The John Armitage Memorial Trust (JAM) has launched a new Organ and Brass Quintet composition initiative that will culminate in a commission and world premiere for a composer.

JAM has been nurturing composition in the UK for over 21 years and has gained a critically acclaimed reputation for commissioning new works through its annual 'Call for Music'.

Composers

Since 2000, JAM has given performances of 130 new pieces of music, either submitted to or commissioned by the charity from the likes of Jonathan Dove, Paul Patterson, John McCabe, Judith Bingham, Adam Gorb, Gabriel Jackson, Steve Martland, Tariq O'Regan, Paul Mealor, Philip Cashian, Rory Boyle, Julian Philips, Phillip Cooke, Giles Swayne, Thea Musgrave, Tom Harrold and Daniel Saleeb.

Through 'JAM on the Marsh', a multi-art festival based on Kent's Romney Marsh piloted in 2013, JAM has grown into a significant, broad multi-arts organisation working with leading lights in the fields of theatre, visual art, photography, poetry and education.

Project

This year they are looking to add to the repertoire catalogue for Organ and Brass Quintet through a series of virtual masterclasses, live workshops and performance that will lead to a commission and premiere.

The project starts next Monday 17th May with free virtual masterclasses by Francesca Massey, (Director of Music and Organist at Rochester Cathedral) and the acclaimed Onyx Brass.

It will be followed by a live Zoom Q&A with Francesca and Onyx at 6.00pm on Wednesday 19th May.

50 bar sketches

Composes who are then interested to further their involvement should then provide 50-bar sketches of their proposed compositions to be submitted by 1st June.

Six sketches will be selected for workshopping in July led by composer Paul Mealor, with full scores delivered in August.

At the performance in the Autumn, a composer will be awarded a £500 commission for premiere at JAM's season launch concert in London in March 2022.

Six sketches will be selected for workshopping in July led by composer Paul Mealor, with full scores delivered in August4BR

Masterclass

A spokesperson told 4BR: "The masterclasses will remain on JAM's site as a resource for any composer now or in the future to learn the complexities of writing for these particular, perhaps daunting, instruments.

Nothing like this currently exists. This is an inspirational, interactive composition project that is free and open to all composers based on the UK."

Further information:

For further information, please go to https://jamconcert.org/jam-masterclass-series/