After a high-pressure week of meetings, management and making connections, the best way to unwind is to plug in your headphones and allow a superb selection of tunes to take your brain far away from the world of work. Enter the Walpole Weekend Wind-Down: a monthly playlist of tracks created by one of our members or partners that will help you transition into an end-of-week headspace.
This October, our Culture Month playlist has been curated by Venezuelan conductor José Salazar. Salazar is a part of the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Ballet & Opera, which provides opportunities for artists of outstanding potential to intensify their professional development and advance their careers. In November, Salazar will be cover conducting MADDADDAM, Wayne McGregor's visionary interpretation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian epic of annihilation and survival.
"We musicians are often away from the people we love because of work and, unfortunately, I am no exception," explains Salazar. "Once, one of my most beloved people in the world was having trouble winding down and sleeping, and I wondered, if I were there, what music would I play to help them calm down? So I reconnected to those pieces that have helped me through difficult times – whether by playing them, conducting them or listening to them – and I created a playlist. This collection of pieces has been with us during difficult nights, but also when we just want to chill and relax. As I share a part of this playlist with you, I hope that you will enjoy it, and dream with it, as much as we do."
Enjoy the playlist below, or by clicking through to Walpole's Spotify account.
> Visit the Royal Ballet & Opera's website and Instagram
Lead image by Camilla Greenwell