“WE DON’T know of any other groups like ours – we think we’re one of the first concepts to be doing this.”
Musician Jess Tomlinson is fresh out of her latest performance, still grinning, but already looking forward to her next. She’s talking about ‘reed playing’ – a musical theatre skill where musicians play several woodwind instruments at once, like clarinets and saxophones.
The Chameleon Quartet – made up of Jess, Cara Houghton, Sarah Austen, and Eleanor Mills – is now celebrating its tenth year together. Splitting a kit of 13 instruments, it is one of the only musical groups in the country to be made entirely of reed players.
And if not, it’s certainly the only one to hold most of its concerts in children’s hospitals.
“We go onto a variety of wards, and we just go and meet patients and play for them, or with them,” Jess says.
They play especially for people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), most often at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, where she works as a music for health practitioner.
“It’s a lot of music-making, especially for the children that have been there for a long time. We might see them regularly and build up a relationship, creating something over a long period of time and making music.
“Sometimes it’s relaxing. Sometimes it’s a distraction.”
Playing music for vulnerable children had not always been the plan for the quartet.
“I started playing piano when I was four, the clarinet when I was eight, and then the saxophone when I was 13, and it was similar with the others,” Jess added.
“Cara, our flautist, grew up going to Middleton Band and doing the Whit Friday brass band stuff as well. She funnily enough joined them again this year because it’s part of her heritage.
“In 2016, me and Eleanor were studying at the Royal Northern College of Music, and we joined with three other performers and created a quintet. But then in 2020, we became the lineup that we are today.”
That year, the group auditioned for the charity Live Music Now, which supports developing musicians in bringing music to vulnerable people, such as those in care homes or healthcare settings.
Jess continued: “We had various opportunities with them, and we all individually got trained to work in SEND settings. We’ve all gone off in our own directions with that, like doing residencies at special needs schools, and three of us work at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital over in Liverpool.”
Since then, Chameleon became the winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society Henderson Award 2023, and were the recipients of the RPS Enterprise Fund in 2021. Both awards add to an already impressive set of silverwear earned since their launch, including the June Emerson Launchpad Prize (2017), the Trevor Wye Woodwind Prize (2017) and the Brodsky Prize (2018).
But despite their achievements over the past decade, according to Jess, it’s only this year she feels the band has truly ‘made it’.
“Even though we won awards in like a few years ago, and we’ve had various sort of things like that, it’s this year that we’ve been really busy,” she told Saddleworth Independent.
“It’s great that people want to hear us, both with doing recitals and also about our outreach and engagement work.
“[Since 2020]. We’ve all figured out the direction we want to go in, which is super exciting. And we’re all freelance musicians, so at various points we all get different opportunities.
“And I think it’s really exciting that, as a group, we’ve been able to balance that for as long as we have while still going and getting more opportunities. It’s great!”
Chameleon – who performed on Wednesday, July 8 – now spend the majority of their time together performing for children with SEND in hospitals and schools across the North West, though do make time for family concerts and wider engagements.
The band most recently played at the University of Leeds’ International Concert Series, and are now gearing up to launch their 2026-2027 repertoire from September.
But even sooner than that comes their next major performance, this time much closer to home. This year marks the second time the quartet takes a trip to Saddleworth as part of the Uppermill Summer Music Festival, which runs until Saturday, July 11.
“When we did it last time, we had a real mixture of locals coming for the concert and then a school group,” Jess says.
“It was really exciting introducing all of them to the instruments, which we do in all of our concerts. We don’t shy away from playing music and a repertoire that they might not know, because we like to sort of introduce people to new things.
“I think with Chameleon, [the best part] is having fun on stage and playing such a variety of music, and getting to meet all the different people along the way.
“We’re really exciting to be coming back to the Uppermill Festival, and it’s aways nice to go somewhere local. This is always really special.”
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