Launchpad Prize Winners' Profile No.5: Abelia Saxophone Quartet

THE PLAYERS

Emma McPhilemy - soprano sax

Hannah Corcoran - alto sax

Isobel Williams - tenor sax

Catherine Hanson - baritone sax

BIOGRAPHY

The Abelia Saxophone Quartet are a young and energetic Manchester-based ensemble currently studying at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tuition of Rob Buckland. Recently, they have been awarded the Trevor Wye Woodwind Chamber Prize and have also been named the RNCM Ensemble of The Year; The Chris Rowland Prize.

Abelia Sax Quartet with Timothy McAllister

During their time at RNCM so far the group have received coaching from chamber music specialists such as Carl Raven, Andy Scott and Huw Wiggin and have performed in public masterclasses for Johan Van Der Linden, Ainars Ŝablovskis and for Timothy McAllister at the World Saxophone Congress 2015 in Strasbourg. The quartet recently commissioned new works by RNCM composers as part of a January 2015 composition festival, and followed this with a live performance on BBC Radio 3 contributing to the ‘BBC Young Artists Day’.

The group has given recitals at venues including The Cosmo Rodewald Hall (University of Manchester) and The Carole Nash Recital Room (RNCM) as part of the Spotlight Concert Series, Buxton Opera House, The Lowry (Salford Quays) and many other local venues. Abelia have also accompanied Philippe Geiss in his solo feature recital at the RNCM Saxophone Day 2014 and are looking forward to recitals later this year at St Martin-in-the-Fields (London) and Whitworth Art Gallery (Manchester).

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

Friday 30th October @ 1pm

Bury

Monday 2nd November @ 1pm

St Martin-in-the-Fields, London

DETAILS

Friday 6th November @ 1pm

Cross Street Chapel, Manchester

Wednesday 25th November @ 1pm

St Ann's Church, Manchester

DETAILS

Sunday 6th December @ 3pm

Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester

LINKS

www.abeliasaxophonequartet.com
abeliasaxquartet@outlook.com

abeliasax.tumblr.com

June Emerson Wind Music would like to thank Rob Buckland for organising the 

awarding of the Launchpad Prize at the Royal Northern College of Music.

www.rncm.ac.uk

Jess Gillam's World

Part 3

“Stage animal”

– BBC Young Musician 2014

This weekend, I have spent two days filming a music video for “The Sky’s the Limit”, a piece written for me by renowned saxophonist and composer Barbara Thompson.  Barbara and her husband, Jon Hiseman, came up to the Lake District for three days with Asue Azar to film me playing the piece in various locations with stunning scenery.

“The Sky’s the Limit” was written for me to perform at the World Saxophone Congress in July and is a piece for alto saxophone, piano and strings. Barbara says, “It leads the saxophone into groundbreaking areas while retaining melodic and rhythmical elements. The saxophone is a very exciting instrument to write for because it has so many variations of tone and colour and the player can make his or her sound unique. It is a real treat to write a piece for such a talented young 17-year-old saxophonist, and I hope this will be the first of many collaborations”.

Jess with Barbara Thompson

Filming the video was a very interesting experience and I enjoyed learning about how this world works and it also gave me a chance to appreciate the natural beauty of where I come from. However, I was a little nervous playing on the top of a crag looking over Windermere – I wasn’t expecting an audience and people were gathering round to see what was happening! The sound in open air just did not travel no matter how much I attempted to project and make the sound sing. I began playing saxophone when I was 7 in the Barracudas carnival band so I am quite used to playing on the streets but this was quite different – no PA and no buildings for the sound to bounce off meant I could only produce a very dead sound. This meant I had to think about all other elements of playing a piece of music a lot more because I knew there wasn’t very much I could do about the sound projection so I considered rhythmic accuracy, dynamic control, vibrato control and articulation in a much more meticulous way than I usually do but the performance was not comparable to one indoors where all of these elements can be projected!

Jess playing to the elements!

We also filmed at Birkrigg Common, very close to where I live. Jon asked me to stand on the trig point and this was quite a scary place to perform the piece – I am very clumsy at the best of times and playing without being able to move took a lot of concentration! 

Working with Barbara and Jon has been a truly inspirational experience – they are both so dedicated and passionate about what they do and really live and breathe music. They have both had very successful and varied careers and listening to their anecdotes and stories about gigs and the lengths they used to have to go to even just to record music is fascinating! Barbara has inspired me with her music since I was 12 years old and to now be working with her is quite a surreal experience! 8 years ago, Barbara was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and the way she continues, still composing and creating music, is quite unbelievable.

Jess at Windermere

Jon is now editing the video and it will be released on YouTube once the editing and recording has been completed.

I have also spent a lot of time this month practicing the Malcolm Arnold Saxophone Concerto as I will be performing it with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra in October at the Malcolm Arnold Festival in Northampton and at the Worthing Assembly Hall. Preparing a concerto is something I really enjoy and trying to connect information about a composer with the themes and moods in their music is fascinating and I am really looking forward to performing the piece.

LINKS

Worthing Symphony Orchestra

Sunday 11th & Sunday 18th October @ 2.45pm

Book Tickets

Malcolm Arnold Festival

Information

John Harle Concert - Friday 13th November @ 7.30pm

Book Tickets

www.jessgillamsax.co.uk

Follow Jess Gillam on Facebook

Follow @jessgillamsax on Twitter

Yanagisawa Saxophones UK

www.yanagisawasaxophones.co.uk

Vandoren UK

www.vandoren-en.com

Jess Gillam's World - Part 1

Jess Gillam - Welcome to my world!

“One of the best young saxophonists in the UK” 

-Snake Davis

Hello everybody, I am delighted to have been asked to write a blog for June Emerson Wind Music about music from a young person's perspective! I am a 17 year old saxophonist from Ulverston in Cumbria and I study at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Each month, I will write a little about performances and musical events I have been involved with and my life as a young musician.

July has been an exciting month and I have had some musical experiences I will never forget. One of these was performing a solo recital at SaxOpen (the World Saxophone Congress) in Strasbourg. I was the youngest of 2,600 delegates and performing to a room of saxophonists was a challenging task. Usually, I know that most of the audience will be unaware of details about saxophone technique and simply want to hear good music, but when performing to a room of people who know everything about the saxophone, it is quite nerve-wracking! However, I think emotions that music can convey and the power that music has is the most important thing to capture in a performance, so I tried to play just as I would if I was in front of a typical concert audience. 

My recital consisted of world premières of commissions from leading saxophonists: Barbara Thompson, Rob Buckland and John Harle, as well as one of my own compositions. All the pieces were written for saxophone with backing tracks. The whole experience of commissioning new works and working with the composers was very interesting and I really enjoyed performing the premières. My concert was on Day Two of the Congress which was the perfect time as I felt truly inspired by some of the performances I had seen the night before. Barbara Thompson's Concerto for Three Saxophones was performed with the Strasbourg Symphony Orchestra and soloists Rob Buckland, Francesco Cafiso and Michael Alizon each performed a movement. The third movement was performed by Rob Buckland on soprano saxophone - the connection he had with the music was very apparent and the rapport with the orchestra made the music come alive and really sing. It was a remarkable performance and a fantastic composition - I felt proud to have pieces written for me by Barbara and Rob and lucky to know them both and be taught by Rob. 

The Congress was the perfect place to meet saxophonists from around the world and to catch up with others. I met Mr Yanagisawa and, as I am a Yanagisawa Artist, I was very pleased to be able to meet him and thank him. I also met Hidemasa Sato who made part of the new Alto WO that I play, and it was lovely to be able to thank him for his skilled craftsmanship. 

After returning home from the Congress, I performed with the National Youth Jazz Collective Creative Leadership Ensemble at the Benslow Music Centre and then started planning and practising repertoire for what promises to be a very busy Autumn! 

www.jessgillamsax.co.uk

Follow Jess Gillam on Facebook

Follow @jessgillamsax on Twitter

LINKS

Yanagisawa Saxophones UK

www.yanagisawasaxophones.co.uk

Vandoren UK

www.vandoren-en.com

June Emerson Wind Music is exhibiting at the World Saxophone Congress XVI

The WSCXVI International Trade Exhibiton represents the largest gathering of Saxophone retailers in the UK this year! From major international manufacturers through to small sheet music publishers the International Trade Exhibiton can cater for all your musical needs.

We will be bringing our entire stock of saxophone and saxophone-related sheet music and books (approximately 50 boxes) to the Congress, and will be pleased to take orders for any out of stock titles, to be sent post-free. We can't offer a discount, but we can offer an unrivalled selection and a first class service. We will be in the Parliament Hall.

The International Trade Exhibiton has two dedicated venues: 

St Andrews Town Hall: This venue hosts the major manufacturers and retailers as well specialised retailers selling equipment for your saxophone. The venue also has saxophone repair specialists present throughout the week. There is a demonstration area where retailers will be showing off their ranges of saxophones and accessories. There will be launches of new saxophones, accessories and books throughout the week.

Parliament Hall: This venue is the dedicated Publishers venue where you can scroll through thousands of musical works for the saxophone. The majority of works performed at the Congress will also be available to purchase at this venue.

Both venues will be open from 10am-5pm Wednesday – Saturday and 10am – 1pm Sunday. We strongly recommend that you take the time to visit the International Trade Exhibition, there is lots to see and try out!

Do come and visit us at our stall. We look forward to meeting you!