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Jess Gillam is celebrated as a leading figure of the saxophone. With her electrifying performances, vibrant stage presence and magnetic personality, the ‘uniquely mercurial’ (The Times) Jess Gillam has been invited to play on the world’s major stages since becoming the youngest ever soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms and was hailed for her ‘effortless virtuosity and limitless expressiveness’ (Arts Desk). Equally at home behind the microphone, Gillam has shattered glass ceilings as the youngest ever presenter for BBC Radio 3 with her award-winning weekly show, This Classical Life.

Passionate about broadening the repertoire for the saxophone, Jess Gillam gives the premieres of various works in the current and forthcoming seasons; this includes Glasslands by Anna Clyne (co-commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y León, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, NAC Orchestra Ottawa and Naples Philharmonic). Further premieres include the world premiere of Dani Howard’s Saxophone Concerto with London Chamber Orchestra and the UK premiere of Karl Jenkins’ Stravaganza with BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Gillam is Artist in Focus with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and The Glasshouse International Centre for Music for the 2023/24 season and continues to be Associate Artist of the Royal Albert Hall and Artistic Partner with the Manchester Camerata.

Highlights of Gillam’s concerto appearances have included performances with the BBC, DSO Berlin, Gothenburg, Iceland, Lahti and London Symphony Orchestras as well as the London, Royal Liverpool and Munich Philharmonics, among others. Further afield, concerto highlights in the US have included the Houston Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra. This season sees Gillam debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra as well as return to the NDR Elbphilharmonieorchester, performing James MacMillan’s Saxophone Concerto under Marin Alsop. She also tours with the Manchester Camerata (including a debut performance at the Enescu Festival) and appears with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The Hallé and BBC Concert Orchestra.

On the recital stage, Jess Gillam is seen performing across Europe, the US and beyond. As an ECHO Rising Star in 2022/23 season, Gillam has appeared throughout Europe’s most prestigious concert halls, including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw (where she will return in June 2024), Wiener Konzerthaus, Konzerthuset Stockholm and Barcelona’s Palau de le Musica. She has also performed recitals at the Kissinger Sommer, Schleswig-Holstein and Heidelberger Frühling music festivals. Following her Carnegie Hall debut in the 2022/23 season and recital at the Aspen Music Festival, she returns to the US this season and makes her Boston Celebrity Series debut.

Jess Gillam loves to collaborate and bring people together to enjoy sparky and energetic performances. She formed her band, the Jess Gillam Ensemble, in 2019. Their bold, uplifting and open-minded approach is rooted in classical music but takes inspiration from different musical worlds. Gillam’s carefully curated programmes provide a new spin on C.P.E. Bach, groove in the music of John Harle, Anna Meredith and Barbara Thompson as well as folk infusions and soaring melodies through works by Sakamoto, J.S. Bach and Björk. Since their launch, the ensemble released their chart-topping album, TIME, and have performed throughout the UK and Europe to largely sold-out audiences at venues and festivals including the Wigmore Hall, Latitude Festival, Mozartfest Augsburg, and the Bath Festival.

Alongside her performance work, Gillam is a keen TV and Radio presenter. Her weekly show on BBC Radio 3, This Classical Life, is in its fifth season and has garnered high praise from The Guardian who wrote: ‘There are many more established presenters who lack Gillam’s warmth and impressive ability’. In 2020, This Classical Life was awarded the ARIA Award for Best Specialist Music Show. As a guest presenter, Gillam has worked for BBC Radio 2, co-hosted on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme and presented at the BBC Proms and BBC Young Musician of the Year.

As an exclusive recording artist with Decca Classics, Jess Gillam is the first and only saxophonist to be signed to the major label. Both her albums have reached No. 1 in the UK Classical Music Charts and her debut album, Rise, was listed in The Times’ Top 100 albums of 2019. Her second album, TIME, was released to critical acclaim in 2020; ‘Gillam’s agile soprano saxophone soars impressively… before gliding gracefully in and around a hive of textural activity that builds up to a frenetic ending’ (Gramophone on her recording of Michael Nyman Where the Bee Dances).

In 2016, Jess Gillam made history after becoming the first saxophonist to reach the Finals of BBC Young Musician of the Year. She has been the recipient of a Classic BRIT Award, a The Times Breakthrough Award nominee and was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2021 for Services to Music. Returning to her roots in Ulverston in Cumbria, Gillam continues to promote her own concert series in her hometown, inviting internationally renowned artists, a series she founded at age 12. She is a patron for Awards for Young Musicians, Music in Secondary Schools Trust, the London Music Fund and is a member of the Council of the Royal Philharmonic Society. Gillam is a Vandoren UK Artist and became the youngest ever endorsee for Yanagisawa Saxophones aged just 13.

Swedish cellist Torleif Thedéen is one of the most distinguished instrumentalists in the Nordic countries and enjoys an international profile as a recitalist, concerto soloist, recording artist and pedagogue. He is a laureate of numerous international cello competitions, including the Casals Competition. He is Visiting Professor of cello at the Royal College of Music in London, Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and a former Professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.

In a career spanning four decades, Torleif has performed with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, among them the Czech Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic,City of Birmingham SO, Dresden philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic.

He has worked with conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Berglund, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Franz Welser-Möst, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Osmo Vänskä and Leif Segerstam. He continues to perform with all the major Nordic orchestras and enjoys a burgeoning relationship with orchestras and festivals in the Antipodes.

As a chamber musician, Torleif is familiar with the prestigious stages of the Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has appeared at the Prague Spring and the Verbier Festivals, and at the chamber music festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, Bordeaux, Oslo, Bath, Stavanger, Kuhmo and beyond. His collaborators have included Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Maxim Rysanov, Leif Ove Andsnes, Lars Anders Tomter, Henning Kraggerud, Roland Pöntinen and Martin Fröst.

Torleif’s recordings have attracted numerous accolades. He was awarded the Edison Prize in 2018 for his recording of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time with Martin Fröst, Lucas Debargue and Janine Jansen on the Sony label. His recording of the Shostakovich Cello Concertos won a Cannes Classical Award and his account of the Bach Cello Suites was selected as a ‘Choice’ by BBC Music Magazine. His discography also includes the concertos of Dvořák, Elgar, Kabalevsky and a wealth of contemporary music. He plays the 1783 Guadagnini cello on loan from the Norwegian Dextra foundation,previously used by M Rostropovich.

Tom Redmond is a broadcaster, presenter, horn player and animateur. He presents for BBC Radio 3 from concert halls and festivals across the UK including Aldeburgh, Edinburgh and the BBC Proms. As a horn player he has performed throughout Europe, Japan, Russia, South East Asia and the USA with orchestras including the City of Birmingham and London Symphony orchestras, Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Philharmonia.

He was a member of the Hallé for 13 years before relinquishing his position in 2016 to allow him more time to work within music education and broadcasting.

Tom has introduced classical music to over 250,000 young people and their families in interactive concerts with the Hallé, City of Birmingham, Scottish Chamber, Royal Scottish National, Ulster and RTÉ National Symphony Orchestras, Welsh National Opera and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He is involved with the BBC’s Ten Pieces project, leading creative workshops with its celebrity ambassadors, and he was the orchestra consultant for the project’s e-book.

As an animateur he has led creative workshops in a variety of musical environments, from prisons to music hubs and state and public schools. He has recently devised and delivered a series of corporate training workshops to highlight the effects of inspirational leadership in the workplace, using the orchestra as an example of a high-performance team.

Tom is the horn tutor at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and has a close relationship with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and its INSPIRE program. He is the Director of Music at Chetham’s School of Music.

Described by International Record Review as “one of the most gifted younger British conductors”, Stephen Bell studied at the Royal College of Music under the renowned conductor Norman Del Mar. He now finds himself increasingly in demand, both at home and abroad, with a wide variety of international orchestras. He was appointed Artistic Director of the City of Oxford Orchestra in 2009 and he was delighted to take up the post of Associate Conductor of the Hallé Pops in 2013.

2022 sees him take up his exciting new post as Principal Guest Conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Stephen’s recent discography includes critically acclaimed CDs on the ASV, Naxos and Dutton labels, including two with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a disc devoted to the music of Gordon Jacob and three world premiere recordings with violist Roger Chase and the BBC Concert Orchestra. 2016 saw three brand new releases, including A Christmas Celebration with the Hallé on its own label and a collaboration with award-winning vocalist Clare Teal on MUD Records. He has extensive broadcasting experience, frequently appearing on Classic FM as well as on BBC radio and television.

His diverse repertoire, versatility and aptitude for communication with audiences of all genres and ages have led to exciting conducting projects with an eclectic range of artists. Past highlights include conducting the Queen’s Jubilee Concert at Chatsworth House, a tribute concert for Stanley Black at the Royal Festival Hall, a gala event for Prince Charles at Windsor Castle, the memorial concert for Alistair Cooke at Westminster Abbey, the award-winning Pitch Perfect for BBC TV’s Children in Need at Wembley with the BBC Singers, the televised Music Nation concert from the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, and pop legends Texas with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at Barrowland, Glasgow, for BBC Music Day 2017.

From 2005 to 2010, Stephen was invited to conduct the annual televised BBC Proms in the Park with the BBC Philharmonic, and since 2011, he has appeared every year on the live TV broadcasts of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s Last Night of the Proms celebrations. He made his Royal Albert Hall Proms debut with the hugely successful Doctor Who Prom in 2008, returning in 2012 for a Family Matinee Prom with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and again in 2014 for two televised CBeebies Proms with the BBC Philharmonic. The Folk Prom in the 2018 season marked his first Prom with the BBC Concert Orchestra, returning with them in the 2019 season.

In addition to his exciting new position with the RTÉCO and his on-going commitment to the Hallé, recent and upcoming engagements include appearances with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Brighton Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

German-born conductor Erina Yashima is the Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Yashima has been in this role since September 2019, where she assists Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as well as other guest conductors, and leads The Philadelphia Orchestra in a variety of different concert programs.

As a rising star in the industry, Yashima has performed all over the world with acclaimed ensembles and orchestras. Recent highlights include her debut at the Arena di Verona and her return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as debuts with the San Francisco Symphony, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Rostov State Philharmonic, and at the Colorado Music Festival. This 2021-22 season and beyond will see Yashima’s debuts with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Orchestra della Toscana, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Albany Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, among others. On the opera platform, Yashima will conduct a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte in her debut with the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, and lead a production of Rusalka at the Theater Krefeld und Mönchengladbach.

Since 2015, Yashima has been studying with Riccardo Muti. As winner of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship, Yashima assisted Maestro Muti and worked closely with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. During this period, Yashima collaborated with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and assisted conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph Eschenbach, and Edward Gardner.

In opera, Yashima made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2017 with a production of Der Schauspieldirektor for children. She conducted Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro in Novara and Ravenna in February 2019, and Rossini’s La Cenerentola, both in 2017 in Lucca and again in 2018 in Piacenza with the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra. At the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, Yashima served as répétiteur with conducting duties, leading performances of My Fair Lady .

As one of the three finalists of the prestigious Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award, Yashima performed with the Camerata Salzburg at the Salzburg Festival 2018. In November of the same year she was as assistant conductor to Zubin Mehta and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra. Other orchestras that Yashima has performed with include the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Transylvania State Philharmonic of Cluj-Napoca, Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt (Oder), and Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo.

In 2015, Yashima was an active participant of the Italian Opera Academy in Ravenna, working with Riccardo Muti on Verdi’s Falstaff, as well as in Bernard Haitink’s masterclass at the Lucerne Festival. Yashima was a finalist at the INTERAKTION workshop, leading musicians from Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin and Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, amongst others.

As a pre-college piano student of Bernd Goetzke, Yashima began her musical studies at the Institute for the Early Advancement of the Musically Highly Gifted (IFF) in her hometown of Hannover and had her first conducting lessons at the age of 14. After studying conducting in Freiburg with Scott Sandmeier, and in Vienna with Mark Stringer, she completed her studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music, Berlin under the guidance of Christian Ehwald and Hans-Dieter Baum.