MIUAWGA Ensemble with Laura Jurd (trumpet)
Make-it-up-as-we-go-along (MIUAWGA) is the RNCM’s only ensemble dedicated entirely to making music through improvisation. We’re delighted to be joined by trumpeter and improvisational specialist Laura Jurd for this unique event.
Laura Jurd trumpet
Steve Berry director
Laura Jurd - Biography
Composer-performer Laura Jurd’s distinct voice as an improvising trumpet player is at the heart of everything she creates. Her music celebrates and innovates the rich traditions of jazz and folk music, whilst often reflecting her love of The Beatles and Stravinsky to name two notable influences. Her compositions dig into something primal, earthy and human, whilst taking twists and turns that both invite surprise and evoke the inevitable.
As a composer she has collaborated with the London Sinfonietta, the Festival of New Trumpet Music, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the Ligeti Quartet to name a few. She regularly performs throughout the UK, Europe and beyond with her Mercury-nominated band Dinosaur, having played the likes of North Sea, Montréal and Molde International Jazz festivals to name a few. She can also be heard playing alongside London jazz band Kansas Smitty’s and leading a number of exciting projects in UK jazz and improvised music. Recent collaborators include drummer Seb Rochford, pianist Huw Warren and accordionist / sound-artist Martin Green.
’Jurd seems unconcerned by transient fashions or enrolment in any kind of scene, and pursues a private muse that draws on jazz, folk traditions from Europe and the Middle East, and the harmonic language of Stravinsky – yet her work is always spiritedly accessible, and often suggests wordless songs’ – John Fordham, The Guardian.
MIUAWGA Ensemble
SAXOPHONE
Dan Gribbin
Sam Lightwing
Matthew Hodson
Zack Smith
Ben Jackson
VIOLIN
Georgina Finlayson
Grainne White
Abhishek Kodaganallur Pichumani
VIOLA
Nadia Eskandari
CELLO
Lucy McLuckie
CLARINET
John Kelly
Christopher Fox
TRUMPET
Joe Bradford
Connor O’Hara
TROMBONE
Jodie Mitson
Josh Cargill
EUPHONIUM
Noa Nishizawa
PIANO (KEYS)
Dom Wills
GUITAR
Louis Campbell
Chris Godhard
BASS
Marcus De Oliveira F Da Silva
DRUM KIT
Eden Longson
VOICE
Ruth Owens