OCA PEOPLE: WARREN WILLS

OCA Magazine: Tell us, please, about yourself and your creative activity / work.
Warren Wills: My name is Warren Wills I’m from Melbourne Australia and I am a composer, a pianist and improviser and an educationalist. I’m a musical director and I’m a theatre director and predominantly my entire life has been spent working with Music. Lately , my focus has been on stylistic decisions /choices and connections with countries and how music can be used to bridge and bring people together, music in the Middle East ,music in Thailand music in China.
I’ve recently had the great privilege to travel to locations in the world using music which clearly transcends politics, language and borders such as Baghdad Iraq and Astana and Almaty in Kazakhstan amongst other places.
I have been blessed throughout my life should be able to work with such a cross-section of fascinating people as Pamela Anderson from Hollywood , Woody Allen the great director and writer, Sheila Ferguson from the 3 Degrees, Margaret Atwood Canada’s most famous living author to compose for the Royal Shakespeare Company to perform in Riyadh Saudi Arabia where Music was illegal under Sharia law and a host of other extraordinary opportunities.

OCA: How did you choose your path and who is your role model in the creative space or life?
WW: My path was chosen for me at the age of four. I was listening to an album of music at my grandfather’s home, to Chopin. I was so fascinated, I was so beguiled, I was so transfixed and transported to other places that I decided there and then I was to be at Composer there was no choice there was no argument.

There are simply too many great role models to mention as an educationalist is Leonard Bernstein, as a pianist Keith Jarrett , Chic Corea, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, – in the theatre world people like David Lynch and Woody Allen when it comes to races people like Marcel Proust, Dostoevsky and a host of others I’ve been so fortunate to work with so many wonderful living people I’ve been inspired by so many people from the past I was thrilled to have the chance to the works of Homer the Greek writer of the tales of the RSC to be able to set them to Music this was a complete joy and a revelation.

OCA: What is your main achievement in 2023-2024?
WW: Masterpieces as presented by me is an eclectic suite of inspirational global anthems celebrating his return to London after a year away. Masterpieces bring a bravura virtuoso rendering of my talents -featuring , “David Bowie on Mars”, The Spanish Concert – Albeniz/Rodrigo, Gershwin, Broadway offerings, Ryuchi Sakomoto and many more. I have directed and MD’ed in the Middle East and at the Royal Shakespeare company, which has included 25 albums released worldwide.
Of my recent album, “Reimagining’s”, Mike Garson (David Bowie’s Musical Director for 40 years) has said, “This is fantastic Warren. A wonderful reimagining. Your touch is beautiful. So creative.”
My other main achievement in 2023-2024 is working with Blind Sports and Arts and particular composing the theme for the tennis anthem the group of blind performers represented Australia at the International tennis competition in Rome this year and I was thrilled to have composed the anthem for this furthermore I am delighted to be working with Chinese musicians Chinese dances which is a huge honour and privilege as well as Chinese instrumentalists including the erhu and Chinese flutes.

OCA: What is the main feature that makes you and your art/work unique?
WW: The things that certainly distinguish me and separate me from a lot of other people who work in the sphere of music composition music theatre and music education is my capacity for having an in-built plethora of styles – meaning I can play you virtually any piece of music in around 200 styles whether that be Disney, bluegrass, Chopin, classical, jazz , tango , flamenco, Arabic, film-noir, slapstick, gospel, Gilbert and Sullivan etc this is something I’ll be able to do for many many years and to be able to hone and finesse in quite a unique way. Furthermore, I’m also thrilled to be able to share with you that I love doing socially inclusive Theatre this means collaborating with others mostly less fortunate and deprived of the opportunities that I enjoy such as the blind community, those with neuro conditions, people who are homeless, people with mobility issues, children, pensioners amateurs professionals and an ethnically diverse group of people all under the one roof to create a unique and original collaborative piece of music theatre

OCA: Tell us, please, about the events or projects of the Eurasian Creative Guild (London) and projects that you have already taken part in and how does ECG influence your creativity and success in your work?
WW: I have had the great fortune of working with ECG quite extensively over the past 2/3 years and in fact since Covid was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Kazakhstan both the capitol Astana up north by the Russian border and down south in Almaty as well as going to Burabay -the creative hub of ECG as well as performing at the Kazhak embassy in London as well as putting on a production which happened in Melbourne Australia which was about BÖRTE and Genghis Khan and set almost 1000 years ago but a clearly significant piece and one which I was thrilled to be able to collaborate with ECG on.
I’ve also done many book reviews I’ve done concerts master classes workshops and certainly look forward to be able to do many many of these once again in the future it was the lights working Kazakhstan in a school doing music theatre and composition to a wide range of groups of kids with a translator and I certainly hope this could all be repeated once again in 2025 I certainly really appreciate the value my collaboration and connection with Marat and the ECG

OCA: What is your motivation and the main aim of your creativity?
WW: The main aim of my creativity is to allow all people the opportunity to participate, to create and work in the field of music theatre.

Additionally, to inspire people to share the different cultures of experiences created with different instruments different languages and different cultural backgrounds; to be actively able to access bridge and be Catalyst for others musical endeavours. I see myself loosely based , if you like, as an ambassador for Australia to far-flung lands lands most people don’t get a opportunity to travel to but by nature the fact that I certainly believe that Music Francis borders and language I’ve had the opportunity to work in Iraq in Saudi Arabia in Jordan in Egypt and Dubai and a host of other places and let us hope that is able to continue for many years to come.

OCA: What would you wish for the members of the Guild and other creative people, just starting their career?
WW: It is important that we are patient and open-minded and if so we will recognise our many opportunities do and are available to us that might ordinarily seem too far out of reach. We live in a time where it’s no longer just about digital or being online or Artificial intelligence, but never before the history of this world, have the inhabitants and the actual planet itself, in my opinion, been so poor in health and so divided in terms of opinions and ideas and beliefs – split into two very distinctive camps.

I would like to believe that for artistes we are on the side of humanity, and politics is not for us, but we are here to serve all people and to use music and Theatre as a way to bring Hope and inspiration into other people‘s lives