“Jess Gillam, saxophone, and Elliott Gaston-Ross, percussion
Jess, who lives in Ulverston, and Elliott, who lives in Lytham, are both studying at the Royal Northern College of Music. Elliott won the percussion category and was a concerto finalist in the BBC Young Musician 2014 competition, and Jess who was also a finalist was awarded the Walter Todds Bursary for showing exceptional promise.
Since then they have both won many awards and performed at prestigious venues, but are taking time out from their A level studies to perform for us together with David Jones, Head of Accompaniment at the RNCM.”
News
Saturday 6th Feb 2016: Jess performs Concerto with Junior RNCM Symphony Orchestra
Jess will perform “Out of the Cool” by Dave Heath with the Junior Royal Northern College of Music Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Northern College of Music Concert Hall. The orchestra will be conducted by Juan Ortuno.
Jess at the World Saxophone Congress
In July, Jess was the youngest of 2,600 delegates to perform at the World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg. Her recital consisted entirely of World Premieres by some of the saxophonists who have been an inspiration to her: Barbara Thompson and John Harle. The piece written by Barbara Thompson is called “The Sky’s the Limit” and the arrangement by John hare is entitled “Berlin Tango”. She also performed one of her own compositions based on a poem by John Ruskin.
Some of Jess’ performance was filmed and is available to watch by following the link below:
Jess at World Saxophone Congress
Jess’ blog for June Emerson
Jess has been asked to write monthly blogs about her musical life for one of the world’s finest Wind Music specialists – June Emerson Wind Music.
To read her blog, visit the link below!
Jess awarded Musician of the Year at the Cumbria Culture Awards
In November, Jess was delighted to be receive the “Musician of the Year” Award presented by Melvyn Bragg at the Cumbria Culture Awards. Jess was one of five finalists – Rickard Skelton, Elaine Davidson, Sycamore Sykes and Emma Jones. The Awards Ceremony was held at the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick and Jess performed “The Sky’s the Limit” (a piece written for her by Barbara Thomspon) and her own composition based on a poem by John Ruskin (performed with Ross Baxter).
November 2015: Jess performs with Junior RNCM
Jess performs as a part of the Junior Royal Northern College of Music.
More information: http://www.penrithmusicclub.com/concerts.html
Jess performs at UIMF June 2015
Jess performs Out of the Cool by Dave Heath with Jonathan Fisher at Ulverston International Music Festival in June 2015.
Sunday 11th October: Jess with Worthing Symphony Orchestra
Jess performs the Malcolm Arnold Concerto with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra under the baton of internationally acclaimed conductor John Gibbons. Other artists in the series include Nicola Benedetti, Emma Johnson, Julian Bliss and Leonard Elschenbroich.
“A performance full of ‘joie de vivre’ with Gershwin’s ever popular Rhapsody in Blue and one of his great theatre overtures ‘Girl Crazy’.
We welcome back young Saxophonist Jess Gillam, whose exhilarating performance of the Glazunov saxophone concerto was a real highlight of last season.
A real rarity will be a performance of Malcolm Arnold’s Concerto Gastronomique for ‘Eater’, Waiter and Orchestra – a work written for the famous Hoffnung Festivals of the 1950s and which is a brilliant example of Malcolm’s tuneful wit and high spirits.”
Sunday 11th October 2015,
Worthing Assembly Hall,
Worthing,
www.worthingsymphony.co.uk
Friday 13th November 2015: John Harle
As part of the annual concert series that Jess promotes, John Harle (one of the world’s greatest saxophonists) will perform with Steve Lodder in Ulverston.
John Harle is an Ivor Novello Award-winning composer-performer and record producer. Recent record releases of John’s music include the critically acclaimed The Tyburn Tree and Art Music, both with singer Marc Almond of Soft Cell.
As a saxophonist, his playing has been the catalyst for an outpouring of new concertos for the saxophone by composers including Michael Nyman, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Sir John Tavener, Sally Beamish, Gavin Bryars, Mark Anthony Turnage, Michael Torke, Dominic Muldowney, Stanley Myers and Christopher Gunning.
John’s performance of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s saxophone concerto Panic at the Last Night of the BBC Proms in 1997 was cited by many critics as the most controversial premiere of a new musical work since Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in 1913.
He was artistic advisor to Sir Paul McCartney for six years, and other collaborations have included John’s Terror and Magnificence album and tour with Elvis Costello. He has also been producer and musical director for Moondog, Herbie Hancock, Ute Lemper, Lesley Garrett, Kathryn Tickell, Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine, Stanley Myers and Elmer Bernstein.
He is the composer of two operas (Angel Magick and The Ballad of Jamie Allen), many concert works and over 100 film and television scores, including the theme to BBC1’s Silent Witness, and the epic score to Simon Schama’s History of Britain. John is the recipient of two Royal Television Society awards for ‘Best Soundtrack’, and has been awarded four BBC Proms commissions. His Ivor Novello award for ‘Best Soundtrack’ was for the score to the Blakeway/BBC2 production Lucian Freud – Painted Life, directed by Randall Wright.
He is director and producer at Sospiro Records, and future plans include a collaboration with bassist Avishai Cohen in 2016, several new projects with Marc Almond, and The Tyburn Tree, a new show with projection-mapping at Canary Wharf in 2016. This September John will be performing in the Discreet/Oblique project at the Barbican with David Coulter (Damon Albarn/Yoko Ono) and Leo Abrahams (Marianne Faithful/Brian Eno) in a reconstruction of Brian Eno’s Discreet Music.
Coronation Hall, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 7LT
www.corohall.co.uk
Sunday 18th October 2015: Malcolm Arnold Festival
Jess is delighted to be performing the Malcolm Arnold Saxophone Concerto with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra in the Gala Concert of the Malcolm Arnold Festival.
“Our spectacular annual Gala Concert featuring the Worthing Symphony Orchestra, conducted Commonwealth overture, Saxophone Concerto played by BBC winner Jess Gillam and the Scottish Dances . We are also delighted to welcome back BBC Young musician of the year winner Martin James Bartlett to perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.”
www.malcolmarnoldfestival.com
Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton
