Conductor: John Wilson

John Wilson has established an enviable reputation as a conductor, arranger and scholar, recognised internationally as an expert in the specialist fields of light music, jazz and music for screen, as well as a passionate advocate for British music.

He has made many recordings, most notably a series of highly acclaimed CDs with the John Wilson Orchestra on Vocalion. A keen advocate of English music, his third Coates disc, Eric Coates: London Again, with the RLPO on the Avie label, featured on US Tower Records’ Best of 2005 list.

He arranged and conducted the music for Kevin Spacey’s film Beyond The Sea, the score of which was nominated for a 2006 American Grammy Award. He enjoys a close working relationship with Paul McCartney and has orchestrated and conducted several of his compositions with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Vocalist: Claire Martin

Born in Wimbledon in 1967, Claire Martin is a world famous Jazz Singer with a unique penetrating voice. In 1978 she started her singing career and records a lot of sold well CDs. She won Vocalist of the Year at the BBC Jazz Awards in 2003.

Singer: Curtis Stigers

“What I’m after is a complex and ever-changing thing, which makes it difficult to define who I am. I sing beautiful love songs, but I’m not really a crooner. I write, but I’m not just a singer-songwriter. I’m certainly a jazz singer but so much more, too. I grew up on Stevie Wonder and Sarah Vaughn, Johnny Cash and Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell and Coleman Hawkins, B.B. King and Elton John, Joe Williams and The Clash, Elvis Costello and Sonny Rollins, Tom Waits and Steely Dan, Louis Armstrong and Ray Charles, and on and on. That’s who I am and there’s nobody else like me. That’s how I want my music to sound. Like me.”——Curtis Stigers

Narrator/Vocalist: Mark McGann

Mark McGann was born in 1961 at home in Kensington, Liverpool. He is an actor, director, songwriter and musician.

His first major TV appearance was as ‘Mad Dog’ in Alan Bleasdale’s Scully in 1983, with Andrew Schofield, Cathy Tyson and Elvis Costello. He also received acclaim for his role as Conor Phelan in The Hanging Gale.

Also a songwriter, Mark has written original songs for the musical Up On The Roof in the West End in 1987 (for which he received his second Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor).