Sunday 15 May 2016

Jess Gillam, Rhapsode?

Jess Gillam, Rhapsode?

Jess Gillam and her performance tonight in the final of the BBC Young Musician 2016 has inspired me to Blog again. She has introduced to me, a new dimension in my thinking about art and the role of the Rhapsode. And just what is genius.

Jess, kept looking round and engaging personally with the people of the BBC Symphony Orchestra as though she was bringing them and its Conductor and the Composer along with her. Seventeen year old Jess.

To me, a musically uneducated being, Jess is contributing to destroying the barriers of class in art, be it music, visual or otherwise. She is building bridges.

All of the young musicians in the final are superb and deserve to win. But Jess, I suspect, will never succumb even if she does win. An artist.

An image with this blog? No, no image of mine could add to Jess’s art or reflect the tears of hope she brought to my eyes this evening.