves collectively music, projected imagery, and electronics to inform a really private story of trauma and restoration; on the age of 16, Matthew Barley skilled a life-threatening psychotic episode brought on by a drug overdose which left him scarred each bodily and emotionally. Music grew to become his lifeline.

The night weaves collectively music by up to date composers Anna Meredith, Joby Talbot, John Metcalfe, Giovanni Sollima, and Jan Bang, plus Barley’s personal music alongside  and Bach’s Prelude from Suite No.6.

The venture will lengthen past efficiency to incorporate workshops with increased schooling establishments, the place individuals will have interaction in discussions on psychological well being and its connection to artwork, offering a protected and supportive area for creativity and expression. 

Matthew Barley’s Mild Tales shall be launched by Signum Classics on 28 September.