JAM on the Marsh VIRTUAL 2023
From 11-25 September 2023, experience a glittering array of works, premieres and outstanding exhibitions from JAM on the Marsh via www.jamconcert.org, for free. One month ago, we closed our 10th JAM on the Marsh festival, concluding two fantastic weeks celebrating extraordinary music, art and theatre, all performed by outstanding artists. (Watch highlights here.)
Following the huge success of July’s sold-out arts festival, JAM will now presents a selection of performances and exhibitions to a wider audience online. Under the inspirational leadership of curator Nicholas Cleobury, this year was our most dynamic festival yet.
Enjoy the rare opportunity to hear American Spirituals sung by a 60-voice US choir, alongside British and US choral classics. Hear this spellbinding performance with music by Jonathan Dove, Britten, Morten Lauridsen, Paul Mealor and a world premiere by fast-rising composer, Christopher Churcher. Enhancing the experience, the Delaware Choral Scholars form a circle around the audience to perform this ethereal new work. Churcher won this commission for his stunning composition written during JAM’s Choral Masterclasses series with VOCES8. The Scholars’ joyful singing and spontaneous movement is infectious. Hearing and watching this in Hythe’s medieval church is an unmissable experience.
“The singing of the Delaware Choral Scholars was truly beautiful.”
“We were blown away by the choirs joy of performing.”
Another world premiere to feast on is Richard Peat’s community oratorio The Sky Engine. Timothy Knapman’s topical story inspired by today’s climate crisis, is brought to life by a diverse group of musicians: Canterbury Cathedral Choir joined local primary school children; amateur community musicians of all ages performed side by side with the inspirational London Mozart Players; outstanding opera singers Rebecca Afonwy-Jones and Julian Close portray the heroine Flora and her father; and Kudzanayi Chiwawa perfectly narrates the oratorio with her powerful voice. Evocative singing and rich orchestral playing, conducted by Michael Bawtree, magnificently realise Peat’s vision. Enjoy this uplifting and collaborative work, uniting amateurs and professionals.
“The Sky Engine just transported us - an amazing community project with stunning input from the professionals and with joy written on all the faces.”
JAM on the Marsh VIRTUAL gives you the chance to listen to four new string quartets, composed during the festival as part of JAM’s first residential Composer’s Course. Cameron Biles-Liddell, Christopher Churcher, Isabelle Ryder and Jago Thornton immersed themselves in the opportunity of a lifetime as they received tutoring from internationally renowned composers and musicians: Paul Mealor, Nicholas Cleobury, John Frederick Hudson, Gabriel Jackson, Ruth Rogers and the celebrated Sacconi Quartet, who premiered the compositions. The four resulting string quartets are entrancing, with inspiration drawn from the festival’s Romney Marsh home in Jago Thornton’s becoming birdsong, personal experiences and nature in Isabelle Ryder’s Spirits of Baffin Island, momentum and perception in Cameron Biles-Liddell’s Drones With Slow Lines and 70s folk music in Christopher Churcher’s Feather Canyons. Thornton’s inspirational piece sees the players move around the church, surrounding the audience with the sounds of the local birds. For this, Jago was awarded JAM’s President’s Commission.
“The Composers' Spotlight was a revelation; it was fascinating to listen to the compositions of the residential course.”
Other must-sees of the VIRTUAL festival are the incredible artworks that featured. Explore four exhibitions by our festival artists:
- France Tetrault is obsessed with music. Her 10m, abstract canvasses capture her reactions to Messiaen’s Dieu Parmi Nous, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Debussy’s Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune and Paul Mealor’s new work The Fading Banks of Dee performed as part of the festival’s Day in Paris.
- Wendy Carrig is one of the UK’s most in demand photographers of fashion, portrait and lifestyle. She is also a keen beachcomber. Her exhibition Washed Up is a beautiful yet alarming statement of man’s culture of waste.
- Penny Graham’s beautiful pottery Space from Space, is inspired by images from The Hubble and James Webb’s telescopes and the International Space Station. The colour and glory of the galaxies have been fired to stoneware, creating a stunning exhibition.
- John Ballard’s Turning Tides large-sized oil paintings portray the groins and water-breaks of the Romney Marsh coastline. Lose yourself in these spectacular, tranquil works.
“I really enjoyed visiting the exhibitions and it was great to see all these different art forms displayed.”
JAM on the Marsh VIRTUAL is a great opportunity to relive some of the highlights of JAM on the Marsh, and gives a taster of the variety and quality of the performances – and maybe whets the appetite to join us for future festivals!
The performances and exhibitions of JAM on the Marsh VIRTUAL are free to watch via www.jamconcert.org from 11-25 September. However, we greatly welcome donations in appreciation of our endeavours and investment into new works and creativity, nurturing artists and performers, established and emerging, this year from 8-79 years old.