MEET THE CREATIVES
With our combined expertise and a dedication to excellence, we’ve developed a reputation for delivering memorable and inspiring concerts to our audiences across the World. Led by producers Laura Stanford and Jess Cox, our passion is to create top-notch musical performances that are sure to captivate and engage our audience.
LAURA STANFORD
LSRO PRODUCER
Laura Stanford has shown herself to be an innovator, a ground-breaker, a trail-blazer and a unique force of nature in the modern music industry. Refusing to be bound by convention or style, rejecting the notion of being pigeon-holed by the traditions of classically trained music-making, Laura continues to make a mark both at home and abroad with an eclectic series of genre-busting projects.
A highly skilled violinist, her entrepreneurial spirit began in 2011 with the founding of Q Strings with cellist Jess Cox and her sisters, Ellie and Amy Stanford, working with artists such as Ellie Goulding, Goldfrapp, Paul Weller, Brain Wilson, Clean Bandit, Sigma, Ocean Colour Scene, The Specials and Jamie Cullum. As an experienced and gifted arranger, she has collaborated with many internationally renowned artists to bring them the sound that they're looking for when incorporating classical strings into modern pop and rock music.
Seeing the potential for the mixing of classically trained musicians and commercial, pop, hip-hop, rock and jazz music - she founded the London Symphonic Rock Orchestra in 2016. In 2021 - October 2023, LSRO became the orchestra that has taken the UK and Europe by storm performing as The Rock Orchestra.
Ever the innovator, Laura was instrumental in the creation of an Electric/ acoustic Double Bass - transforming the sound and power, and revolutionising the sound of LSRO into the musical powerhouse for which it has become known, and has long-established relationships with both Roland and Bridge instruments, collaborating with their research and development teams and helping to push the boundaries of electro-acoustic instruments.
Laura's strength is her integrity, her determination, her problem-solving skills, her limitless energy and endless enthusiasm for creating new, interesting and innovative work and collaborating with the best the modern music industry has to offer. Already she has done so much, Laura's only getting started.
JESS COX
LSRO PRODUCER
Jess Cox is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and producer whose career reflects both versatility and innovation. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, she has forged a unique path by seeking out bold and diverse musical collaborations across genres and disciplines.
Cellist with Jeff Lynne’s ELO since 2016, Jess Cox has performed to audiences of more than 20,000 people at prestigious venues which include Madison Square Gardens, Wembley Stadium and Hollywood Bowl. She has made numerous TV and radio appearances, most recently for Mob Land as well as recording for films which include; ‘Wonder Woman 1984’, ‘Dunkirk’, ‘Mission Impossible: Fall Out’ as well as the James Bond film ‘Spectre.’ She has performed live and recorded with artists which include: Bjork, Brian Wilson, Paul Weller, The Scorpions, Goldfrapp, Ellie Goulding, Kanye West, Cliff Richards, The Specials, The Zombies, Pete Tong’s ‘Ibiza
Classics’ Arcade Fire, Belle and Sebastian, Bonobo, Years and Years, Stormzy, Spiritualised, Qawwali Project, Richard Ashcroft and Jorja Smith.
Passionate about theatre and the performing arts, Jess regularly performs for; London’s West End, Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland as well as with contemporary dance companies such as Sadler’s Wells in the UK and abroad with their
mesmerising show ‘Sutra’ featuring Shaolin monks.
As a composer, her music has been broadcast widely on the BBC. She was nominated for a Production Music Award for her Japanese track ‘United’ which was used for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In 2021 she released her debut album ‘Shapes and Spaces’ an ‘experimental soundscape for a ‘film that doesn’t exist’, crafted predominantly with her electric/acoustic bridge cello and extended techniques.
A sought-after arranger Jess has created works for artists including; Ocean Colour Scene, which culminated in the album ‘Live from Bridgewater Hall featuring Q Strings’, Paul Weller, The Specials, Colin Bluestone of The Zombies, Terry Hall, Spiritualized, Band of Skulls, P.P Arnold, Burr Island and S G Lewis.
Her orchestral arrangements have been showcased on major stages, including The Royal Alberts Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s ‘Symphonic Rock’ and at Bridgewater Hall with The Halle’s ‘Guitar Superstars.’
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