Bach - Magnificat & Orchestral Suite No. 3 - Handel - Jubilate - Hertford Choral Society

I played first trumpet with the period instrument orchestra Spiritato; we performed Handel’s Jubilate (HWV 279), as well as Bach’s Orchestral Suite No 3 in D major (BWV 1068) and Bach’s Magnificat in D (BWV 243) with Hertford Choral Society on Saturday 25 October 2025. The performance was directed by Manvinder Rattan and the orchestra was led by violinist George Clifford. For me (and Sam
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Zelenka - Missa Paschalis - Antwerp - Vox Luminis

It was a pleasure to perform with Vox Luminis at DeSingel in Antwerp on Friday 24 October 2025, in a programme featuring Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Missa Paschalis (ZWV 7). The concert also featured Georg Frideric Handel’s Dixit Dominus (HWV 232). The programme reprised the Missa Paschalis by Zelenka that Vox Luminis had included (paired with Bach’s Easter Oratorio) in their 20th anniversary concert,
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Purcell - Fairy Queen - OAEducation - King’s Lynn

I played first trumpet with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAEducation) for an education outreach project on Tuesday 21 October 2025 at the Corn Exchange in King’s Lynn. The project featured music from The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell with additional music composed by James Redwood, who was also an engaging animateur and leader. The project brought together the Orchestra of the Age
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‘The English Genius’ - Devon Baroque - Dartington Hall

Dartington Hall is a very special place to me; it is where I attended summer school (2007–12), met Jo (2012), proposed (2017), and got married (2018)! So, it was a pleasure to return to Dartington to play in Devon Baroque’s 25th anniversary concert, which took place in the Great Hall on Sunday 28 September 2025.I was one of the soloists in the concert and I performed ‘Mr Handel’s Water
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Bach - BWV 30, BWV 120, BWV 34 - St Paul’s Church, Winchester

It was a pleasure to play in a performance entitled ‘Rejoice, Joyful Voices!’, subtitled ‘Bach with Trumpets and Timpani’, with Bach Winchester Voices and the Winchester Bach Orchestra on Sunday 7 September 2025 at St Paul’s Church, Winchester. The concert was directed by Andrew Hayman and featured music by Johann Sebastian Bach with the jubilant combination of trumpets and timpani. The programme
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Bach - B Minor Mass & Magnificat - Southwell Music Festival

On Sunday 24 August 2025 I played first trumpet in Bach’s B minor mass (BWV 232) at Southwell Minster. The performance was part of the Southwell Music Festival and it showcased the Festival Voices and Baroque Sinfonia under the musical and artistic director, Marcus Farnsworth. In addition to the performance of the B minor mass on Sunday, we also performed Bach’s Magnificat (BWV 243) for the ‘Come
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Bach - BWV 130, BWV 50 - Solomon’s Knot - Bachwoche Ansbach

After enjoyable performances at Bachfest Leipzig and Stour Music Festival, Solomon’s Knot gave two all-Bach concerts on consecutive evenings (Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 August 2025) at St Gumbertus Church for Bachwoche Ansbach. The first programme featured movements of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 (BWV 1051) interspersed throughout. For the second, the order was altered:
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Walter Holy and Michael Laird: the Evolution of the Finger-Holed Trumpet

I’m delighted to share the release of a long-awaited video interview, filmed in Wandsworth in May 2023, between myself and the now-retired trumpeter Michael Laird (b. 1942). In it, Michael reflects on his studies with Walter Holy (1921–2006), which began in 1963, and the development of the finger-holed trumpet during the ‘Early Music Revival’ of the late 20th century.When I was a student at
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Russell Gilmour and Crispian Steele-Perkins play a pair of sterling silver natural trumpets

It was a treat to welcome Crispian Steele-Perkins to my home for what turned out to be a memorable and fun occasion. We spent Monday 21 July 2025 making a light-hearted video which featured a pair of sterling silver natural trumpets made by Henry Potter & Co. in 1885, which are now in my collection. I had been waiting for a natural trumpet player to visit so we could explore these instruments together.
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Handel - Zadok the Priest - St Columba’s, Knightsbridge

On Wednesday 16 July 2025, I played first trumpet in a recording of Handel’s Zadok the Priest (HWV 258) at St Columba’s Church on Pont Street in Knightsbridge, London. The session, conducted by Ben Lewis-Smith, featured a twelve-piece professional choir, three trumpets, and organ.The recording took place in the organ gallery at the back of the church, with both audio and video captured for use
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Handel - La Resurrezione - Le Banquet Céleste - Beaune

Following two enjoyable performances of Handel’s La Resurrezione (HWV 47) with Le Banquet Céleste in Rennes in March this year, it was great to rejoin this ensemble to reprise this work at the Beaune International Baroque Opera Festival (Festival international d'opéra baroque de Beaune) on Friday 11 July 2025. I have performed in this festival twice before: my first appearance was Handel’s L’Allegro,
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Berlioz - Harold in Italy & Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 4 - Queen Elizabeth Hall - Aurora Orchestra

It was a great pleasure to play principal trumpet with the Aurora Orchestra under the baton of Nicholas Collon in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre in London on Sunday 29 June 2025. The programme featured Harold in Italy (Op. 16, H. 68) by Hector Berlioz, with the obbligato viola part played by Lawrence Power, and we also gave a memorised rendition of Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.
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Bach - BWV 19, BWV 149, BWV 130 & BWV 50 - Solomon’s Knot - Stour Music Festival

Following on from a very enjoyable performance at Bachfest Leipzig, Solomon’s Knot reprised their all-Bach programme at Stour Music Festival at Boughton Aluph Church, a beautiful venue in the Kent countryside, on Friday 27 June 2025, performing Johann Christoph Bach’s Es erhub sich ein Streit and J. S. Bach’s Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg (BWV 149), Es erhub sich ein Streit (BWV 19), Herr Gott,
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Bach - BWV 19, BWV 149, BWV 130 & BWV 50 - Solomon’s Knot - Bachfest Leipzig

Leipzig’s Nikolaikirche was the venue for Solomon’s Knot’s all-Bach programme, on Sunday 22 June 2025, as part of the famous and truly international Bachfest Leipzig. I last performed in this festival (also with Solomon’s Knot) in 2016. Solomon’s Knot last performed a similar programme to this at the BBC Proms in 2016. On this occasion the programme began with Johann Christoph Bach’s
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Bach - BWV 1, BWV 127, BWV 42, BWV 103 & BWV 28 - English Baroque Soloists & Monteverdi Choir - Masaaki Suzuki - St. Martin-in-the-Fields

I have long been an admirer of Masaaki Suzuki’s recordings with Bach Collegium Japan, so it was an enormous pleasure for me to play for this champion of Bach interpretation when he directed the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir for a performance at London’s St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Thursday 19 June 2025 (an exceptionally warm day). The artfully crafted programme featured four
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Mozart - Mitridate, re di Ponto - La Scala, Milan & Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris

Mitridate, re di Ponto [K. 87 (74a)] was written in 1770 by a 14-year-old Mozart, and it was premiered at Milan’s Teatro Regio Ducale. On Sunday 18 May 2025, I played first trumpet in this work with Les Talens Lyriques under the direction of Christophe Rousset at Milan’s famous Teatro alla Scala. I first performed at this venue only a few months ago, with the English Baroque Soloists, also directed
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Göttingen International Handel Festival - 2025 - Solomon

Handel’s Solomon (HWV 67) was the chosen oratorio at this year’s Göttingen International Handel Festival, which centred around the theme of laurels (Lorbeeren). George Petrou directed the Festspiel Orchester Göttingen (FOG) for two performances of this oratorio; the first took place at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie on 15 May 2025 and the second at Göttingen’s recently refurbished Stadthalle,
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Biber, Bach & Handel - Croatian Baroque Orchestra - Velika Gorica & Zagreb

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Croatian Baroque Ensemble (Hrvatski Barokni Ansambl), as well as the 50th birthday of the trumpeter Krešimir Fabijanić, the Croatian Baroque Ensemble performed an instrumental programme entitled ‘Tromba Gloriosa’, featuring music by Biber, Purcell, Telemann, Bach and Handel. The programme began with Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Sonata Sancti Polycarpi
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Bach - Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen [BWV 110] & Easter Oratorio [BWV 249] - Les Talens Lyriques - Grenoble, Lucerne, Aix-en-Provence, Paris & Metz

It was a great pleasure to rejoin Christophe Rousset’s Les Talens Lyriques, once again as principal trumpet, for five all-Bach performances over the Easter period. Following rehearsals in Paris, we performed at the MC2 concert hall in Grenoble (16 April 2025), the Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern (KKL) in Lucerne (18 April 2025), as part of the Festival de Pâques at the Grand Théâtre de Provence
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Handel - Saul - Romsey Abbey

I played first trumpet in Handel’s Saul with the Monteverdi String Band (led by Oliver Webber) and the Romsey Choral Society, conducted by Richard Pearce on Saturday 29 March 2025. The performance featured soloists Simon Thorpe (Saul), Maryam Wocial (Merab, Witch of Endor), Beatriz Volante (Michal), Christopher Bowen (Jonathan, Samuel, High Priest, Amalekite, Messenger) and
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Russell Gilmour
Russell Gilmour Blog
writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.

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