"At the Studio Richter Mahr, we're trying to make it as 360 degrees as possible. So the center of the building is a cafe, and that cafe is fueled, if you like, from the organic garden. So there are no food miles. We grow everything. The electricity comes from the solar on the roof. The building itself was upcycled from a big old tractor shed. And we took the insides out and put new insides in, which are all the studios.

It's a project which really is the outcome of an idealistic vision of how creativity can coexist with the broader community, but it's something that Yulia and I passionately believe in. We believe in the possibility of creative work having an elevating effect in society more broadly.

It's a challenging time, I feel like the next half a dozen decades maybe are the kind of pinch point where things can either start to get better or a lot worse. And that's to do with large-scale ideas about what society is and what it should do. And how we distribute wealth, power, opportunity, education, and creativity. And creative work, I think, can be a catalyst that can help us to see bigger contexts, and engage with deeper meanings. And these are all ways to figure out what's important and what isn't important.

The world is very busy and we too tend to get sort of a bit sidetracked by things that are not important. Creativity is a way to reconnect with important things. So our children, they're facing probably some of the biggest challenges we've ever faced, in the way, they're existential. And I think the kinds of narratives, the kinds of perspectives that we put into the world with creativity can be a way to sort of elevate the gaze a little bit. You know, Beethoven, somebody who lived 250 years ago, makes my life better just every day. It's not huge, but it's a little bit better every day. And I think that's what creativity can do. And, if you multiply that across time and populations, you can make a little change, and I think that's what creativity can do."

Composer Max Richter is known for his ability to translate profound human emotions into music. Max’s record Sleep is the most streamed classical album of all time and his catalogue has surpassed 3 billion streams.

A prolific collaborator, he scored and performed for Kim Jones for the Dior shows, and the new Wayne McGregor and Margaret Atwood ballet MADDADDAM, and arts collective Random International on the Rain Room installation.

Max has collaborated with film directors Denis Villeneuve, Martin Scorsese, and Ari Folman, and scored film & TV including Ad Astra, Black Mirror, Shutter Island, The Leftovers, Arrival and his Emmy-nominated score for Taboo.

He’s the co-founder of Studio Richter Mahr, with his partner and artist Yulia Mahr in Oxfordshire, UK. Max and Yulia built the studio around an old tractor barn, and have powered it with cutting-edge solar and heat-pump technology. It’s a haven for their family and community of musicians and artists which regularly come through. Set within 31 acres of woodland, Max and Yulia have a huge passion for using the land to farm and provide a sustainable working environment as well as using creativity as an elevating force within society. Operating as a free space for artists to develop their work, the studio also works with local partners to support the local community.

www.maxrichtermusic.com

https://studiorichtermahr.com

Photo by William Waterworth

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Max Richter’s music featured in this episode is "On the Nature of Daylight” from The Blue Notebooks.

Music is courtesy of Max Richter, Universal Music Enterprises, and Mute Song.