Issie Barratt

Career

Barratt has written works on commission for groups like the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Bohuslän Big Band, the PRS Foundation for New Music, Delta Sax Quartet, 4th Dimension String Quartet, Voice of the North, North Cheshire Wind Orchestra, Vortex Foundation Big Band, the Swiss Gemeinderat of Unterägeri, Trinity College of Music's Contemporary Jazz Ensemble, Conservatoires UK Big Band, and Youth Music. Her compositions have been performed by musicians including Anders Bergcrantz, Tim Garland, Mark Lockheart, Joe Locke, Dennis Rollins, Carl Rütti, Steve Waterman, and Annie Whitehead.

She founded Trinity College of Music's Jazz Faculty in 1999, ran it until 2006, and then stayed on as Senior Jazz Fellow until 2012. From 2003 to 2008, she co-led the Conservatoires UK Big Band, which played each year at Leeds College of Music's International Jazz conference alongside Bob Mintzer, Tim Garland, Mike Hall, Julian Joseph, Gerard Presencer, Mike Gibbs, and Mark Donlon. In 2008 she performed with that band and Tim Garland at the International Association of Jazz Educators' Conference.

Barratt has directed projects at the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music, and the Royal College of Music, helped shape the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music's jazz syllabi, and published research papers on jazz. In September 2006 she became the first Artistic Director of the National Youth Jazz Collective. She sits on the board of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters (BASCA) and chairs its Jazz Committee, and judges jazz for Music for Youth's annual national festival. She also founded Fuzzy Moon Records. In 2014 she was named Jazz Educator of the Year at the Parliamentary Awards.