Mere Chamber Music Series

The Chantry Gardens & St Michael’s Church

28th July

5pm

We welcome you to an evening of world-class jazz and classical music in the beautiful Chantry Gardens and St. Michael’s Church, Mere. This evening is a chance to hear internationally renowned musicians who are regular performers on BBC Radio 2, at the BBC Proms as well as venues such as Sydney Opera House, Wigmore Hall and Royal Festival Hall amongst others.

Enjoy a walk around the beautiful gardens at the Chantry before enjoying your picnic on the lawns as you are entertained by jazz from Ronnie Scott’s favourite bassist Loz Garratt, a regular guest on BBC Radio 2 alongside Jamie Cullum. Joining him is local guitarist Roland Palmer, usually seen playing on the West End at the Adelphi Theatre but also occasionally serving coffee at our favourite local grocery shop, Sprout and Flower.

Afterwards, you will be treated to a classical string trio concert in St. Michael’s Church performed by internationally renowned Swedish cellist Jesper Svedberg, local talent from Wincanton and current leader of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra violist, Tom Beer and Mere’s very own, internationally renowned violinist Victoria Sayles. You can read the biographies of our performers below to find out more.

Please book tickets with William Price: william.price15@btinternet.com. 

Places are limited and tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Gardens open from 4.30pmParking availableToilets available at The Chantry and at St Michael’s.

Please bring a picnic and sensible footwear!There is a wet-weather programme so we can enjoy the music under cover - patrons will be informed as necessary!

St Michael’s Church is a short walk along Church Street from The Chantry.

Please let us know if you will require assistance; The Chantry has some gravelled paths and uneven ground, but both The Chantry and St Michael’s Church are wheelchair accessible. Marshalls will be on hand to help concert-goers.Appropriate Covid safe-measures will be in place to ensure the safety of patrons throughout the event.

Victoria Sayles

Violin

Victoria Sayles is associate leader of the London Mozart Players and principal section leader at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm. She has performed as a soloist at Sydney Opera House, Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Opera House (Stockholm), Lincoln Centre (New York), Carnegie Hall (New York), Heichal HaTarbut (Tel Aviv), Melbourne Recital Centre (Australia), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and Vienna Konzerthaus amongst many other world famous concert venues. She is winner of the Countess of Munster Soloist Award two years running and also a scholar at Royal College of Music, Keshet Eilon and Bowdoin International Music Festival. As a passionate educationalist she was Director of Music at Hazlegrove School for three years and continues to coach children all over the world, most recently in Hong Kong. She is a regular attendee of the world famous International Musicians’ Seminar run by award winning and BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs guest artist, Steven Isserlis as well as the CHANDOS recording artist, Jamie Walton’s Music Festival. Victoria currently divides her time between Mere, London and Stockholm as

a violinist and section leader. During lockdown Victoria was asked to write articles for BBC Music Magazine, The Strad and The Arts Desk.

Tom Beer

Viola

Tom Beer is an award winning violist and currently the principle viola soloist of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Tom is a local boy as he grew up in Wincanton but having come to viola quite late in life, at the age of thirteen, he won numerous prizes including a place at the Oberlin Conservatory in the United States. He has toured Brazil with his guitar quintet and worked extensively with the famous Ballet Rambert. He accepted a job as sub principal viola in Manchester’s internationally renowned orchestra, The Hallé under the baton of Sir Mark Elder. Shortly after that, in 2015, he won the position of principal viola in Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and continues to be a guest soloist and leader in many of the UK’s top orchestras. He too can regularly be seen on the BBC Proms.

Jesper Svedberg

Cello

Swedish-born cellist Jesper Svedberg is the principle cello solo of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, he has also performed with BBC Scottish Symphony, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. He is a founding member of the award winning Kungsbacka Piano Trio, the trio won First Prize in the 1999 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and were also selected to be the BBC New Generation Artists in 2000. The trio records on NAXOS and also BIS record labels. Jesper appears at the BBC Proms every year and has been principle cello of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra since 2010. He plays on a very rare cello, which dates back to 1699 made by Grancino, it is kindly on loan from the Jarnaker Foundation.

Loz Garratt

Bass

Since graduating with a first class honours degree from Trinity College of Music in 2011 Loz enjoys a varied freelance performing and recording career as a double and electric bass player. He has been lucky enough to be a member of Jamie Cullum’s band since 2013 which has taken him around the world performing at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl. From September 2019 Loz held the bass chair on Waitress in the West End as well as working as a deputy on other musicals including Hamilton; Wicked; Book of Mormon and Dreamgirls. He has worked with many diverse artists across different genres such as Seal, Hamzaa, Scribz Riley and even Tyson Fury; as well as some of the country’s top jazz musicians such as Liane Carroll, Joe Stilgoe and Mark Lockheart (Polar Bear).

Roland Palmer

Guitar

Roland Palmer is an in-demand multi instrumentalist originally from the South West of England. Having played all over the world – from Japan to New York – working with Atlantic/Warner Music artist JASMINE THOMPSON as part of her touring band, Roland has also held the Cello/Guitar chair on Waitress The Musical at the Adelphi Theatre on London’s West End. Roland has been featured on television in the UK and France as part of X Factor, Made in Chelsea and Paris’ RFM Radio Show.

Roland (BMus, MA) is a trained music producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist and his abilities encompass genres from pop to classical to jazz.