The Hand Engravers Association of Great Britain hosted an exhibition at Craft Central in Clerkenwell, London. I had become aware of this organisation after finding and watching their videos on YouTube, and subsequently had been browsing their website. I had been impressed with the videos and the organisation in general and what they are doing to help to spread interest in preserving this craft. 33-35

'Spiritato!' gave a concert at The Forge in Camden on Tuesday 3rd of February 2015. The group performed works by:H Purcell: King ArthurOverture : Air : Act I OvertureH Purcell: Sonata in Four Parts No.3 in A minorW Corbett: Suite in DOuverture : Aria : Gavotta : Sarabanda : Minuet : Air Ecossois : Air : Marche : MinuetG F Rebel: Les Caractères de la danse~ Interval ~G Fantini: Sonata a due Trombe

The chapel in Trinity College in Cambridge was the venue for Cambridge Baroque's concert on Saturday evening. The concert featured music by Bach, Schütz and Gabrieli. I played the Cornetto in Gabrieli's 'O Magnum Mysterium' and I played the Natural Trumpet in the Schütz 'Christmas Story'. The trumpets symbolise the royalty of King Herod, and accompany him in his aria. I took the opportunity

I flew to Malta to take part in a performance of Handel's Messiah with the Goldberg Ensemble; an ensemble based in Malta. The concert was held in the Anglican Cathedral - St Paul's Pro-Cathedral - in the capital, Valletta. I departed from Gatwick Airport - remarkably all the passengers and bags were loaded ahead of schedule, so we departed 20 minutes early - and Air Malta transported

I feel like I am hitting the ground running at the beginning of 2015! It's the 3rd of January 2015 as I write and I have been fortunate enough to have been involved in two musical projects already this year. I returned from Saarbrücken via London City Airport last night and I woke up early this morning to head towards Cambridgeshire, to play at Wimpole Hall with Eboracum Baroque, directed by Chris

It was great to spend New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in Saarbrücken in Germany for a concert of music by Bach and Telemann. The concert was given by the French group Le Concert Lorrain. The section of three natural trumpets and timpani included myself on first trumpet, William Russell on 2nd and Olivier Picon on 3rd, with Frithjof Koch on Timpani. We played music intended for the New Year, including

Russell Gilmour - Natural Trumpet How were you introduced to your instrument? I was born and bred on the Isle of Man, a place that is alive with music. In 1992, my elder sister started to play the flute at school. Eventually she was persuaded to play the cornet too and she joined a brass band, Onchan Silver Band, so she came home with a cornet. At the age of 5 I tried playing it and decided I wanted

My final Messiah of the year was in Kew Green with Ars Eloquentiae, directed by Chad Kelly.I have had the pleasure of performing with this group on several other occasions over the past few years. This time the group was joined by a hand-picked ensemble of 12 vocalists.The group performed Handel's Messiah to a full audience at St. Anne's Church in Kew Green, London. The good sense of energy made what

Myself and fellow trumpeter, Will Russell travelled to Swansea in Wales on Friday night, ready for an afternoon rehearsal and evening performance of Handel's Messiah on Saturday. We stayed with very generous hosts and we had chance on Saturday morning to relax over a leisurely breakfast and enjoy a walk on the beach at Mumbles. For lunch we met our hosts John and Sarah at a local restaurant (The Sketty

I visited Bad Gandersheim in Germany to play first trumpet in Bach's Christmas Oratorio. I played this concert with the Gottingen Baroque Orchestra, led by the violinist, Henning Vater. Bad Gandersheim is a small town, about an hour's drive south of Hanover. I arrived in Hanover after a very early flight from London Heathrow. I had time to explore Hanover before being picked up outside Hanover Hauptbahnhof

York is wonderful city. It is one of those places that I always leave and think, 'I could easily live there'. There's a relaxed charm about the place. It has a good balance of down to earth people, fine architecture, interesting history, an excellent university (and all that comes with) and good rail links up and down the East Coast mainline, and also over the Pennines to Manchester. While we are

I played first trumpet in a performance of Handel's Messiah at St. John's Smith Square on Friday 5th of December 2014. The performance, given by Solomon's Knot was a refreshingly vibrant performance of this well-known work. The eight singers performed the entire piece from memory, which somehow gave the impression that the music was being spontaneously composed. The movements flowed seamlessly into

I recently received my copy of the Gorczycki - Volume II CD, directed by Andrzej Kosendiak, from the National Forum for Music in Wrocław, Poland. I participated in the recording in July 2014, you can read my earlier article here. The disc has turned out very well. It was very well recorded by CD Accord. The Schoeps microphones have been given a very pleasing sound of the ensemble. The editing

I made my debut with the Orchestra of the 18th Century on 'Tour 123'. The tour began on the 23rd of November 2014 and finished on the 3rd of December 2014. It included performances in Rotterdam (Holland), Roeselare (Belgium), Dublin (Ireland), Belfast (Northern Ireland), Amsterdam (Holland) and The Hague (Holland). It was a huge privilege to be asked to play with the Orchestra of the 18th Century

I performed Haydn's Nelson Mass in the Wimbledon International Music Festival. The performance took place at St John’s Church on Saturday 8th of November 2014, in a programme which also included Mozart's 'Exsultate Jubilate' (K.165) and Rachmaninov's 'Vespers Music from the All-Night-Vigil'. I had the pleasure of playing in a section with the former principal trumpet player of the BBC Symphony Orchestra,

On Tuesday 4th of November 2014, I performed as an off-stage trumpeter with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in (or technically, just outside) the Royal Festival Hall in London. Sir Mark Elder conducted Donizetti's 'Les Martyrs', directing around 150 performers. My modest role involved playing a straight fanfare trumpet, which was provided for me by the orchestra. It had valves (which

I visited Graham Nicholson in The Hague, in order to tune, fit and finish the crooks for the Steinmetz Horn - details of this instrument may be found in my earlier post.  Taking the night boat from Harwich on Sunday evening meant hat I arrived at Hoek van Holland early on Monday morning. We spent the day making a mouthpiece in the workshop and starting work on the crooks. On Monday evening,

St. Mary-at-Hill is a delightful church in the heart of London. I have been here several times, for rehearsals and recordings but I had never done a performance there before. I had been invited by the Director of Music and Organist Martin Knizia to play Bach's Jauchzett Gott in Allen Landen BWV 51, with the soprano Emily Atkinson. This concert wasn't in fact a concert at all, it was an evening service,

Aside from a few rail trips that have passed through, I have seen little of Berlin outside of the Hauptbahnhof. I felt that it was a shame not to stop to see more on those visits, and I resolved to do just that on this occasion. Travelling to the Island of Usedom for the Usedomer Musikfest involved flights in and out of Berlin Tegel, so it seemed logical to extend my trip slightly (at no additional

After a successful concert in the Wratislavia Cantans Festival in Wrocław, after a break of a week - the group travelled to the Island of Usedom in the North East of Germany, near the Polish border on the Baltic coast. I flew from London Heathrow to Berlin Tegel Airport, with my colleague Stephen Gilbey. We took a train from the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Anklam station on mainland Germany, where we