alisonjonesbio

[alisonjonesbio]

About Alison

Alison is an artist, writer, composer and producer with over 30 years experience. Her extensive work includes performing internationally as featured solo violinist with Irish dance spectacular “Spirit of the Dance” to sell out arenas and The Well Oiled Sisters, whose popular schedule, over seven years included touring with Morrissey, appearing regularly at international arts, music and WOMAD festivals. They are currently planning a 20 years  re-union tour.

Previous work includes: co-arranger for 20 piece orchestra, Theatre Alba, "The Shepherd Beguiled", St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh to sell out audiences in 1983/84; backing vocals with Tam White and the Dexters, Edinburgh, recorded album Live at Preservation Hall; co-arranger/writer with The Well Oiled Sisters (1991-1998), who opened Morrissey's 'Your Arsenal' European tour, 1992. Alison penned "Your Little Girl” (covered by various London bands) for their 1st album, "Alcohol & Tears", which reached Number 2 in British Country Music Charts, (topped by Emmylou Harris), and featured in Mojo magazine,1994. As lead solo fiddler for The Well Oiled Sisters, she reached national and international critical acclaim for her musicianship and outstanding performances at festivals such as WOMAD (various), WOMADELAIDE, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, Edinburgh, PRIDE; two year world tour , "Spirit of the Dance"; shortlisted for Composer-in-Residence for the BBC Radio Play Bursary  Award 2007. Alison has played in West End shows, recorded  and performed with various artists over the years, including Fish (Marillion), Mike Scott & The Waterboys, Runrig, Steve Martland (Crossing the Border), Hank Wangford, Lily Savage, Hamish Stewart, The Bex Marshall Band, Paul Kelly and Archie Roach (Australia).

Alison founded her own performing arts company Shapeshifter Productions in 2007, which has received many funding awards including Arts Council England, Comic Relief, Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and The National Lottery Fund, gaining charitable status in 2011. Alison was inspired to write her large-scale spectacular WILDFIRE! after performing in Australia and America and realising how crucial Scottish and Irish ancestry is to the ‘New World’ population. She lived in Spain for three years to write the music and book for WILDFIRE! and returned to the Scottish Borders, where she grew up, to record the music. WILDFIRE! was commissioned by Creative Scotland to premiere at Homecoming Scotland Finale in St Andrews, 2009. In addition, Alison has a wealth of experience in arts management and producing. As Artistic Director, Alison is focused on promoting the aims of the charity, whose recent work includes creating the very popular National Lottery finalist project for music and the elderly, called “The Smiling Sessions” and “Strung Out” violin group for adults, who commissioned Alison to compose "Express Symphony" in 2013, supported by BBC Performing Arts Fund and Arts Council England, performed by Walthamstow Acoustic Massive (WAM) 70 piece orchestra, at established festivals across East London, notably Walthamstow Garden Party (Beyond Barbican) and East London Film Festival, Spitalfields. She has also written complex arrangements for Walthamstow Acoustic Massive since 2012, receiving praise in particular for their 5th anniversary programme, which included "Express Symphony", a tribute to David Bowie and a pilot of a re-worked track from “Resonance", formerly known as WILDFIRE!.

Alison was nominated “Citizen of the Year” in Love Your Borough, Waltham Forest, 2014 and, as part of Waltham Forest’s bid to become the first London Borough of Culture, she has just been nominated to be a Cultural Star of Waltham Forest. Alison is also a Fellow of the RSA.

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Alison performing at The Walthamstow Garden Party, with Clive Rowe in 2015 and David McAlmont in 2016

[alisonjonesbio]

Avant-garde classical piece, Express Symphony, penned by WAM musical director Alison Jones, and imagined as a musical interpretation of the hustle and bustle of life in our East London suburb, worked perfectly next to leftfield pop anthem One Day Like This by Elbow; again testament to both Jones' skill as an arranger, and the talents and dedication of the musicians and choir.

Walthamstow Garden Party, The Forest Echo, August, 2016 

[alisonjonesbio]

[alisonjonesbio]

‘Very visual...lead fiddle rates alongside anything from Nashville.’

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