Composer Richter and artist Mahr met when they collaborated on a project more than 30 years ago. They now have three children and live in Oxford
For the composer Max Richter it was love at first sight when he spotted the visual artist Yulia Mahr at Edinburgh festival in 1988. She was performing in a play of the Mahabharata, and he was impressed by her talent and beauty. “There were only a few people there. I saw this woman acting and fell in love instantly,” he remembers. “Of course, I never thought I’d see her again, and she never saw me.”
Two years later, their paths crossed again. Yulia was working as a director for a theatre company in London called the Arts Threshold. “It was set up by Brian Astbury, to give young people their first chance in theatre. There was a lot of experimental stuff going on,” she says. “I needed a composer for a show called The Painted Lady, and someone suggested I speak to Max.” Having studied music, Max was in the early stages of his career, performing regularly as a pianist and trying to make a name for himself as a composer. The interview took place in Maison Bertaux, a Soho patisserie that was a popular hangout for artists at the time. “He cycled there, so my first impression was: ‘Who is this sweaty man?’” laughs Yulia. As they began chatting, she was impressed by his “inquiring mind … He was really up for experimentation. He was clearly happy to question himself and the world,” she says. “I hired him to do the composing role, as I thought he’d turn up and be committed, which is what I really needed.”
