ILLUMINATION: Isabelle Ryder
(JAM President’s Commission 2023)
Alan Thomas · trumpet
James Fountain · trumpet
Simon Hogan · organ
Music of Our Time (JAM's opening season concert)
20 March 2024, 7:30pm
St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London
www.jamconcert.org
Illumination is inspired by St Brigid (St Bride), the gentle but strong-minded patroness saint of Ireland. Brigid founded Kildare Abbey and an associated art school, which was famous for its illuminated manuscripts. Sadly, the acclaimed Book of Kildare has been lost, but since her death 1500 years ago, Brigid’s spiritual light has spread far and wide. This piece - for organ and two trumpets - aims to celebrate the light and art of St Brigid. A loose melody in the Mixolydian mode is presented by the trumpets, and progressively decorated (or illuminated) as the piece builds to its climax.
A former earthquake scientist with a first degree in music, Isabelle Ryder is now an award-winning composer published by Oxford University Press, and a Visiting Professional in keyboards at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. Besides piano and organ, Isabelle also plays folk fiddle, particularly enjoying fast-paced Irish tunes. Her wide-ranging and colourful music straddles classical, sacred, jazz, and theatre, and is often influenced in more or less abstract ways by the natural world. In 2023 she won First Prize in the contemporary category of the Fidelio Piano Composition Competition, for her evocative piece Seal Highway from the suite Fjord, inspired by coastal Greenland. In summer 2023 she composed for the Sacconi Quartet during the first JAM Composers’ Residency in Kent, again choosing an Arctic inspiration. The residency in Kent led to a connection with St Bride’s Church - which meant that Isabelle could go full-throttle Irish in choosing inspiration for both her JAM commission and a second, celebratory piece commissioned by the Guild of St Bride.
www.isabellerydermusic.weebly.com
Film by Gareth Kay
www.garethkay.co