About

An extraordinary evening of music in the Painted Hall.  

Award-winning writer, director and actor, Tama Matheson, brings his unique theatrical approach to narrate Mozart’s Serenade for 13 Winds, known as the Gran Partita.  Tama will accompany members of the English Baroque Soloists against the backdrop of the magnificent Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College.  

This performance will be set ‘in the round’ so that audiences can experience the unique sound acoustics that the Painted Hall provides, while admiring Sir James Thornhill’s baroque masterpiece. 

Programme: 
Mozart Serenade No. 10 (‘Gran Partita’) K.361  

Performed by:  
Members of the English Baroque Soloists
With
Tama Matheson (actor)  

About Tama Matheson
Tama Matheson is a British-Australian writer, director, and actor, whose work has been produced in England, Australia, Europe, and America. He has a passion for combining music and the spoken word, which has led him to develop a new form of theatre which mixes a full play with a complete musical concert. He is currently Artistic Director of the Brisbane Shakespeare Festival in Australia.  

Tama has written and produced 12 original plays, including dramas about Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Britten, Prokofiev, Lord Byron, and many others, as well as adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Peer Gynt. His I Shall Hear in Heaven (about Beethoven) and Bright Stars Shone for Us (about Tchaikovsky) were nominated and shortlisted, respectively, for Royal Philharmonic Society Awards in London.  

About English Baroque Soloists  
The English Baroque Soloists seek to challenge preconceptions of 200 years of music ranging from Monteverdi to Mozart and Haydn. Equally at home in chamber, symphonic and operatic performances, their distinctively warm and incisive playing is instantly recognisable. One of the world’s leading period instrument orchestras, the ensemble has performed at many of the world’s most prestigious venues including Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Sydney Opera House.  

A new unconducted strand in the orchestra’s programming began in 2024 with a performance of Schubert’s Octet interweaved with Schubert songs performed by Andrew Staples. This collaborative strand continues in 2025 with a dramatised performance of Mozart’s Gran Partita performed with award-winning writer, director and actor, Tama Matheson.