Trish Clowes is a saxophonist and composer based in London, described as “an improviser to be reckoned with” (Downbeat Magazine) and “one of the brightest stars to have emerged during the so-called British jazz boom” (The Irish Times).
Clowes has appeared as a featured artist with NDR Big Band, BBC Concert Orchestra, and London Sinfonietta, premiering commissioned new works. Notable performances include Wigmore Hall (as Associate Artist), Drogheda Classical Music concert series, Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Bray Jazz Festival, Barbican, Toronto Jazz Festival, Rochester International Jazz Festival (US), Royal Festival Hall, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Celtic Connections (with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra), Galway Jazz Festival, and Karlsruhe Jazz Festival. Recent collaborations include a quintet with US trumpeter-composer Dave Douglas, and a songs project with British vocalist-lyricist Norma Winstone. Other recent commissions include a cello and bass duet for Riot Ensemble (supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation) and a solo violin piece, commissioned by BBC Radio 3. In 2019, Clowes premiered Joe Cutler’s saxophone concerto ‘Hawaii Hawaii Hawaii’ with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the recording of which is released on Cutler’s album of the same name on NMC Recordings. Clowes is also a featured soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra on Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian’s album for NMC Recordings, ‘Welcome Party’.
Clowes has recorded a number of critically acclaimed albums as leader, including ‘A View with a Room’ (2022) on Dave Douglas’s label Greenleaf Music, and ‘Try Me’ (2026) on Stoney Lane Records. Both of these records feature her longstanding quartet ‘My Iris’, described by Jazzwise magazine as “simply one of Europe’s best bands”. The Irish Times described her recent duo album with pianist Ross Stanley, ‘Journey to Where’ (2024), as “a little bit of magic”. Of another recent duo release, ‘Colour Fields’ (2026) with cellist Louise McMonagle, BBC Music Magazine declared “tenor saxophone and cello take on a new existence in this fascinating collaboration”.
Born on May 11th 1984, Clowes was raised in Shropshire and moved to London in 2003 to study at the Royal Academy of Music – she was later honoured as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (2013). From 2012-14 Clowes was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, and in 2015 she won a BASCA British Composer Award. Clowes holds a PhD in Musical Composition, awarded by Birmingham City University (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) in 2020. Her research project was centred around the activities of her new music festival Emulsion, exploring collective practice and audience interaction through her compositions. Clowes is an ambassador for the charity forRefugees, and teaches for Guildhall School of Music and Drama (saxophone, composition, ensembles), the Royal Academy of Music (ensembles, saxophone), and has guest tutored at the Royal College of Music (saxophone masterclasses, and MD of the jazz orchestra).
