Classical Music With a Modern Message
Andi Spicer
Wall Street Journal
Nov 27, 2008
British Composer Errollyn Wallen's Works Are Often Inspired by History, and by Complex Social Issues
British contemporary classical music composer Errollyn Wallen initially trained as a dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem before turning to composition and studying at both London and Cambridge Universities. She was the first black woman to have a piece ("Concerto for Percussion") played at The Proms in London.
Born in Belize, Ms. Wallen, 43 years old, moved to England as a child and has become one of the U.K.'s most promising young composers. Also a jazz singer and pianist, she has played in jazz saxophonist Courtney Pine's band.
In 2005, she premiered her choral piece, "Our English Heart," a cantata commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson.
Her music combines popular forms with flashes of the avant-garde. And her works often tackle complicated issues, such as those in her opera "The Silent Twins," about the love-hate relationship of two British-born Barbadian twin girls who had their own secret language and misunderstood literary creativity, eventually leading to imprisonment and tragedy.
Her latest piece is "Carbon 12 -- A Choral Symphony," about South Wales and coal miners. She has also written "Mighty River," an orchestral work to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Britain.
Her composition "All the People of the World" will be performed on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, by the Halle Orchestra and Halle Youth Choir, conducted by Sir Mark Elder at Bridgewater Hall, in Manchester, U.K.
We interviewed Ms. Wallen at her home in London's historic Greenwich, on the banks of the Thames.
Q: Your themes have become very British over the past few years as well as exploring the black condition in the context of modern Britain. Do you identify with some of the characters of your operas, such as in "The Silent Twins"?
There's so many modern British stories that haven't been told. There's a treasure trove between World War I and the 1950s, a place where there's lots of exciting journeys. Britain's a place with lots of comings and goings because of the sea. There's a lot of people who grew up British and never fitted in.
As for the twins, their relationship was every relationship. To most people they were just two mutes who were considered sub-normal. It was an adaptation of the book by Marjorie Wallace of the lives of June and Jennifer Gibbons. This was such a disturbing story and based on a true story. It was emotionally exhausting to write and when you're writing about living people, you have to find the truth in the story, you have to delve into their characters and delineate their characters.
Q: Do you think it's been a help or hindrance being black and female in your career as a composer?
I'll never know the full answer, but I try to be myself. There's certainly been times when it's been good for me. But I'm more complicated than that. The music comes before me and if I want to be a good composer, it has to be like being a good mathematician.
Q: Do you feel a responsibility to tell stories about the experiences of black people in Britain?
There's a point where the music has to speak for itself. Growing up in England, I'd find there'd be complexities and contradictions. At home, as a child, we'd eat meals like steak and kidney pudding with rice, which wasn't done by other English families. I started to compose and still compose because of the love of music, not because of where I was born. As a composer you find your own story through others.
Q: Since "Our English Heart," the commissions have started to flow recently and your works have become larger in scale.
There was always a steady stream of commissions. But once you've written a really big piece for orchestra, chorus and soloists you can then do anything. After Nelson I felt I had developed as an artist in the ability to say something in a very public way but find something very personal in it too.
Q: Your music uses forms such as the cantata and madrigals. It seems to celebrate Britishness, as with the English Folk Songs, which will be premiered next year.
I should be free to tell any story I want to tell. "Carbon 12" is about the coal mines in South Wales. You could say, what do I know about that? But I make it my business to know. It's one small instance of what it is to be a composer living now and telling the stories of our time. The responsibility to tell that story is just as great to tell as the story of slavery.
Q: The chamber opera "Another America Fire" involves a black astronaut preparing to go to Mars in 2014 and you had help from your friend, the astronaut Steve MacLean, who has taken your music into space in the Space Shuttle and to the International Space Station.
Yes, I made up the story as I really love working with text. The date 2014 was given to me by Steve MacLean as to when it was originally thought that we would be going to Mars. Steve helped me with my research and we have since written a song together and I was involved with making a short film about his space walk, with him narrating. I've sent emails to him in space and he emailed me back. He stayed with me in my small London flat and said he didn't mind because he'd stayed in smaller places.
Q: You've contributed a song to the piece "Walking down the red dust road," which is a secular requiem for World AIDS Day, with seven other well-known composers providing music for settings of HIV-related poems by Jackie Kay.
Like many people, I have lost friends and family to AIDS and I'm keen to contribute my talents to help fight, not only AIDS but the poverty from which it comes -- poverty of knowledge and the poverty of deprivation. It seems unbelievable that the disease still flourishes unnecessarily. Last November I was in Belize performing in a charity concert to raise money for The Hand In Hand mission, which helps all those affected with the disease. We visited one of the centers which cares for babies and I was powerfully affected by the work the team was doing there. The concert was a highlight of my career.
Q: How did the commission come about for the song?
Les Pratt of BBC Radio 3 approached me and several other composers to each write a movement. My piece "All the People of the World" ends the series. The [orchestral] forces will be the same as that of Faure's Requiem, which is included in the concert. Proceeds will go to the Mission Malawi for Action Aid.