Director and composer Claire van Kampen, the wife of actor Sir Mark Rylance, has died aged 71.
Director and composer Claire van Kampen, the wife of actor Sir Mark Rylance, has died aged 71.
She died on Saturday, 18th January, which also marked her husband’s 65th birthday, in the German town of Kassel surrounded by her family after being diagnosed with cancer, a statement shared on behalf of Sir Mark and her daughter Juliet confirmed.
Van Kampen was a concert pianist, composer, playwright, theatre director and had a long association with Shakespeare’s Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Most recently for the RSC she composed the music for Pericles which ran at the Swan Theatre last summer.
She was described as “one of the funniest and (most) inspiring women we have ever known”, in the statement from her family.
It added: “We thank her for imbuing our lives with her magic, music, laughter, and love.
“Ring the bell, sound the trumpets reverie, something is done, something is beginning. One of the great wise ones has passed.”
Paying tribute, RSC co-artistic directors Tamara Harvey and Daniel Evans, said: “Claire was a true genius, not only in her music but also in her understanding of Shakespeare and of the relationship between actor, audience, text, music and silence in so many forms of storytelling. Her score for Pericles this season was a thing of wonder and beauty, which captivated audiences at the Swan and in Chicago alike. The world is a far more beautiful place for having had her in it. Our thoughts are with all those, near and far, who were lucky enough to know her.”
Her theatre credits also include composing the music for the RSC’s 1989 RSC production of Hamlet starring Sir Mark, whom she married that same year.
Later in her career she created original scores for Broadway productions of 2000’s True West, 2008’s Boeing-Boeing and 2010 comedy La Bete, as well as adaptations of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Richard III.
Van Kampen also wrote the play Farinelli And The King which saw Sir Mark star as King Philippe V of Spain and was nominated for several Olivier Awards including best new play, and a number of Tony Awards.
The director and composer trained at the Royal College of Music in London where she studied music theory and piano, specialising in the performance of 20th century music.
She went on to have a career as a composer and performer, writing and playing for theatre, radio, television and film soundtracks and the concert hall.
In 1986, she began her theatre career with the RSC and with the Royal National Theatre the following year.
She served as artistic associate at Shakespeare’s Globe from 1996 to 2006 when Sir Mark was the artistic director.
Van Kampen later acted as a musical consultant and resident composer to the subsequent artistic director Dominic Dromgoole from 2007 to 2015.
She was also a creative associate of the prestigious Old Vic theatre in London.
Van Kampen was previously married to architect Christopher van Kampen, with whom she had two daughters Juliet and Nataasha.
Her youngest daughter Nataasha, a filmmaker, died aged 28 in 2012 after suffering a brain haemorrhage.