Music appoints new Turner Sims Professors

Baroque violinist Adrian Chandler and jazz trumpeter Abram Wilson have just taken up their posts in an innovative new scheme supported by the University and Turner Sims. As Turner Sims Professors of Music, Chandler and Wilson will work with Music students individually and in groups, running workshops and performing in public alongside Southampton students in Turner Sims and elsewhere.

Adrian Chandler is the founder and director of the leading early music ensemble La Serenissima, internationally known exponents of the music of Antonio Vivaldi and his Italian contemporaries. La Serenissima has been universally applauded by publications such as Gramophone Magazine, The Sunday Times, BBC Music Magazine, Diapason, Fanfare Magazine, American Record Guide, The Independent, The Strad, La Stampa, Gaudisc, Goldberg Magazine and the London Evening Standard for its performances and recordings on the AVIE label. They have made nine recordings to date and received Gramophone Award nominations in 2008, 2009 and 2010. 2009 also saw ‘Vivaldi — The French Connection’ selected for Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice and in 2010 this record won a Gramophone Award. Their latest recording, ‘Vivaldi — Gods, Emperors & Angels’ was Record of the Week on Classic FM and on US stations WQXR and KDFC. Both albums reached the top ten of the US Billboard (Classical) Charts in 2010.

Multi-award winning New Orleans trumpeter, vocalist and composer Abram Wilson is among the finest jazz musicians in the UK today. Since arriving in London in 2002 he has recorded three albums; Jazz Warrior (2004), Ride! Ferris Wheel to the Modern Day Delta (2006) and Life Paintings (2009) resulting in a clutch of awards including the International Songwriting Competition for the jazz category, the BBC Jazz Award for Best New CD and the BBC Jazz Award for Best Band. With a trumpet style reminiscent of Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis and vocals evoking Sammy Davis Jr. and Chet Baker, Wilson creates melodic compositions that swing and groove.