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STARTS is privileged to have the support of four distinguished and high profile performers who between them represent the worlds of classical music, folk music and dance, comedy, film, television and the theatre, and jazz.

Stan Tracey CBE lives in St Albans and has been playing his own highly acclaimed and individual style of modern jazz for over six decades. He has won countless awards and accolades and is considered to be at the forefront of contemporary jazz and hugely influential to generations of jazz musicians. He is currently playing to sell-out audiences, not least since the repeated airing of The Godfather of British Jazz, a recent BBC documentary about him. Stan has been awarded an Hon.D.Litt. by the University of Hertfordshire.

Maddy Prior MBE is often referred to as the country's 'first lady of folk'. Best known for her festive track All Around my Hat and her career with the electric folk-rock band Steeleye Span, Maddy spent most of her childhood in St Albans, where her love of folk music began.

John Sessions is an actor and comedian who has worked in film, television and theatre but is perhaps best known for his one-man shows. He has appeared, most notably, in Stella Street, My Night with Reg, Gormenghast and In the Bleak Midwinter. He attended St Albans Grammar School for Boys, now known as Verulam School.

Peter Manning was appointed Concertmaster of the Royal Opera House in 1999 after gaining recognition as an outstanding soloist, director, leader, teacher and chamber musician. He is Artistic Director and conductor of a new chamber orchestra, The Manning Camerata. A series of concerts in St Albans is planned.