Music: StringFEST – Festival of Bowed, Plucked and Hammered Instruments

Son of the late Kolkata composer John Mayer, Jonathan began his musical training at the early age of 5 with violin from his grandfather Albert Hepton, piano from James Methuen-Campbell, and composition from his father.

At the age of 16, he started his sitar training under the western sitarist Clem Alford who was a disciple of Sachindra Nath Saha from the Senia Gharana. In 1993 Jonathan began studying composition from Andrew Downes as well as sitar at the Birmingham Conservatoire where he gained a B.Mus (Hons). After graduating he studied Imdadkhani Gharana technical proficiency under Ustad Wajahat Khan and finally settled into the Senia Veen-Kar Gharana under the extremely knowledgeable maestro the late Pandit Subroto Roy Chowdhury.

Because of his ability to read western notation he has performed in a variety of genres and so far, his career has seen him play with many eminent artists and orchestra from around the world including, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonic, and BBC Concert Orchestra. Jonathan has composed extensively for many genres including jazz, Indian, dance and symphonic writing.

In 2021 his Sitar Concerto No.2 and Pranam were released on First Hand Records, this was recorded with The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and received glowing reviews worldwide.

Accompanied by Dhanraj Persaud on Tabla and guest musicians

Presented in association with SAMA Arts Network Ltd