Jess Gillam

Jess Gillam has been forging her own adventurous path since she became the first saxophonist to reach the finals of BBC Young Musician and the youngest ever soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms. Passionate about inspiring and bringing joy to people through music, Jess invites audiences on journeys of musical discovery through her electrifying performances and eclectic programming. She is an Associate Artist of the Royal Albert Hall and signed exclusively to Decca Classics. She has won a Classic Brit Award and was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to music in 2021.

Jess performs in venues across the globe—from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie—and has worked with orchestras such as the BBC, DSO Berlin, Gothenburg, Iceland, Lahti, London, Houston, and Minnesota symphony orchestras as well as the London, Royal Liverpool, and Munich Philharmonics. This season, Jess makes her debuts with the Sydney Symphony and Dresden Philharmonic orchestras, and returns to the NDR Elbphilharmonieorchester to perform James MacMillan’s Saxophone Concerto under Marin Alsop. With her own band, the Jess Gillam Ensemble, Jess has appeared at festivals and venues including the Wigmore Hall, Latitude Festival, Mozartfest Augsburg, and Bath Festival, and has released Time, their chart-topping album on Decca Classics.

Jess became the youngest-ever presenter for BBC Radio 3 with the launch of her own Aria award–winning weekly show, This Classical Life, which is now in its fifth year.