About

A composer and jazz pianist, Jill Jarman's music reflects diverse genres, effortlessly merging the boundaries between classical and jazz. "...Art music with jazz waywardness" [Swedish dagbladet]. A fascination with music from different cultures blur these boundaries further, and can be heard in works such as Echoes from the birdcage, an ensemble piece with percussionist Evelyn Glennie showing aspects from the multi-cultural sound world of London's Kings Cross.

Her music sways between an almost timeless suspension and rhythmical energy, as in Soundwaves of light, an orchestral piece based on light emissions from the stars in the sky. Science and the natural world often inform her creative process allowing new compositional devices to occur, engaging the listener in an evolving and multi-layered sound-world. She created a new harmonic system, Polychords of limited transposition, which can be heard in many of her pieces.

Comissions include double concerto Mindstream for Evelyn Glennie and Hugo Ticiatti with the O/mordant chamber orchestra. Currently she is working on a double concerto series Across the divide, bringing background instruments forward as soloists to create new sound worlds.The first, featuring contra-bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku, premiered Queen Elizabeth Hall 2022.

Works for voices include St Georges mass for St George's church Bloomsbury, and Revelation performed at the London festival of contemporary church music. 2021 sees the release of CD by Chelys (Consort of Viols) and the Fieri Consort (voices) to include Jill's piece Now are my thoughts

A strong advocate of music education, and multi-disciplines, Jill collaborates with physicists, astronomers, dancers, and historians: recently, with Evelyn Glennie, and author Christopher Lloyd for The Sounds of Science (premiered Edinburgh science festival) which moves through a timeline of science and engineering. The Unicorn commissioned by Swedish conductor David Lundblad, is for audiences of all ages wishing to learn more about the orchestra. Two percussion pieces, New Orleans Sunrise and Carnival are included in the percussion syllabus for the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music.

"Music must take us out of ourselves to ultimately bring us back to ourselves. It reminds us to be alive and in the moment" (Jill Jarman).