Pick and Mix at the new time of Sunday midday on RNZ Concert is celebrating young performers.
Twenty-year-old saxophonist Jess Gillam, will join the BBC as a presenter on its classical channel Radio 3 in an attempt to get more young listeners involved. The trailblazer was the first saxophone player to be signed by Decca, and the first saxophone finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year. She has her debut album coming out in April.
Jacob Collier shot to fame in 2016 after producing In My Room an impressive debut recorded in his bedroom on his laptop. It won the 24-year-old singer, arranger, composer and producer the kudos to drip feed bit by bit his ambitious 40-song, 4-volume project. The first part Djesse, Volume 1 is out and he’s on a world tour to promote it, including New Zealand.
Safia Nolin is a singer-songwriter from Montreal who refuses to conform to cliched ideas of how a performer should look or dress. She is out as lesbian and received a lot of online abuse when she collected the top prize at a music festival in Montreal dressed in jeans and shirt. Sales for Nolin’s debut album Limoilou escalated after she appeared on a Canadian television talk show, revealing her teenage struggles with being bullied.
Safia Nolin, French-Canadian singer Photo: Supplied
Album of the year at the recent 2019 Grammys went to 30-year-old Kacey Musgraves. Her album ‘Golden Hour’ also won best Country Music album. On top of that she also won the awards for Best Country solo performance and Best Country song. Last year the Grammys were male dominated with only 18% of the awards going to women. Musgraves' win of album of the year is especially significant for beating off heavy competition from more commercial artists.
Kacey Musgraves has won four Grammy Awards this year Photo: Supplied
Punch Brothers won the Grammy for Best Folk Album for their album 'All Ashore'. Punch Bros are led by mandolinist Chris Thile but what’s special about the group is that all five players have impressive bluegrass credentials making the Punch Brothers among the greatest exponents of acoustic music on the folk scene today.
Bluegrass super group The Punch Brothers Photo: Supplied
Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy was won by Cécile McLorin Salvant for The Window. This is her third consecutive Grammy (she won in 2015 and 2017). And she was nominated for her first album Woman/Child in 2013 when she was 24. The Window includes music from Bernstein’s 'West Side Story', songs by Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and Stevie Wonder, and even oddities like ‘Wild is Love’ written in the 60s for Nat King Cole.
Cécile McLorin Salvant has won the best Jazz Album Grammy for The Window Photo: Supplied
Eighteen-year-old British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason shot to international attention after playing at the Royal Wedding last year. He’s also become a role model for young classical musicians. His debut album 'Inspiration' climbed to the top of the UK classical charts after the exposure he received through the televised coverage of his performance for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. He recorded the album with the City Of Birmingham Symphony, and it features Shostakovich’s 1st cello concerto plus a mix of solo cello works, with some pop songs arranged for solo cello.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason Photo: Supplied
Music details
MILHAUD: Braziliera, from Scaramouche Suite - Jess Gillam (sax) (Decca Music)
NYMAN: The Diary of Anne Frank - Jess Gillam (sax), BBC Concert Orch (Decca Music)
COLLIER: Djesse - Jacob Collier (Hajanga Records)
NOLIN: La Laideur - Safia Nolin (BONAL040-LP)
MUSGRAVES: Rainbow - Kacey Musgraves (MCA B0027921-01)
MUSGRAVES: Slow Burn - Kacey Musgraves (MCA B0027921-01)
PUNCH BROTHERS: All Ashore - Punch Brothers (Nonesuch 571873-2)
PUNCH BROTHERS: Three Dots and a Dash - Punch Brothers (Nonesuch 571873-2)
DOROTHY WAYNE, RAY RASCH: Wild is Love - Cécile McLorin Salvant (MAC 1132)
COLE PORTER: Were thine that special face - Cécile McLorin Salvant (MAC 1132)
HADAR: Evening of Roses - Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), CBSO cellos/Oliver Janes (Decca 483 2948)
CASALS: Song of the birds - Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) (Decca 483 2948)
MARLEY: No Woman, No Cry - Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) (Decca 483 2948)
COHEN: Hallelujah - Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) (Decca 483 2948)
