The next free concert on Sunday 30 June 2024 in St Mary’s Church, Main Road, Westonzoyland, TA7 0EP with Voce Chamber Choir. The concert starts at 3 pm, refreshments served from 2.15 pm.
Voce is a 16-piece auditioned choir led by Joe Beckhelling. Started in November 2021 with members from a variety of backgrounds including music graduates, and others for whom singing in such a small choir is a new venture.
‘Our repertoire includes sacred and contemporary choral music, English madrigals, arrangements of popular music’, says Joe Beckhelling, ‘as well as performances of new compositions and arrangements written by members of the choir: There will be the debut performance of Your Call – have you ever phoned, been put on hold, and then told to use the website! The varied programme with John Bennet, Paul Mealor, Emile Sande, Steeleye Span, Sting and more will have something for everyone. A concert not to be missed!
Arrangements for this concert
There is no need to book as the church’s capacity have never yet been exceeded. However, it should be noted that seats are available on a first come, first served basis.
In order to help with the artists’ and other costs a raffle is held. In addition, donations are encouraged. It costs over £400 to put on a concert.
. . . and a reminder of our May concert with Dan Whitehouse:
Our next concert on Sunday 26 May 2024 in St Mary’s Church, Main Road, Westonzoyland, TA7 0EP features the first appearance at Music on the Levels of Dan Whitehouse who is touring nationally a programme entitledA Night Of Glass.
‘Of course, for Music on the Levels we’d call it An Afternoon of Glass, says Dan.
As usual, the concert starts at 3 pm, refreshments served from 2.15 pm.
Over the past two years, acclaimed Black Country singer-songwriter Dan Whitehouse has been in a transparently reflective mood with three albums all themed around the nature of glass. The Glass Age, Voices From The Conesand Reflections On The Glass Age. Songs from these projects have now been gathered together for Night Of Glass, a simple but hypnotic live experience in which, variously behind a piano or on guitar Dan takes audience deep into the heart of glass in its myriad manifestations. His expressive style has a hint of Bowie here, a touch of Cohen there, and the performance is interspersed with narrative in his hearty Black Country voice.
Dan Whitehouse is recognised as one of the most individual voices in the field. Tom Robinson recently invited him to join him at an important gig at The Bolehall Manor in Tamworth.
‘My debut solo release was the balloon EP in 2009 and Tom Robinson was the first DJ to give it a spin on national radio’, comments Dan, ‘He went one step further and invited me to an immersion song writing retreat in rural Kent, an experience that shaped me and steered me towards the path I tread today.’
Along that path, Dan has received many favourable reviews. Here are a few:
Dan glides elegantly between propulsive guitar work and a refined pianistic sensibility that snatches intervals almost out of thin air, like glimpses of sunlight sparked off the facias of distant skyscrapers. MusoMuso
Gorgeous . . Intriguing. The Guardian
Dan has an outstanding singing voice, possesses a unique artistic vision and displays songwriting excellence. Chris Difford
Wonderful production and writing. Tom Robinson BBC 6 Music
Perhaps Mr Whitehouse’s greatest gift is his knack for writing seemingly simple songs that most listeners will be able to relate to. MAVERICK
Subtle and delicate melodies. The Sunday Times
Nothing short of beautiful – **** . RnR Magazine
Devotees of inventive, imaginative music-making should enjoy the new offerings from the excellent Dan Whitehouse. Morning Star
For an album partly inspired by distance, barriers and locked-down-ness, people and connection ripple through The Glass Age. Arts Culture Mag
… an earworm chorus hook that should send a luminous glow through Radio 2. Mike Davies
A seven track meditation on the way human experience and connecting has changed through the medium of virtual communication.folking.com
Maybe one day social historians will document the cultural impacts of screens and instant communication. When they do this album should be mentioned as it sums up this Zeitgeist better than anything I’ve heard. FATEA
. . . like glimpses of sunlight sparked off the facias of distant skyscrapers. MusoMuso
Arrangements for this concert
There is no need to book as the church’s capacity have never yet been exceeded. However, it should be noted that seats are available on a first come, first served basis.
In order to help with the artists’ and other costs a raffle is held. In addition, donations are encouraged. It costs over £400 to put on a concert.
Our next concert features a welcome return of renowned harpist and regular at Music on the Levels, Sally Jenkins, who will be presenting a programme entitled Flights of Fancy.
‘I’ll be including music from many of the diverse harp traditions from Europe and beyond,’ says Sally.
Performing at Music on the Levels in 2022
She has appeared in many prestigious venues including the Royal Albert Hall and Symphony Hall in Birmingham.
As an experienced pedal and early triple harpist, she has also presented lecture-recitals on the history of the instrument including to the Royal Musicological Society.
In developing her musical skills she has worked with some of the UK’s preeminent harpists including Jeanette Bevan in the Royal Ballet Orchestra, Meinir Heulyn from the Welsh National Opera Orchestra and Frances Kelly of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
The concert is on Sunday 28 April 2024 in St Mary’s Church, Main Road, Westonzoyland, TA7 0EP. It starts at 3 pm with refreshments served from 2.15 pm.
Arrangements for this concert
There is no need to book as the church’s capacity have never yet been exceeded. However, it should be noted that seats are available on a first come, first served basis.
In order to help with the artists’ and other costs a raffle is held. In addition, donations are encouraged. It costs over £400 to put on a concert.
Music on the Levels announces a change in its free concert on Sunday 24 March in St Mary’s Church, Main Road, Westonzoyland, TA7 0EP.
Adam Piggott of Wildwood Jack is indisposed and unable to perform. However, Music on the Levels is pleased and privileged to have secured the ‘impossibly talented’ Rodney Branigan to appear at this concert.
The concert starts at 3 pm and refreshments are available at modest charge from 2.15 pm.
The Texas-born troubadour, Rodney Branigan, who learned to play in Austin, perform in Los Angeles, craft songs in Nashville, and put it all together in London has played all types of music in all types of venues in his storied career. His adventurous, boundary-breaking guitar playing (sometimes two at the same time) earning him the title “The Two Guitar Man” has led to performance invites across America, India, Africa, and Europe
In 2018 Rodney catches the attention of Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis who offers Rodney a headline spot at the Glastonbury Extravaganza (the very next day!) at Glastonbury Abbey. It is a double bill alongside Tom Odell. The response is immediate and Rodney lands a spot on the Glastonbury Festival Acoustic Stage. Rodney performs to a seam-splitting and fully crowded tent and the show goes down like a storm.
Rodney Branigan’s style is termed ‘full contact folk music’, Americana Folk Roots with virtuoso presentation, with a touch of clean comedy thrown in for good measure.
He has toured and collaborated with around 40 of the foremost performers in the field, including Billy Bragg, Stereo Phonics, and Tom Robinson, to name but a few.
In addition, he has appeared at well over 80 festivals in more than 15 countries around the world, including many in the UK and in his native USA.
Enthusiastic endorsements have followed Rodney’s musical progress, among them:
Rodney Branigan is one of the most amazing artists you will ever see. Not simply because he is unique, but rather because he is impossibly talented. Music Connection Magazine
Leave to cross France from end to end, because this is what we call a real discovery. A contemporary musician as innovative as the Boulez was in his time. Paris Moves
Every year there will be one or two artists that take the audience completely by surprise. This year Rodney Branigan was undoubtedly that artist, his name being mentioned in our feedback over and over again as peoples stand out act. John Marshall-Potter, FolkEast
‘Rodney is always very keen to perform in local, community venues and is especially looking forward to his first visit to Westonzoyland’, comments Lisa Nasta, Rodney’s representative.
A member of Music on the Levels said, ‘We are thrilled that an artist of Rodney Branigan’s stature has agreed to play at our next concert.’
The next concert concert is on Sunday 25 February 2024 in St Mary’s Church, Main Road, Westonzoyland, TA7 0EP. The concert starts at 3 pm and refreshments are available at modest charge from 2.15 pm.
Performing at this concert will be Trio Paradis, much appreciated at Music on the Levels many times over the past few years.
The programme is entitled Daughters of the Muse, to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, and will consist of music by women composers from over the centuries.
Trio Paradis consists of Jacquelyn Bevan, piano, Lisa Betteridge, violin, and Linda Stocks, cello. The performers will introduce the music with biographical details about the composers.
‘We specialise in performing music by women composers,’ says Jacquelyn, ‘and this time we are presenting a varied programme of pieces with a spring-time theme, from 12th century Abbess Hildegard of Bingen to the 20th century, including works by Clara Schumann, Laura Netzel, Elfrida Andree, Helena Lopuska, Mel Bonis, Cecile Chaminade and Lili Boulanger, along with a rarely-performed Scherzo by Bath composer, Kate Loder.’
Music on the Levels 