Wills, Matt

PERSONAL:

Male.

CAREER:

Television presenter and music historian. Classical Destinations, television copresenter.

WRITINGS:

(With Paul Burrows) Classical Destinations: An Armchair Guide to Classical Music, photography by Wendy McDougall, Amadeus Press (Pompton Plains, NJ), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Matt Wills is a television presenter and music historian. He copresents the classical music television show Classical Destinations, which takes viewers to different locales around the world and explains the significance the location has to Western classical music traditions. Wills also presents odd and interesting facts about classical music composers as an added entertainment to the show's segments.

In 2006 Wills wrote Classical Destinations: An Armchair Guide to Classical Music with Paul Burrows. With the addition of photography by Wendy McDougall, the authors took the popular show format and put it in writing. Wills and Burrows focus on some of the more popular locales in Europe, including Salzburg, Prague, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Venice, Tuscany, and Berlin, to showcase the big-name composers they cover. Tourist sites in these areas are covered as well as a brief history and the life of the principal composer associated with the city. A contributor to Reference & Research Book News pointed out that the book contains several hundred color photographs, but also highlighted the fact that "there is no index or bibliography." A contributor to the Midwest Book Review "recommended" the book, noting that it is "more than a biography." The same contributor commented that the book is "a delightful visual and written treat."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Midwest Book Review, July, 2007, review of Classical Destinations: An Armchair Guide to Classical Music.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 2007, review of Classical Destinations.