Jess Gillam is Cumbria’s Musician of the Year

Junior RNCM saxophonist Jess Gillam has been named Musician of the Year in the inaugural Cumbria Life Culture Awards.

Held at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, earlier this month, the awards were established to celebrate the excellence and diversity of the arts in Cumbria, and covered a range of categories from photography and literature to design and community arts.

Aged just 17 Jess, winner of the Walter Todds Bursary in the BBC Young Musician Competition who is supported by the Sir John Fisher Foundation, is recognised as one of the country’s best young saxophonists. Her busy performance schedule has already seen her make a guest appearance with the Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, and earlier this year she was the youngest delegate to perform at the World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg. But it’s not just her incredible musical ability that impressed the judges. Described as ‘an extraordinary talent’, Jess is also making a name for herself as a concert promoter, bringing international names such as Courtney Pine, Snake Davis and Tommy Smith to the region.

Read more about the Cumbria Life Culture Awards here.

25 November 2015