Simon Mayor & Hilary James

Across Britain from Shetland to Sark, and across the globe from Vancouver to Singapore, Simon Mayor and Hilary James have brought their special blend of dazzling musicianship and now they're appearing at the Hinckley ACT!

Simon Mayor is one of the world's leading mandolinists as well as a fine fiddle player, guitarist, composer and wit. His live performances are a riot of humourous anecdotes and off-the-cuff wit alongside dazzling musicianship.

Hilary James' "elegant singing" (Daily Telegraph) has received huge acclaim: quintessentially English but easily crossing the great musical divides from Celtic ballads to blues and Berlioz. She's famed too for an unlikely taste in bass instruments (she could turn up with her giant mandobass or slimline semi-acoustic double bass), accompanying Simon on guitar on anything from Vivaldi to bluegrass and even managing a step dance if the wind is in the right direction.

With Simon's debut 'The Mandolin Album', he embarked on a series of recordings to realise his longstanding intention to give the mandolin a uniquely British voice. The CD was immediately made Recording Of The Week on BBC Radio 2 and received huge popular and critical acclaim. Many albums later, his mix of original and traditional material alongside classical showstoppers has been heralded across the media from BBC World Service (Recording of the Week) to stations all over the USA and Canada and magazines as diverse as Q, Cosmopolitan, Living Tradition (Scotland) and Sing Out (USA).

In May 2000 he entered the UK's Classical Artist Top Ten with a major 'best of' release of his own compositions and classical works on Universal Records. His touring schedule has taken in festivals and theatres all over the world including the Rudolstadt International Folk Festival (Germany), Shetland Folk Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival, The Stephen Leacock Humour Festival (Canada), Cheltenham Literature Festival (England), Edinburgh Fringe (Scotland), The Classical Mandolin Society of America and many, many more.

His off-beat humour surfaced in his own series for the BBC, 'Marooned with a Mandolin' - "the best programme on Radio 2 this week" in The Independent on Sunday.

Words and images courtesy of Simon Mayor & Hilary James


Further information/contact
Web site: www.mandolin.co.uk

c/o Anne Jones, Acoustics Records
PO Box 350 Reading RG6 7DQ, England
Telephone: +44 (0)118 926 8615