Jessica specialises in words for, with and about music. Her work includes novels, biographies, journalism, plays, words&music performances, poetry for musical setting, and the libretto for Roxanna Panufnik's opera SILVER BIRCH (Garsington Opera, 2017). Born in London, she studied music at Cambridge and piano with Joan Havill.
Her latest novel, GHOST VARIATIONS, tells "the strangest detective story in music", based on the true story of the bizarre rediscovery, and Nazi propaganda conscription, of Schumann's long-suppressed violin concerto.
Jessica often presents narrated concerts based on her novels, appearing at venues including the Wigmore Hall, the International Wimbledon Festival, the Buxton Festival, The Sage Gateshead and a number of music societies. Her play A WALK THROUGH THE END OF TIME has been staged many times to introduce Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, performed by actors including Harriet Walter & Henry Goodman and Janet Suzman & Michael Pennington.
Jessica's biographies of the composers Gabriel Fauré and Erich Wolfgang Korngold for Phaidon's 20th Century Composers series have met with wide acclaim. She was a classical music correspondent for The Independent from 2004 to 2016 and her journalism has also appeared in The Guardian, The Sunday Times, BBC Music Magazine and other specialist publications. Her music blog "JDCMB", http://jessicamusic.blogspot.com, has attracted more than 2.8m readers.
Jessica lives in London with her violinist husband and two fluffy cats. She loves long walks, cooking, ballet, theatre and scouring second-hand bookshops for out-of-print musical gems.
Watch an interview with Jessica by Melanie Spanswick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vv_rTlnB-g
Watch a preview of the Schumann Violin Concerto in which Jessica tells its story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MqId5hqql0
