MetroLand Music Festival

About the Festival

The MetroLand Music Festival is a new not-for-profit chamber music festival, raising money for Barnardo’s, a charity that means a great deal to us and the communities we serve. We are based around the historic Metroland region, and feature concerts in Amersham, Chalfont St Giles and Harrow Weald. We showcase up-and-coming young musicians, including students and graduates of the most prestigious conservatoires and universities.

We like our concerts to appeal to a diverse audience, and they are therefore often themed around timeless topics which are at the heart of our world. We are especially dedicated to performing new music by emerging young composers, and we are in the process of setting up an annual Young Composers Award, to nurture the performance of new music.

2026 Season

Composers Parallels

Sunday 15th March (7pm) ▪ All Saints Church Harrow Weald (HA3 6DQ)

A suite of variations on a famous theme by J. S. Bach, following a collaboration between 4 composers.

J. S. Bach Prelude and Fugue in C major BWV 846

Composers Parallels Suite

J. S. Bach Sonata for Violin and Continuo in C minor BWV 1024

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Lunchtime Concert: Harold Lee & James Mayhew

Saturday 21st March (1pm) ▪ Chalfont St Giles Parish Church (HP8 4QF)

Harold Lee and James Mayhew, from the Royal Academy of Music, present a lunchtime recital of works for oboe and piano.

*Programme TBA*

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Beacon Duo: A Journey from Romanticism

Saturday 4th April (6:30pm) ▪ Amersham Free Church (HP6 6AJ)

Luca Weed and Edward Tait, former Beacon School students, play romantic and late-romantic classics by Brahms and Elgar, as well as a world premiere.

Brahms Scherzo in C minor

Edward Tait Ballade (WP)

Elgar Violin Sonata

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Our Team

Edward Tait

Artistic Director

Edward Tait is a composer and pianist, who founded the festival in 2025. He is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music, under the tutelage of Gareth Moorcraft and Louise Drewett.

His music has received performances at the Royal Festival Hall, St John’s Smith Square, and Westminster Abbey, as well as by award-winning ensembles like the London Sinfonietta, Carducci Quartet, Orion Orchestra, and Lloyd’s Choir. He is currently working on a song cycle for voice and violin, based on an original cycle by Mollie Mardel.

James Mayhew

Associate Director

James Mayhew is a pianist in the first year of his undergraduate degree at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studies with Ian Fountain. He studied under Hilary Coates and Joseph Tong for four years at Wells Cathedral School, reaching the finals of its concerto competition with the 1st movement of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and more recently won 2nd place at the Oxford Piano Competition for Aspiring Professionals. As a composer he has performed his own works numerous times, most notably his Fugue-Fantasy.

James enjoys exploring lesser-known works including those by Alkan and Feinberg, and loves collaborating with other musicians whenever possible.

Andrew Melvin

Composer-in-Residence

Andrew Melvin studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music with Rosemarie Wright and composition at Cambridge University and the Guildhall School of Music with Robin Holloway and Malcolm Singer. He subsequently gained a PhD at Brunel University in composition under the supervision of Peter Wiegold.

He has worked for Amersham Music Service (now part of Buckinghamshire Music Trust) from 2001 and is currently active as a teacher, pianist, composer and arranger. Andrew currently performs as part of Inscape Duo with harmonica player Shima Kobayashi and jazz group ‘Timeless’, creating new compositions alongside fresh arrangements of established repertoire.

Recent compositions include a joint commission with John Webb for the Little Missenden Festival (2024) and ‘Sakura Variations’, performed by Inscape Duo in collaboration with The Castle Choir (2023) and The Firth Singers (2024). Forthcoming performances include ‘Ad Astra’, to be performed by Dr Challoner’s School brass ensemble in November.