The John Armitage Memorial Trust (JAM), the charity that has nurtured composition in the UK for over 21 years through its annual 'Call for Music' initiative, will start its 2022 season by showcasing no fewer than seven new works.

They can heard in a concert featuring the acclaimed brass ensemble Onyx Brass (above) alongside the Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, singer Mark Le Brocq, organist Simon Hogan and actor Jane Shearsmith, under the baton of conductor Michael Bawtree.

Submissions

Due to the musical hiatus imposed by Covid-19, the concert at St Bride's Church, Fleet Street in London on 23rd March includes successful submissions to JAM's 2019 'Call for Music' — including the brass quintet world premiere by JAM's first Masterclass Series 2021 winner Janet Wheeler.

Since 2000, JAM has run a nationwide 'Call for Music' initiative for repertoire for choir, brass quintet and organ.

The commitment to nurture the next generation of composers has resulted in over 2,500 works submitted, with many composers enjoying repeat performances, securing publishing deals and commissions.

Successful works submitted in 2019 by Christopher Best, William Harmer, Philip Lancaster, Richard Peat and Kathryn Rose will also receive their first performances at the 23rd March event.

Centrepiece

The centrepiece will be the London premiere of 'Between the Stormclouds and the Sea', for choir, brass and organ, by composer Jack Oades and poet Grahame Davies.

It follows the world premiere took place in JAM on the March in the festival's home of Romney Marsh, Kent.

'Between the Stormclouds and the Sea' is largely melodically driven, with harmony that is often unsettled, and a flexible approach to rhythm and metreComposer, Jack Oades

Emotional landscape

Speaking to 4BR Jack Oades said: "I was delighted to collaborate with Grahame, with his uniquely beautiful writing. His words portray the independence, the feeling of difference and apartness of the Romney Marsh (Kent) native.

I wanted to capture the essence of the Marsh as a place, while simultaneously responding to the emotional landscape of the poetry."

He added: "'Between the Stormclouds and the Sea' is largely melodically driven, with harmony that is often unsettled, and a flexible approach to rhythm and metre.

The folkloric language of the poetry is emulated through my own harmonic language, combining the timbre of brass and organ underneath the choir, the music ebbs and flows 'like the surf upon the shingle, like the wind among the wheat'".

Time and place

JAM: Music of Our Time
Wednesday 23rd March (7.30pm)
St Bride's Church
Fleet Street, London
EC4Y 8AU

Tickets are now on sale via: www.jamconcert.org or 0800 988 7984