Joby Burgess - Trailblazer

Percussionist Joby is a soloist, chamber musician and session player as likely to be found on the Black Panther soundtrack as commissioning major new contemporary works for percussion. In lockdown, he discovered his potential to bring together distant and isolated percussionists to fuel their progress.

In Joby's own words:

'I am delighted to have become an RPS Enterprise Fund Trailblazer and look forward to building on my Virtual Marimba Choir - a project I devised and created in Spring 2020 in response to the global pandemic. Having learnt a range of new skills and connected with a new audience of percussionists around the globe, I am now planning a second virtual project, with a collection of educational resources around it to include percussion repertoire, new instruments, writing for percussion and recording from home.

I will be adding a multi camera set-up, lighting and professional editing software to my current studio in order to develop and improve my output, create higher quality content, and engage my growing online audience. I will also be using some of the grant to cover the final stage production costs of the next Virtual project, which I hope will again include the extraordinary talents of Nick Wollage (mix engineer) and Howie Bailey (video production). I also look forward to connecting with other RPS Enterprise Fund recipients and sharing our experiences and ideas.'

A flavour of the Virtual Marimba Choir:

Follow Joby online: