Junior RNCM Saxophonist Jess Gillam has reached the Final of the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.
The 17-year-old, who studies at JRNCM with Ruth Bourn, is one of three musicians to make it through to the Final, alongside cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and French horn player Ben Goldscheider.
The final will take place on Sunday 15 May at the Barbican where each competitor will play a concerto of choice accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Mark Wigglesworth. Jess, whose studies are supported by the Sir John Fisher Foundation, will play Where the Bee Dances by Michael Nyman. It will be broadcast at 7pm on BBC Four and at 7.30pm on Radio 3.
This year’s competition has been particularly good for JRNCM students, with 16-year-old percussionist Andrew Woolcock, a pupil of Ian Forgrieve, making it through to the Semi-Finals.
