TCHAIKOVSKY: CHILD OF GLASS to Make UK Premiere at Opera Holland Park

A new music-drama about the life and loves of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky Child of Glass will make its UK premiere at Opera Holland Park this summer from 13-15 August.

Following the critical success of Beethoven: I Shall Hear in Heaven at Opera Holland Park last year, the creative minds of playwright-actor Tama Matheson and musical director-pianist Jayson Gillham have reunited to showcase the pressures, passions and conflicts that shaped the life of Russia's most celebrated composer. Further innovating the music-drama form that fuses music with playtext in biopics about the world's greatest classical composers, this production will add the additional layer of dance, choreographed by former Royal Ballet dancer Stephen Wicks, and performed by Royal Ballet's Téo Dubreuil, in a heady mix of art forms to delight classical music, dance and theatrical audiences alike.

Shortlisted for an RPS Storytelling Award, Tchaikovsky: Child of Glass wrestles with Tchaikovsky's search for self-expression during a time when his homosexuality was condemned. Forever seeking to share his deepest feelings, yet haunted by the threat of condemnation and ostracism, music becomes Tchaikovsky's refuge and sole creative outlet, with new arrangements of Tchaikovsky's masterpieces deftly arranged and performed for solo piano by Jayson Gillham.

In Child of Glass, Tchaikovsky finds himself taunted by a crushing paradox: the more his passion undoes his life, the more it nourishes his music. This dilemma haunts him until, at last, he is brought before a jury of his peers, and given a heartbreaking ultimatum. Featuring actors Suzy Kohane and Oliver Holland alongside Tama Matheson, Child of Glass is an electrifying theatrical event that depicts, with incandescent power, Tchaikovsky's greatness.

“Over the past decade, I've been evolving the artistic line of enquiry of what happens at the fusion of drama and music when you mix the biography of great historical figures with the music of their era, and audiences around the world - from Australia to the U.S. and now the U.K. - have been delighting in the discovery. Tchaikovsky's story may just be the most powerful yet, and I can't wait for audiences to relive his haunting life with us in Child of Glass,” said playwright and actor Tama Matheson.

Following its premiere at Opera Holland Park last year, Beethoven: I Shall Hear in Heaven is touring to California (Pacific Symphony), Florida (Naples Philharmonic), Australia (a national tour), and Flanders (2027 Beethoven Festival). After its world debut with the Brisbane Camerata in Australia, this summer season at Opera Holland Park will mark Tchaikovsky Child of Glass' UK premiere.

Musical director Jayson Gillham is a celebrated pianist, with recent concerto highlights including performances with the Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Wuhan Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic, and all of the Australian and New Zealand orchestras. Gillham's live recording of the complete Beethoven piano concertos with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra met with critical acclaim and was nominated for the 2020 ARIA award for Best Classical Album.

Playwright Tama Matheson is an award-nominated writer, having worked with theatre companies, orchestras, and opera companies all over the world, including Opera Australia, The Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Philharmonic, Queensland Theatre Company, Oper Graz, and the Salesjan's Theatre in Malta. Matheson is currently Artistic Director of the Brisbane Shakespeare Festival in Australia, and was recently Artist-in-Residence at the OSO Theatre in London. He has written over 10 music plays about famous artists, including Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Britten, Prokofiev, Lord Byron, Nancy Wake, and Mahler.

Choreographer Stephen Wicks trained at The Royal Ballet School before joining Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet in 1975. He then transferred to The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden. During his 20-year career, his roles included Siegfried in Swan Lake, Lescaut in Manon, Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty and an Ugly Sister in Cinderella. Now retired from the stage, Stephen is a teacher, coach and choreographer working with The Royal Ballet School and The Royal Ballet.