The versatile symphony conductor talks about reimagining Christmas classic, Love Actually, and introducing classical music to new people through her crossover concerts.
Watching Richard Curtis’ beloved festive rom-com Love Actually during Christmastime has become a holiday tradition. People are drawn to the star-studded cast, memorable soundtrack and its sentimental vignettes of love.
This December, Australia can celebrate the festive favourite at Love Actually in Concert. It’s an unforgettable screening of the classic film, with a full symphony orchestra performing the soundtrack live.
Love Actually in Concert
- When: 11 December
- Where: Plenary Theatre, Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre
- Tickets here
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Prolific conductor Sarah-Grace Williams is behind the Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney legs of the production, and is thrilled to bring Craig Armstrong’s soaring score to life.
“Most people have watched Love Actually countless times – they really know the film,” she says. “You’re giving them a new experience [with an orchestra]. They’re sitting there going, ‘Wow, this is like nothing I’ve ever experienced,’ and that’s pretty special.”
Sarah-Grace has been a musician for as long as she can remember, learning numerous classical instruments and studying composition at a young age, but her heart drew her to conducting.
Her repertoire includes works from the symphonic canon and cross-genre concerts, where she reinvents contemporary music and media with an orchestra.
“I get asked regularly, ‘What is your favourite genre of music?’, because I work in a lot of different spaces. My answer is, ‘I like good music,’” Sarah-Grace says. “Within every genre or any era, there’s good music.”
Many people who’ve never been believe the misconception that watching an orchestra is intimidating.
It might be because of how grand it is, the supposed dress codes, or worries about behaviour.
What Sarah-Grace is doing is making it feel more accessible. Whether it’s her video game, heavy metal or electronic dance music concerts, people often attend for what the orchestras focus on and unexpectedly become classical fans.
“I can’t tell you the number of times I’ll exit the stage door – and I love this – I’ll always be met with audience members who want to tell me what the experience was for them: It was completely beyond their expectations,” Sarah-Grace recalls.
“They thought it was going to be good, but they didn’t know what it was going to be like to have that connection.”
Putting more people onto this meticulous music is “wonderful, critical and crucial,” as Sarah-Grace puts it.
“Live music is one of Australia’s strongest industries next to sports, but high art like an orchestra show isn’t “particularly celebrated en masse.”
So, introducing the broader public to the phenomenal scores of the orchestral realm is a great success of this pursuit.
“I know there’s going to be people in my audience that will not have seen an orchestra before, and that excites me,” Sarah-Grace says.
Love Actually has many moments of heavy emotional weight, so hearing it played live by an orchestra, this “incredible organism that can take any genre and heighten it,” gives the film greater impact.
Iconic moments like Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You feel much more expansive.
“Watching any music live heightens the experience,” Sarah-Grace explains. “The fact that it’s really there, suddenly this film is no longer two-dimensional.”
Sarah-Grace also knows about the admiration towards Love Actually, where annual viewings are a tradition.
“Everyone knows it. Everyone’s there for a feel-good moment – the musicians included,” she muses. “It’s unlike other movies, where you might watch a drama where you feel for one particular character, but I think everyone’s on the same side in this movie. We know who the heroes and villains are. That’s what’s fun and nice in the room.”
Of course, the extraordinary joy is especially felt at the film’s rapturous conclusion: “Everyone leaves really happy. That’s not always the case with films or music; sometimes you can go to a concert, find it amazing, but think it was too heavy or just a bit of fun.
“With this one, everyone leaves feeling fulfilled.”
Love Actually in Concert is a complete win: People rediscover the holiday classic in such a beautiful way, and they may turn into fans of orchestral concerts.
“It’s delivered in a way that people feel comfortable because they know how to enjoy a movie. They realise, ‘There don’t need to be so many rules. Maybe I can just wear whatever I want. If I like something, maybe I can clap,’” Sarah-Grace concludes.
Hopefully more curious minds walk through the doors of an orchestral concert hall because this live music experience is like little else.
Love Actually in Concert is playing at the Plenary Theatre in the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on 11 December. Get tickets here.
