Monday 16 March 2026
6pm
Milton Court Concert Hall
Barbican Snapshots
Guildhall Saxophone Ensemble
featuring Jess Gillam MBE
Programme
Nouthong Phimvilayphone
The Train
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Ryuichi Sakamoto
M.A.Y. in the Backyard
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Lydia Kenny and Jan Tabeçki
Lessons in Gravity
I. Barbican No 13
II. Brix
III. Hocket
IV. Metropolis
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video by Joe Pollard
words by Olivia Bell
conducted by Lydia Kenny
featuring Jan Tabeçki | keyboard
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Barbican Snapshots
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Philippa Godsalve
Barbican New Vision
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Sam Moss
Be More Barbican
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Helen Oh
Ebb and Flow
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Aiken Anderson
Life at the Barbican
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Severin Salvenmoser
Barbicanetic Energy
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Luca Mantero
London is Beeping
video by Tegen Williams
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Emir Okmen
Une vie en béton brut (A life in raw concrete)
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Jess Gillam and the Guildhall Saxophone Ensemble
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John Harle
RANT!
arranged by Samuel Beddard
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Award of Fellowship of the Guildhall School to Jess Gillam
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Pedro Iturralde
Pequeña Czarda
arranged by Tristan Ng​
Guildhall Saxophone Ensemble
directed by John Harle OBE FRSA FGS
Lydia Kenny
Catrin Roberts
Samuel Beddard
Tristan Ng
Emily Plumb
Emily Overend
Joe Pollard
Charles Curtin
Hebe Cooke
Violetta Harus
Imogen Cookson
Lauren Peck
Zach Knight
Jan Tabeçki (keyboards)
Jess Gillam MBE
Photo © Robin Sam Becker
Alumna Jess Gillam is a celebrated saxophonist and broadcaster whose electrifying performances and vibrant stage presence have taken her to the world’s leading stages. She made history as the youngest-ever soloist at the Last Night of the Proms and hosts the award-winning BBC Radio 3 show This Classical Life, currently in its seventh season.
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Jess has premiered major new works including Anna Clyne’s Glasslands, Dani Howard’s Saxophone Concerto and Karl Jenkins’ Stravaganza. Her concerto appearances span the BBC orchestras, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Danish Radio Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Baltimore, Gothenburg, Houston, Iceland, Lahti, London, Munich and Sydney Symphony Orchestras.
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Jess has performed in Europe’s leading halls including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Vienna Konzerthaus and Barcelona’s Palau de la Música, and is signed exclusively to Decca Classics, the first saxophonist on the label; her albums have topped the UK Classical Charts, with Rise named in The Times Top 100 albums of 2019.
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She received an MBE in 2021 and alongside her incredible career, Jess has also partnered with Guildhall School to establish a scholarship in her name, strengthening the School’s ability to attract and support the most talented students.
Nouthong Phimvilayphone
The Train
Nouthong Phimvilayphone is a traditional Laotian khene player. The khene is similar to a bamboo mouth organ. The Train is a rhythmic, percussive melody – often titled Lotfai Talang – that mimics the sound of a passing train. The work is in a frantic, minimalist style that uses the khaen’s unique sound to create both melodic and harmonic drone textures within the saxophone ensemble.
Ryuichi Sakamoto
M.A.Y. in the Backyard
M.A.Y. in the Backyard is a playful, experimental composition, originally released on his 1984 album Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia. It was featured on the soundtrack to the 2017 film Call Me by Your Name. The acronym M.A.Y. stands for the names of three stray cats – Modaki, Ashura and Yanayatsu – that frequently visited Sakamoto’s home. The piece is known for its staccato, rhythmic precision. Sakamoto used a sequencer to mimic the sharp, unpredictable sounds of a cat’s cry.
Lydia Kenny & Jan Tabeçki
Lessons in Gravity
I. Barbican No 13
II. Brix
III. Hocket
IV. Metropolis
music by Lydia Kenny and Jan Tabeçki
video by Joe Pollard
words by Olivia Bell
conducted by Lydia Kenny
featuring Jan Tabeçki | keyboard
Lessons in Gravity is inspired by the rise of the Barbican. The piece moves through four stages: the late-1800s shopfronts (‘Barbican No 13’), the destruction that reduced the area to debris (‘Brix’), the building of the architectural maze from the point of view of a pigeon (‘Hocket’) and the chaotic cultural hub it is today (‘Metropolis’).
Philippa Godsalve
Barbican New Vision
Barbican New Vision explores the materials of the Barbican interacting with natural forces and organic matter. A collage of light reflections in glass and rainwater, blistering paint and mould, stalagmites and stalactites, lichen and moss growing on the rough concrete surfaces. Sounds have been selected for their aesthetic and material properties with electronically processed harp and coarse saxophone textures forming an austere soundscape.
Sam Moss
Be More Barbican
I believe life would be easier if we were all a bit more *barbican*. But what does it mean to be more Barbican? What can this brutalist monument tell us about our own lives? Make your own judgment, as you watch a video collage made up of footage from the Barbican film archives.
Helen Oh
Ebb and Flow
This film explores the ebb and flow of the Barbican Estate. It focuses on the contrast between its dark Brutalist architecture and the vibrance of people, plants, and the Barbican Conservatory as light changes throughout the day. Through contrasting angles and textures, I look for movement and life within the Barbican, and show that it is not still or cold, but alive and constantly evolving.
Aiken Anderson
Life at the Barbican
I approached my work to show my own perception of living by the Barbican estate, in the innovative Bauhaus style. As a student, exploring the Barbican for the first time is overwhelming, with different pathways and hidden staircases that lead you walking in circles. One can get lost very easily; of course that is the point of its architecture, the grandiosity of such an estate, a brutalist dystopian masterwork.
Yet in the midst of this great chaos, lies a simple church, St Giles-Cripplegate. It allows for a clear distinction between the modern dark architecture, and the gothic-style 14th-century rebuilt church (originally founded in the 10th century). I use this to add contrast in my work, almost as a struggle between old and new.
Severin Salvenmoser
Barbicanetic Energy
Energy is flowing, electricity buzzing, water dripping through pipes below us, the tubes rumbling in the deep, electromagnetic waves spreading all around us, silent and unseen but essential for our modern way of living. This is a hidden world, partly uncovered for 2 minutes of music. You hear the low booming sound of the tubes passing underneath the Barbican lake, recorded with a hydrophone underwater.
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Also, the sound of the buzzing electromagnetic noises generated by lights, cables, radio waves or wifi recoded all over the Barbican Centre is included in the electronic track of the piece.
Luca Mantero
London is Beeping
music by Luca Mantero
video by Tegen Williams
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I love and hate the sound of construction: everything is always being regenerated and we can’t escape it in the city. The accompanying video shows the Barbican as it is preparing to be invaded by refurbishing work.
Emir Okmen
Une vie en béton brut (A life in raw concrete)
This piece is inspired by the exposed concrete structure of the Barbican Estate. Its brutalist architecture, raw and unpolished, reflects the artist’s inner creative life: direct, unfinished and honest. Nothing is covered. Nothing is decorated. What you see is what you get. The piece has moments of musicality and sudden chaos, just like our daily rhythm. The steady rhythm embodies the daily struggle to create in an artist’s life; no matter what happens, it doesn’t and shouldn’t stop. Like raw concrete, the piece does not try to be smooth. It stands as it is, strong, exposed, and real.
John Harle
RANT! (arranged by Samuel Beddard)
Written for Jess’s debut album, Rise, this work is a reworking of Cumbrian folk songs from around her home town of Ulverston.
Pedro Iturralde
Pequeña Czarda (arranged by Tristan Ng)
Recorded by Jess in 2019, Pequeña Czarda is a showcase for her extraordinary talents, both musically and technically.
Forthcoming Events
Armourers & Brasiers' Brass Prize
25 March 2026
Silk Street Music Hall
Enjoy performances in our annual prize for brass instruments supported by the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers.
Ubu Ensemble: Ubu at the Movies
26 March 2026
Silk Street Music Hall
The boundary-pushing Ubu Ensemble, directed by Simon Wills, turns its lens to the world of cinema in a thrilling exploration of film-inspired sound.
Junior Guildhall Symphony Orchestra & String Ensemble
28 March 2026
Milton Court Concert Hall
Experience the brilliance and vitality of British and Irish music in this spirited concert from Junior Guildhall’s outstanding young musicians.
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Photo © David Monteith-Hodge
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Founded in 1880 by the City of London Corporation
Chair of the Board of Governors
The Hon. Emily Benn
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Principal
Professor Jonathan Vaughan FGS
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Vice-Principal & Director of Music
Armin Zanner​ FGS
Contact Us​
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Barbican,
London,
EC2Y 8DT
+44 (0)207 628 2571
Guildhall School is provided by the City of London as part of its contribution to the cultural life of London and the nation.
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