Jamie Savan

Director of Research, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Email:: jamie.savan@bcu.ac.uk

Jamie Savan is Professor of Performance-led Research in Music and Director of Research at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and co-director of BCU's Performance Research Hub. He joined BCU in 2016, having previously worked as a Senior Lecturer and Head of Performance at Newcastle University.

Best known as a performer of the Renaissance cornett, as director of The Gonzaga Band and a member of His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, he also works as a solo recitalist, and as an orchestral principal with the English Baroque Soloists (Sir John Eliot Gardiner). He has performed in most European countries, as well as the USA, Mexico, Israel, Russia and Japan, and his playing may be heard on over 40 commercial CD recordings (significant research-led recordings are listed below; a full discography may be found on his website).

He is also interested in organology, with some of his recent work focusing on the application of emerging 3D-printing technologies for organological research (see the website for more details).

Jamie's research has been published in journals such as Early Music and the Historic Brass Society Journal, and he is a contributor to the revised Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (2015) and the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Historical Performance Practice (2018).

Between 1997 and 2010, Jamie worked variously as a visiting lecturer / tutor at the University of Hull, University of Birmingham, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He has given invited lectures and guest masterclasses at many institutions in the UK, Europe and the Juilliard School, New York City.

Qualifications

Memberships

Teaching

Research

Postgraduate Supervision

Publications

Journal articles

'Revoicing a "choice eunuch": the cornett and historical models of vocality', Early Music 46 (2018), 561-578.
‘Unlocking the Mysteries of the Venetian Cornett: ad imitar piu la voce humana’, Historic Brass Society Journal 28 (2016), 31-55.
(with Ricardo Simian) ‘CAD modelling and 3D printing for musical instrument research: the Renaissance cornett as a case study’, Early Music 42 (2014), 537-544.
‘From Hornet to Cornett: In Search of the “Missing Link”’, Historic Brass Society Journal 24 (2012), 1-23.
‘The Cornett and the “Orglische Art”: Ornamentation in Early Sixteenth-Century Germany’, Historic Brass Society Journal 20 (2008), 1-21.

Recordings

Jamie is featured as a named artist on over 40 commercial recordings. The following select list includes those which are substantially underpinned by his own research:

Amadio Freddi: Vespers (1616), The Gonzaga Band, dir Jamie Savan (Resonus Classics, 2019).
Venice 1629, The Gonzaga Band, dir. Jamie Savan (Resonus Classics, 2018).
La Luchesina: Vocal and Instrumental Music of Gioseffo Guami (1542-1611), His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts, dir. Jamie Savan (SFZ Music SFZM0115, 2015). Booklet notes by Jamie Savan. [“A truly noble recording… an inspiration”, Historic Brass Society]
Northumbrian Exchanges: Exploring Common Ground(s) between Folk and Early Music, The Northern Early Music Collective and graduates of the ICMuS Folk degree, dir. Jamie Savan (SFZ Music SFZM0114, 2014). Funded by the AHRC as part of the ‘Northumbrian Exchanges’ project.
Chamber Vespers: Miniature Masterpieces of the Italian Baroque, The Gonzaga Band, dir. Jamie Savan (Chandos CHAN0782, 2011). Booklet notes by Jamie Savan. [“Congregations in 17^th-century Ancona or Bologna would have been lucky indeed to hear instrumental playing remotely as vivid as the Gonzaga Band’s”, Gramophone; “Savan and company have an instinctive feel for this repertoire, their persuasive performances delivered with terrific flair and panache”, BBC Music.]
Concerti Curiosi, Charivari Agréable, dir. Kah-Ming Ng (Signum SIGCD249, 2011). Featuring Jamie Savan as soloist in concertos by Baldassari and Berlin (premiere recordings based on performing editions by Jamie Savan). [“Jamie Savan, one of England's finest young cornettists, is privileged to play these two extraordinary works and does so superbly”, International Record Review.]
Giovanni Gabrieli & Contemporaries: Canzoni per sonare (1608), His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts with the Purcell Quartet and Chordophony, dir. Jamie Savan (Sfz Music SFZM0209, 2009). Booklet notes by Jamie Savan. [“Outstanding artistry… combining virtuosic playing with interesting interpretations”, Historic Brass Society.]
Sacred Garland: Devotional Chamber Music from the Age of Monteverdi, The Gonzaga Band, dir. Jamie Savan (Chandos CHAN0761, 2009). Booklet notes by Jamie Savan. [“Faultless and fascinating”, Gramophone; “CD of the Week”, ABC Classic FM Radio, Australia.]
Buccaneer: Music from England and Spain, His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts, dir. Jamie Savan and Adam Woolf (Sfz Music SFZM0108, 2008). Booklet notes by Jamie Savan.
Giovanni Battista Grillo: Complete Instrumental Music & Selected Motets, His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts, dir. Jamie Savan (Sfz Music SFZ0107, 2007). Booklet notes by Jamie Savan. [“Splendid recording … gorgeously rich and satisfying”, Daily Telegraph.]

Live performance project

Gabrieli à 2(2): a multi-channel digital performance concept, developed at Newcastle University in collaboration with Adam Woolf (sackbuts) and John Ayers (electronics). Performances at the Newcastle Early Music Festival (February 2012), the National Centre for Early Music in York (October 2012) and Durham Cathedral (February 2013). Extended review article by Elizabeth Haddon, Early Music 43/4 (2015), 683-686.

Conferences

13 July 2018: ‘Tempo, Tactus, and Triple-time relations in music from Venice, 1629’, paper given at the Biennial Baroque Conference, Cremona.
13 July 2017: ‘New Perspectives on the Venetian Cornett’, lecture recital at the Third International Symposium of the Historic Brass Society, New York University.
14 January 2017: ‘Revoicing a “Choice Eunuch”: The Cornett and Historical Modes of Vocality’, paper at the Vocality/Instrumentality Conference, University of Huddersfield. Revised versions of this paper given at the public research seminar series at Birmingham Conservatoire, 28 February 2017, and at Andrew Parrott’s Taverner Symposium, Oxford University, 23 April 2017.
18 January 2016: ‘The CyberZink project: how can 3D printing contribute to our understanding of historical instruments and performance practices?’, public lecture series, Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
18 January 2016: ‘Performance and/as Research’, doctoral seminar, Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
27 September 2015: ‘The Venetian Cornetto: ad imitar piu la voce humana’, paper given at the Galpin Society Conference, Cambridge University.