A MUSIC icon returned to her hometown to perform a special wintery concert to a sold-out crowd.

Jess Gillam returned to her beloved backyard of Ulverston to perform a much-anticipated concert at the Coro Hall.

Jess was joined by her ensemble for the winter concert, ‘A Festive Evening with Jess Gillam’, which featured festive favourites and music from her classical number one albums.

Jess delighted crowds with an array of Christmas hits as well as pieces from her own collection.

Jess has been forging her own adventurous path since she shot to fame, becoming the first saxophonist to reach the finals of BBC Young Musician and the youngest ever soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms

Jess attended the Royal Northern College of Music while still at secondary school, and has since then gone on to become the youngest-ever presenter on Radio 3 and the first saxophonist to be signed to Decca Classics. She was given an MBE for the 2021 Birthday Honours because of her services to music.

In July 2021 Jess presented a special live edition of This Classical Life at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

She has also been a guest presenter for BBC Radio 2 and co-hosted a miniseries for BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

Both of Jess’ albums reached No.1 in the UK Classical Music Charts

She has been the recipient of a Classic BRIT Award and has been nominated for The Times Breakthrough Award.

Last week’s concert may have sold out, but there will be two more opportunities to see Jess perform live in Ulverston next year – with chamber orchestra Manchester Camerata in May, and guitar sensation MILOŠ in June.

To buy tickets for the events visit The Coro website.