Peter Nichols studied at Oxford University. As a soloist and chamber musician he has given live broadcasts on Radio Three and Classic FM on both the clarinet and saxophone, performed at venues such as the Wigmore Hall and the South Bank as well as in Japan, the USA and throughout Europe. He was a member of the Northern Saxophone Quartet for eight years and is also a member of the Holywell Ensemble. His various CD recordings have received critical acclaim - his recording of the Herbert Howells Clarinet Sonata (with Margaret), for example, was a BBC Music Magazine CD of the Year. He has also worked with many of Britain’s leading orchestras and in several West End shows, including being a full-time member of the orchestra of The Phantom of the Opera for twenty years. He has wide experience of teaching all styles of music and at all levels, including posts at The Royal College of Music Junior Department and at The University of Surrey. He has also been a Woodwind and Diploma Examiner for the Guildhall School of Music, a director of the British Saxophone Congress and adjudicates regularly for music festivals and competitions.

From early on in her career Margaret Roberts has worked as an accompanist, playing for some of the first BBC Young Musician of the Year competitions. As a music student at Brasenose College, Oxford, she specialised in piano performance and, as Organ Exhibitioner, directed the chapel choir and played for college services and concerts.  She graduated with first class honours before postgraduate study at the Royal College of Music. She has pursued a varied career, teaching piano in school and university music departments, and young musicians in competitions, auditions and recitals. Living abroad with her family for extended periods, Margaret has taught in the British Schools of Athens, Brussels and Bratislava, also performing with soloists from Greece, Turkey and Central Europe, giving recitals and masterclasses in the Conservatoires and Festival series of Ankara, Bratislava and Athens.  Abroad, she worked as Musical Director for many shows, pantomimes, cabarets and revues, and locally she spent some years directing a singing group at a day centre for the homeless. She has premiered and recorded specially commissioned works, and with The Holywell Ensemble she has performed at major venues including London's South Bank and the Wigmore Hall.  She has toured for the British Council and recorded for the ABRSM graded examinations.  

This event is presented by Barkham Exmoor CIC, a community interest company, no. 14887154