Jonathan Mayer

Son of the late Kolkata composer John Mayer, Jonathan began his musical training at the early age of 5 with violin, piano 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. Jonathan studied composition as well as sitar at the Birmingham Conservatoire where he gained a B.Mus (Hons). After graduating he studied under Ustad Wajahat Khan and finally settled 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 artists such as Anup Jalota, The London Philharmonic Orchestra & BBC Concert Orchestra.

Jonathan has composed extensively for many genres including jazz, Indian, dance & symphonic writing. His works have been performed and commissioned by The London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, Docklands Sinfonia, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra, Erich Gruenburg, Joji Hattori, and his father’s band Indo-Jazz Fusions. 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.

Jonathan has performed all over the world including, France, Germany, Russia, United Arab Emirates, USA, Australia, America, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and two very successful tours in India which includes a performance at The Dover Lane Music Conference as well as a number of performances for the BBC in the UK. Jonathan is also co-founder of First Hand Records Ltd.