Shaun Matthew

Shaun passionately and energetically strives for members of the public to discover something emotive and impactful within all forms of classical music.

He won the Royal Northern College of Music's Mortimer Fruber Prize for the conducting of contemporary music, and regularly conducts some of the UK’s finest orchestras, such as Chineke! (as part of Grace Jones' Meltdown Festival) the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.

As the long-term Musical Director of the Scarborough Symphony Orchestra, he regularly champions works by neglected composers such as William Grant Still, Shirley J. Thompson and Andrzej Panufnik, also collaborating with prominent concerto musicians such as Tai Murrray, Jamie Walton and Jess Gillam. From 2023 onwards he will be completing the UK premieres of Grant Still's symphonies.

Drawing from his Caribbean roots growing up in east London, Shaun is a passionate and vocal champion of arts education and advocacy. He curates outreach concerts for school-aged children across the UK and has mentored Chineke! Junior Orchestra, Trinity Laban Conservatoire's Symphony Orchestra and Leeds Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra..

Shaun is also a freelance tubist and a talented transcriber, arranging many scores for brass bands and chamber orchestras. He currently holds the position of Professor of Tuba at the University of York.

Christina Waldock

Christina was born in Glasgow in 1973 and spoke her first words in 'Weegie. She lived in Zambia as a toddler and Kenya around the age of 8, absorbing different languages and cultures before she could learn about them in books. The sounds, smells, rhythms and images of Africa are deeply ingrained in her memory, and they led to an avid interest in world cultures and a natural gift for languages which she went on to pursue at Pembroke College, Cambridge. 

She lived on the North Hull estste for a while after returning from Zambia -African jungle to Urban jungle, memories of both etched on her subconscious; the social deprivations and cultural divides of Africa and her home town gave her a sense of social (in)justice. She spent most of her formative years in Hull and knows the complex social currents of the city well, having returned to the area in 2003 to bring up her own family.

Christina's passion for music was ignited through the cello at the age of 6. She progressed quickly, giving many public performances during her childhood and adolescence. She gained a scholarship to the Purcell School in London at 16 and dove headlong into the wolrd of chamber music, winning an international competition (Stage '91, Barcelona) as cellist of the Juventus Quartet. Since then her freelance career has taken her all over Europe, to Russia and to Canada. She regularly plays concertos with UK orchestras and has given recitals at music clubs and festivals across the UK with Mark Knoop for 20 years. She loves to improvise and has collaborated in several multi-disciplinary projects over the years. She is also a Gongmaster and has a sound healing practice in East Yorkshire.

Christina co-founded the Yorkshire Wolds Music Foundation in 2022 and is the Artistic Director of the Yorkshire Wolds Music Festival. She and Shaun met in 2017 whilst playing in an orchestra and immediatley felt a strong kinship. Hull Jam Factory is the result of many years' research & dreaming, a strong love for Hull & its people, a desire to give back to the town that gave her so much growing up and a belief that Hull deserves to be celebrated.