Trio Paradis – Jacquelyn Bevan (piano), Lisa Betteridge (violin) and Linda Stocks (cello) – are a classical piano trio based in the Bath area. In addition to playing traditional evening concerts, they perform Café Concerts at community venues throughout Somerset and Wiltshire, playing over 120 events each year.
Café Concerts are informal daytime events which take place every month, with music in a variety of musical styles, always including well-known pieces, to appeal to a wide audience. Café Concerts are aimed mainly at older people, and all those who has difficulty accessing live music events for a variety of reasons, including lack of transport or money, or having to care for a relative. ‘Home-ed’ families regularly attend too.
The Café Concert strapline is Friendship through Music and, as the name Suggests, at every concert there is a café serving tea, coffee and home-made cakes, open at least half an hour before the music starts. This gives people the chance to meet with friends and make new ones, so they enjoy the dual benefits of socialising and listening to music. Both these activities, especially when experienced together, are known to have highly positive effects on mental health and wellbeing, enriching our daily lives.
Café Concerts’ USP is that they are free with pay-what-you-feel donations invited, to ensure everyone can attend. Some audience members get involved by reading poems, baking cakes, helping to run the café or publicising the events; others come and ‘take time out’. Café Concerts are aligned with the Warm Spaces network, and audiences appreciate having a ‘safe space’ to be, together with the warmth, humour and sense of community.
As members of the growing Café Concerts network, Trio Paradis are actively building audiences, bringing live music to people who have not traditionally attended classical concerts. The Trio also perform several concerts each month at residential care homes as well as giving more traditional concerts in the South West and as far afield as the Leipzig Mendelssohnhaus. Over lockdown 2020-21 Trio Paradis livestreamed and recorded a series of concerts to bring live music to their audience members.
Trio Paradis champion the music of women composers, whose works they continue to perform, including them in virtually every concert. Full concert details can be found at https://www.trioparadis.com/concerts
Trio Paradis – background
In 2014-18 Jacquelyn Bevan and her colleagues formed Musicians South WestCIC (not-for-profit company) to bring live music to a wider audience, and Theywere awarded an Arts Council England grant to take to their multi-arts show, Women of World War I, to 40 community venues across the South West,receiving critical acclaim. Audience feedback showed that people wanted moreopportunities to access live music, especially during the daytime; and thatmusic by women composers was very well received. In response to audiences’ comments, from 2013 Trio Paradis put on series of daytime concerts across the Mendip area, building from one to a dozen venues in 2022 extending as far as South Somerset and North Wiltshire.
Whether breaking down gender barriers or overcoming obstacles that prevent many from experiencing live music performance, Trio Paradis are focused on their goal of bringing an extensive variety of music to a wider audience and enriching the lives of everyone who attends.
Jem Girl at the Piano 