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aboutus jasminmusic is owned and maintained by John Rayson MA
John studied music at
the University of Wales, Cardiff, gaining John was for six years a viola player with the orchestra of the Welsh National Opera. More recently pursuing a freelance career he has played for the orchestra of the English National Opera at the London Coliseum, the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and for the orchestra of the Royal Ballet. He has played for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestra of English National Ballet and the Orchestra of St.Johns, and has performed for the ensemble of the contemporary opera company Music Theatre Wales and for the ensemble of Nuremberg Pocket Opera Company. Also successful as a chamber musician he has performed at London's Wigmore Hall and South Bank Centre, recorded for CD and broadcast for BBC Radio 3 and Channel 4 Television. John was a soloist in a performance of Bach's Third Brandenburg Concerto directed by the late Lord Menuhin in Santander, Spain in 1994. More recently he performed again at the Wigmore Hall, London in the UK premier of the violin concerto by the Armenian composer Arutunian and also performed with the orchestra of Glyndebourne Touring Opera in the premiere of the opera "Tangier Tattoo" by the Scottish composer John Lunn. In January 2008 John was appointed visiting viola teacher and chamber music coach at Christ's Hospital School, Horsham, Sussex. He has recently performed and recorded for CD the two piano quartets of Mozart with members of the the Arts Anglia Players and pianist Thomas McIntosh, and performed three of Hindemith's Sonatas for Unaccompanied Viola in successive chamber music weekends at the 2007 Hadleigh Summer Music Festival. October 2007 saw the premiere at the Ilkley Festival of a new composition for solo viola in a collaborative multi media performance for children devised by the award-winning poet and photographer Anneliese Emmans-Dean, and performances for 2008 will include the Ledbury Poetry Festival, Howden Arts Festival and a special performance in London as part of National Insect Week. John will also perform music from the show at a solo recital at the 2008 Hadleigh Summer Music Festival, and a CD of the music will also be released shortly. Other compositions have been performed in a variety of venues and music clubs in London and the South East, the Midlands and South Wales. Several chamber music works were premiered at the "Music at the Mill" series at Roxwell Mill in Essex, his Wind Quintet was performed for the general public in the Lewisham Shopping Centre, South London, while his incidental music for "The Magic Mirror", a pantomime for children, was performed by the ensemble "Babysnakes" at the Steiner Theatre, London. In October 2004 John completed a re-creation of the traditional tune "Home Sweet Home" for string quartet, harp and soprano, and the work was featured in a Gala Concert by the highly acclaimed Welsh string quartet "Celticana" at the Patti Theatre, Craig-y-Nos. In June 2005 his "Variations on a Traditional Norwegian Song" for two violas was performed by Fay Sweet and Maritza Bulcock in St Alfege's Church, Greenwich, London. Future plans include the publication of a series of pieces for viola and piano, provisionally entitled "Salon Music", consisting of "forgotten" 19th Century works, and "The Butterfly Year" - 12 Bagatelles for unaccompanied viola.
Discography In addtion to numerous symphonic and operatic recordings for LP, CD and DVD, John has also appeared as a featured artist on a number of chamber music recordings; Mana. Music by the Irish-American flautist/composer Justin Murphy. Recorded New Orleans, 1999. The Comparative Anatomy of Angels. Music by Daniel Biro. London, 1997 Edmund Rubbra. The Four String Quartets, performed by the Sterling String Quartet. London, 1996. The Rocky Road to Kansas, music by Robert Moran. London, 1994. Frogdance. Music by Loll Coxhill. Cardiff, 1986.
"...viola playing...as evocative as one could wish" The Strad |
his B.Mus degree with 1st. Class Honours, winning
the Morgan Lloyd Scholarship, later completing his MA in
20th Century Music Analysis.