Jamie Elless (they/she) is a composer, performer and artist from the Midlands. She is currently a Gareth Neame scholar at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, studying composition with Laura Bowler and Gwyn Pritchard and harpsichord with James Johnstone. Jamie completed her BA and MRes degrees in Music at the University of Nottingham, studying the latter as a Henry Thomas Mitchell scholar under the supervision of Elizabeth Kelly and Duncan MacLeod. 

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The project: “I am fascinated by the voice and its role as an “immediate identifier”, a descriptor that allows our brains, for better or for worse, to quickly jump to conclusions. Lower voices have historically meant “male”, higher voices “female”, and these incorrect assumptions continue to pervade much of the music written and performed today. For this project, drawing inspiration from Sarah Hennies’ Contralto, I want to create a documentary piece that features trans+ performers describing their experiences of navigating the modern musical world. I will pair pre-recorded voices with instruments that mimic their natural speech inflections, with the instrumental sounds eventually taking precedence over the voices.” Click here to listen to  Jamie's work and read more about the creative process.