The first line of Jess Gillam's biography reads: "Hailing from Ulverston in Cumbria, Jess Gillam is animating the music world with her outstanding talent and infectious personality". How accurate and spot on this description is! Many of us have watched Jess interview the competitors of the BBC Young Musician of the Year and heard her play on the TV and radio, but the live setting last Sunday presented her true magnetic nature, literally 'infectious' personality, the enthusiasm to share her music with the audience, no hesitation to give everything to connect, bursting stamina and energy to keep going, all on top of her apparently outstanding talent and ability.
Equality enthusiastic were Sam Becker on double bass and Zeynep Ozsuca on piano, who collaborated with Jess effortlessly and tactfully in the most natural way. Their hand-picked programme varied from the beautiful baroque Concerto by Marcello to the fast and upbeat Pequena Czarda by Pedro Iturralde, and absolutely stunning solo saxophone pieces by Meredith Monk and Philip Glass, with which Jess' warm sound was unbeatable. We heard their impeccable collaboration with Piazzolla's Histoire du Tango to finish the concert, and with this, we were left with an ever-lasting memory and feeling how exciting the live music was.
To precede the main performance was a piano-violin-viola trio from the Purcell School of Music. Despite their young age, there was an abundant dialogue between the performers, and their refreshing account of Scharwenka's Piano Trio was well received by the audience.
Hailing from Ulverston in Cumbria, Jess Gillam is animating the music world with her outstanding talent and infectious personality. After performing at the prestigious Last Night of the Proms in 2018 and having her performance described as “the indisputable highlight” by BBC News, Jess continues to grow her international career as well as presenting on TV and Radio. Jess is passionate about inspiring and bringing joy to people through music and has continued to do so throughout the Coronavirus pandemic.
Henrietta Dalgleish (violin), Fiona Chow (viola) and Thomas Wang (piano)
- PHILIPP SCHARWENKA: Piano Trio, Op. 121
Jess Gillam (saxophone), Sam Becker (double bass) and Zeynep Özsuca (piano)
- PEDRO ITURRALDE: Pequena Czarda
- MARCELLO: Concerto for Oboe in C Minor
- GRAHAM FITKIN: Gate
- DOWLAND: Flow my tears
- HARLE: Rant
- MEREDITH MONK: Early Morning Melody
- GLASS: Melodies for Saxophone, No. 10
- LUKE HOWARD: Dappled Light
- WEILL: Je ne t'aime pas
- RUDY WIEDOEFT: Valse Vanite
- BOWIE: Life on Mars
- ASTOR PIAZZOLLA: Histoire du Tango
The Turkish pianist Zeynep Özsuca has performed worldwide as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist. Born in Ankara, she began piano lessons at the age of four and continued her studies at Ankara Conservatory of Hacettepe University. After winning Istanbul Symphony’s Young Soloists Competition in 2001, Zeynep moved to the United States to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance at the Oberlin Conservatory under Prof. Peter Takács. She then majored in accompaniment and vocal coaching at Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler”, Berlin with Prof. Alexander Vitlin and graduated with an MA in 2013. Zeynep currently lives in London and pursues her career as a concert pianist and repetiteur.
As an in-demand bass player, Sam Becker is equally at home in the studio as he is on stage. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2018 and has since enjoyed a busy and varied musical career in the classical arena as well as on the pop stage with his own band SUN SILVA. He has performed and recorded for some of the UK’s leading orchestras and artists including Bryan Ferry, the John Wilson Orchestra, the Hallé, Alexis Taylor (of Hot Chip) and the BBC Philharmonic.
Henrietta Dalgleish (Violin) was born in 2005 in Royal Tunbridge Wells and started playing the violin at the age of six. She was accepted into the Royal College of Music Junior Department when she was only nine years old. A year later, Henrietta joined the Purcell School of Music and the following year led both the Purcell School and RCMJD String Orchestras. She now studies violin with the RCM Head of Strings, Mark Messenger.
Fiona Chan Vee Chow is British Chinese Violist from Woking currently under the mentorship of Charles Sewart, Head of Strings at The Purcell School. She has been making rapid growth as both a musician and an individual at the school for young musicians.
Thomas Wang currently lives in Nottingham and attends the Purcell School of Music in Bushey where he studies the piano with Tatiana Sarkissova and clarinet with Stephen Williams. He started playing the piano at the age of 4 and has won multiple festivals between the ages of 5 and 11 in Selston, Nottingham, Derby and London, as well as winning the intermediate and advanced sections in EPTA UK twice.