Norman Perryman, Visual Music
Norman Perryman was born in
His principal themes are portraits, dance and in particular, music. This led to many 'action portraits' of great musical personalities, which not only convey an excellent likeness - they radiate energy and tremendous presence. His aim is to make the whole painting emanate music. The late Yehudi Menuhin, a friend for more than thirty years, once said: “Perryman is one of us, he’s a musician who makes music with his paintbrush".
In 1990, Perryman was commissioned to paint a series of large watercolours of musical celebrities for England’s renowned Symphony Hall in Birmingham.This unique Collection now contains nearly thirty paintings of musicians like José Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa, Jessye Norman, Luciano Pavarotti, Yo-Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovich, Riccardo Chailly, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, Simon Rattle, Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Alfred Brendel. Other paintings include Plácido Domingo (both as tenor and as conductor), Sarah Chang and conductors Sir Georg Solti and Leonard Slatkin. A selection of these works was shown for the first time to the public in 2001 at the Metropolitan Opera Gallery,
Norman Perryman has also undertaken major large-scale commissions, among them the twenty-two foot mural for the Netherlands Dance Theatre; 'The Mahler Experience' - a large canvas painted as a tribute to the magnificent acoustics of Birmingham's Symphony Hall; the huge (7x5foot) triptych watercolour inspired by Elgar's oratorio 'The Dream of Gerontius', unveiled in Birmingham by Lord Menuhin in 1996; and the acrylic painting ‘Enigma’ (inspired by the ‘Enigma Variations’) for the new Elgar Birthplace Museum in Worcestershire.
Norman Perryman, who lives in Amsterdam, travels frequently to carry out commissions in Europe and the United States. Perryman has been performing in this way with dance and music for over thirty years, with Yehudi Menuhin, Simon Rattle, José Carreras, the percussionist Evelyn Glennie, the Dutch ensemble Circle Percussion and in several films for television. In 1989 he co-created and performed the modern ballet ‘Invention’ (for painter and dancers) with the Netherlands Dance Theatre. In 2004 he performed with the Rotterdam Philharmonic (Takemitsu’s “From me flows what you call time”), the Holland Symfonia (Ravel’s Sheherezade) and with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale”). In 2005 he performed with the Flemish Radio Orchestra (John Adams’ "El Dorado").
In 1993, BBC Television made the fifty-minute documentary 'Concerto for Paintbrush and Orchestra', reviewing Perryman's life and work with music and painting. The programme included a performance of Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition', with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, in which Perryman could be seen painting his own semi-abstract kinetic pictures, inspired by and synchronized to Mussorgsky's music, and projected directly onto a giant screen. The Times described the performance as "an ingenious audio-visual experiment, with brilliantly conceived imagery".
The year 2009 saw Norman collaborating with, among others, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Belgian National Orchestra and the Play the Field festival, where he and violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky brought Vivaldi's famous Four Seasons to life under the baton of conductor Charles Hazlewood. In 2010 Norman performed with Holland Symfonia and made his début with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to much critical acclaim. The 2012/13/14 seasons will include a large international project which is currently being worked on with several different partners. More about this project soon!
Watch Norman at work on YouTube
Also visit: www.normanperryman.com
Nederlands