JAM on the Marsh will be back live this summer from 8th – 18th July, albeit with limited audiences.
In its 8th season, JAM on the Marsh, 2021 will captivate audiences with 7 exhibitions, 15 concerts, and open-air theatre.
Events will take place across Romney Marsh, from Hythe to Dungeness, in many of the Romney Marsh’s famous mediaeval churches.
World renowned soloists Lesley Garrett, James Gilchrist , Michael Collins and Canterbury Cathedral Choir visit the festival for the first time, while the popular Changeling Theatre performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Jon Foreman creating a sculpture trail across the Marsh will be returning for another year.
8 July
Anna Tilbrook & Libby Burgess
- 7:30pm
- St Nicholas Church, New Romney
Anna Tilbrook (Festival Curator) and Libby Burgess open the 2021 festival with a concert for four hands piano featuring Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals in its 100th year anniversary. More Details
9 July
An Evening with Lesley Garrett
- 7:30pm
- St Nicholas Church, New Romney
“If you’ve been around a while – which I have! – you have to keep reinventing yourself, like Madonna” says soprano Lesley Garrett. Her career has taken her from Mozart to The Sound of Music, from opera to television, and this evening of song, reminiscences and chat promises to be a delight. More Details
10 July
Elizabeth Bass & Dan Shao
- 1:00pm
- St George, Ivychurch
Presenting a programme full of passion, storytelling and dreamlike soundscapes with music by Argentinian composer Piazzolla (in his 100th year), Takemitsu and Debussy, Elizabeth Bass (harp) and Dan Shao (flute) will explore the full range of expressive capabilities of their instruments through immense timbral variation and rhythmic flair. More Details
10 July
Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms
- 7:30pm
- St Leonard’s Church, Hythe
Canterbury Cathedral Choir, with conductor David Newsholme, brings Bernstein’s dramatic choral masterpiece, Chichester Psalms (with organ, harp and percussion), to St Leonard’s Church, Hythe. More Details
11 July
Chamber Music Recital
- 1:00pm
- St George, Ivychurch
Michael Collins (clarinet) · Simon Blendis (violin) · Harriet Mackenzie (violin) · Phil Dukes (viola) · Sally Pendlebury (cello) present Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A, K.581 in this intimate chamber music recital. More Details
11 July
Chamber Music from WWI & WWII
- 7:00pm
- St Leonard’s Church, Hythe
Elgar was deeply affected by the horrors of WWI when he wrote his Piano Quintet in A minor. Composed while he was a prisoner during WWII, Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time was created under some of the most dire conditions known to humankind.
This concert is presented with a 60 minute interval so remember to ‘bring your own’ picnic.
Performed by some of the UK’s best musicians: Michael Collins (clarinet) · Anna Tilbrook (piano) · Simon Blendis (violin) · Sally Pendlebury (cello). More Details
12 July
Kosmos Ensemble
- 7:30pm
- St George, Ivychurch
Kosmos is re-defining the relationship between classical and world music. Gypsy, Scottish, Jewish and Greek music glide into hot-blooded tango and Asian melodies, referencing classical composers including Brahms, Dvorak and Sarasate, performed with “telepathic rapport, dazzling virtuosity, serious scholarship, intellectual curiosity and impeccable musicianship” (Richard Morrison, chief music critic, The Times).
Harriet MacKenzie (violin) · Meg Hamilton (viola) · Milos Milivojevic (accordion).More Details
13 July
Open Compositional Workshop
Free to all
- 10-5pm
- St Leonard’s Church, Hythe
Join this Open Compositional Workshop at the JAM on the Marsh festival with performers Francesca Massey and Onyx Brass, lead by composer Paul Mealor.
The JAM Masterclass Series is an inspirational, interactive composition course aimed at emerging UK-based composers of any age. Free to apply and open to all UK-based composers.
3 Organ and 3 Brass sketches will be workshopped including one-on-one breakout sessions with Paul Mealor. More Details
13 July
Francesca Massey & Onyx Brass in concert
- 7:30pm
- St Leonard’s Church, Hythe
“…Regarded as probably the foremost female organist in the UK”, Francesca Massey joins with Onyx Brass exploring the energetic and vibrant world of the organ and brass quintet repertoire. More Details
15 July
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- 7:30pm
- The Star Inn, St Mary in the Marsh
Bold, imaginative and magical open air theatre, Changeling Theatre is a professional touring theatre company serving community audiences across South East England. Think gothic fantasy meets RuPaul‘s Drag Race, A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be another unmissable Changeling production. A funny, fantastical feast for the senses that will delight all ages.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be performed at one of the Marsh’s finest pubs: The Star Inn at St Mary in the Marsh, renowned for its delicious food and well kept beer. Overlooking the mediaeval church, this beautiful 15th century traditional Inn was a regular haunt of Noel Coward, so is an apt venue for open-air theatre. Bring a rug or chairs and enjoy this wonderful production, food and refreshment in the garden of The Star, under the Romney Marsh sky. More Details
16 July
James Gilchrist with Anna Tilbrook
- 1:00pm
- St Nicholas Church, New Romney
James Gilchrist’s extensive concert repertoire as a tenor has seen him perform in major concert halls throughout the world. In this recital, he is joined with pianist and Festival Curator, Anna Tilbrook. More Details
16 July
London Mozart Players with James Gilchrist
- 7:30pm
- St Nicholas Church, New Romney
The London Mozart Players with James Gilchrist (tenor), Ben Goldscheider (horn) and Michael Bawtree (conductor) perform Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op.31 as well as a world premiere by British composer, Cecilia McDowall. More Details
17 July
Fibonacci Quartet
- 1:00pm
- St George, Ivychurch
The Fibonacci Quartet, an international ensemble bringing together Czech, Belgian, Swedish and Montenegrin nationalities, makes its festival debut with a concert of Mozart’s String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421 and Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 9, Op. 117. More Details
17 July
Mealor conducts Mealor & Dove
- 8:00pm
- St Leonard’s Church, Hythe
Paul Mealor (International composer and President of JAM), with his Caritas Choir and Onyx Brass, conducts three significant works that JAM has commissioned over three decades: Jonathan Dove’s The Far Theatricals of Day (2003), Mealor’s Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal (2010) and a world premiere by composer Jack Oades with librettist Grahame Davies. More Details
18 July
That Latin Temperament
- 1:00pm
- St Leonard’s Church, Hythe
Inspiring a musical journey across South America, That Latin Temperament illustrates the development of Argentinian and Brazilian music from its deep Spanish origins to the juxtaposing rhythms of the Brazilian bossa nova, including arrangements of songs and tangos by Piazzolla, Machado and Villa-Lobos. More Details
18 July
Yuanfan Yang
- 7:00pm
- St Nicholas Church, New Romney
Yuanfan Yang was named as one of the winners of the 2019 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition. He brings a recital of piano favourites as well as his own jazz improvisations with requests taken from the audience. More Details