William Charlton-Perkins
South African–born William Charlton-Perkins has worked variously as a journalist, columnist, copywriter and publicist over the past four decades. While his focus and forté have always been in the performing arts, he has also worked at the Natal Parks Board, producing feature articles for Getaway and various other magazines, writing a centennial book for Struik Publishers on the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, and contributing eight pieces to Off the Beaten Track – Day Drives in Southern Africa, published by Readers Digest. He has produced a number of plays under the banner of his company, Copy Dog Productions; The Mercury Newspaper in Durban carried his bi-monthly Classical Notes column for more than three decades.
William is widely recognised as one of South Africa’s eminent opera connoisseurs, having played a major role in setting the standard for the publicity and review of opera over the decades. His experience has been recognised internationally, amongst others by the London-based company, Opera Rara.
He grew up with his three siblings in the Natal Midlands, in a home that brimmed with their parents’ passion for gardening and the arts – passions he inherited. An ex-marathon runner, with 10 ultra marathons to his credit, William is an English Literature Honours graduate (University of Natal) and a lapsed amateur pianist who has regarded Mozart as his musical deity since childhood. So, it is perhaps inevitable that Meetings with Mozart should be his debut novel.
William lives within a magical garden in the coastal town of Knysna with four dogs, where he approaches his ‘senior’ years with as little reverence as possible.
William Charlton-Perkins's Books
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Meetings with Mozart
28 Jan 2025Mozart's genius, fiery energy, wonderful sense of fun and extraordinary musical output make for a fascinating life story. Meetings with Mozart taps into that with a parallel modern story focusing on Mozart's own credo: ‘Neither a lofty degree of intelligence, nor imagination, nor both together, go to the making of genius. Love, Love, Love. That is the soul of genius.’
Horace, a retired opera director, engages with a group of Mozart enthusiasts to help them discover his idol’s profound contribution to humanity – love.
Set in eastern South Africa, with its lush midlands, soaring mountains and arid bushveld, Meetings with Mozart vividly evokes the sense of time and place of its milieu: the fragrance of its flora, the music of its birdcalls, the torrential storms of its summers. The narrative interweaves the high – and the low – points of Mozart’s life and his music genius, with the lives of present-day characters.
William Charlton-Perkins, a journalist and columnist, is one of South Africa’s eminent opera connoisseurs. He grew up with his three siblings in the Natal Midlands, in a home that brimmed with their parents’ passion for the arts—a passion he inherited. A lapsed amateur pianist who has regarded Mozart as his musical deity since childhood, it is perhaps inevitable that Meetings with Mozart is his debut novel.