The Ian McMillan orchestra are:
Ian McMillan voice
Luke Carver Goss accordion / guitar / flugelhorn / vocals
Clare Salaman nyckelharpa / hurdy-gurdy / violin
Nathan Thomson double bass / kalimba
Oliver Wilson-Dickson violin / percussion / vocals
Dylan Fowler guitar / mandocello / vocals
Poet, comedian & broadcaster Ian McMillan hosts weekly hit radio show The Verb. He's Yorkshire Planetarium's Poet in Space, Poet-in-Residence for The Academy of Urbanism and Barnsley FC, Humberside Police's Beat Poet, Yorkshire TV's Investigative Poet and a regular on Newsnight Review, The Mark Radcliffe Show, The Today Programme, You & Yours, The Culture Show, Never Mind The Full Stops... and Have I Got News For You? His rip-roaring poetry shows are legendary. Cats make him sneeze.
Luke Carver Goss's music includes commissions for symphony orchestras, rock bands, musicals, theatres and dance ensembles. He has arranged music for choirs, song-writers, bands and theatres.
He works both on his own and in collaboration with composers, writers, dancers, artists and a dazzlingly good band called Szapora.
'You've got to go and hear them play .. fabulous' Fiona Talkington, Late Junction BBC R3
Luke Carver Goss is a composer who creates big worlds of sound... British music at its most ingenious." John L Walters, The Guardian
Clare Salaman's work ranges from leading baroque orchestras on the violin to playing hurdy gurdy and nickelharpa with that folk band of ever increasing fame, The Ian McMillan Orchestra. In between she plays medieval vielles, symfony and rebec with the Dufay Collective and Joglaresa, Hardanger fiddle, nickelharpa and gurdy with her own band SYM and many other weird and wonderful instruments when the occasion demands it.
She has made plenty of recordings for CD, BBC radio and television and has collaborated with musicians from Tanzania, India, Andalusia, Morocco, France and Norway. The quest to learn new instruments continues. Maybe plucked strings next?
Nathan Thomson Nathan has collaborated and performed with musicians from many parts of the world with a special interest in Africa where he lived and worked with traditional musicians for five years.
Nathan plays Double Bass, Flutes and Kalimba with the acclaimed Antonio Forcione Quartet, which performs all over the world. He is also a regular with The Ian McMillan Orchestra and the Adriano Adewale Group and is in demand as a session player, performing and recording for film, theatre and CD.
Nathan teaches at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and works on community and education projects for many organizations. Nathan is currently working on his debut solo album featuring special guests, which will be out early 2008.
Oliver Wilson-Dickson Oliver fiddles for Mabon, The Téa Hodžic Trio and the storyteller Daniel Morden. In 2007 he featured on 4 albums, performed at over 150 venues, including the National Theatre and Cambridge Folk Festival and was heard on BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4, ITV, BBC2 and S4C. He has a particular interest in words and music stemming from his background in theatre. 'Fearsome fiddler' BBC Radio 4.
Dylan Fowler is a compelling Composer, Guitarist and Multi-Instrumentalist from Wales now achieving worldwide recognition. He plays with powerful and poetic expressiveness, and remains true to his Celtic roots, connecting to charismatic sounds from the entire world.
He regularly tours worldwide, performing with other musicians as groups and as a soloist. This year alone he performed in excess of 150 concerts to 60,000 people.
As a solo artist his albums have been critically acclaimed. His second solo guitar album Ffynnon Ofor reviewed by Chris Jones - BBC stated: 'This is music with heart, soul and, above all a bullish determination to ignore recognised boundaries. Not for the faint hearted.'