Jack Wyllie

Portico Quartet co-founder Jack Wyllie presents the first project under his own name and introduces a new band featuring Hinako Omori on keyboards, Milo Fitzpatrick (Portico Quartet/Vega Trails) on bass, and drummer Jesse Barrett (Mammal Hands).

A saxophonist, flautist and composer, best known for his work with Portico Quartet and with Hania Rani on her piano concerto Non Fiction, Wyllie’s distinctive voice on flute, soprano and tenor saxophones marks him out as a key figure in contemporary music. A keen collaborator whose projects have drawn on ambient, fourth-world, electronica and modern classical influences, Eternal Spring is the first recording under his own name.

Shimmering, rippling, budding and blossoming, though still appealingly familiar, Eternal Spring draws inspiration from both Wyllie’s love of verdant nature but also the idea of a constant, flickering sense of hope and his compositions balance elevating melodies and cyclical rhythms while unashamedly reaching for something hopeful and beautiful. With Eternal Spring, Wyllie reveals the magic all around us by removing us from our everyday circumstances.

This concert takes place in Hallé at St Michael’s – a former Roman Catholic church, which was founded in 1859 and became the heart of the Little Italy Community in Ancoats.