Amici Voices performed Bach’s cantata ‘Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben’ [BWV 147] at 18:30 on Sunday 16th February 2020 as part of the evening service at St John’s Church in Harpenden. The idea was to perform the version of the cantata as it may have been heard in Leipzig on 2nd July 1723 (as opposed to earlier versions dating back to Weimar, 1716).The service began with Bach’s ‘Herr Christ,

It is always great to perform at one of the most famous churches in London, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, on the northeast corner of Trafalgar Square.On this occasion, Thursday 13th February 2020, I played Vivaldi’s Gloria [RV 589] on the piccolo trumpet with the Brandenburg Sinfonia under the direction of Andrew Earis (Director of Music at St. Martin-in-the-Fields).In preparation for this performance,

I had the pleasure of mentoring for ‘Future Talent’ at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) on Sunday 9th February 2020. The extreme weather of Storm Ciara made some of the travel arrangements a bit of a challenge. Fortunately my route to and from Manchester was largely unaffected but there was more debris on the roads than normal, and at one point I had to ford a deeply-flooded road on the

Performing Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique with the Aurora Orchestra was one of the most enjoyable projects I participated in last year. It was great to return to play with the orchestra in February 2020 for music by Beethoven and Mozart. The orchestra rehearsed Beethoven’s Symphony No.1 in C [Op.21] on Wednesday 5th February 2020 at Morley College in London. We regrouped at London’s Heathrow

The Thomas Tallis Society Choir & Orchestra performed a programme of music by Capperauld, Finzi, Purcell, Vivaldi and Williams at St. Alfege Church in Greenwich on Saturday 18th December 2020.The programme began with Purcell's Come Ye Sons of Art (of 1694). I began playing the natural trumpet part, and I was asked to play the second alto part (one octave higher) in the movement 'Sound

Bob Porter conducted Handel's Messiah in a candlelit St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Monday 30th December 2019 at 18:30. The concert was part of the Brandenburg Choral Festival of London and it featured the Brandenburg Sinfonia and Brandenburg Festival Chorus. I played second trumpet, Paul Archibald played first trumpet and Tristan Fry played timpani.Ours was the first of two concerts this evening. The

I returned to Northampton Cathedral on Friday 20th December 2019 to play first trumpet in ‘Mr. Handel’s Messiah’ with the choir and orchestra of Fiori Musicali, under the direction of Penelope Rapson. Katy Hill (soprano), Robert Cross (countertenor), Edmund Hastings (tenor) and James Birchall (Bass) were the soloists for this year’s performance, and I played The Trumpet Shall Sound with James

When I was a student at the Royal College of Music I proposed a series of classes (in 2011) that would be organised and directed by postgraduate students from the Historical Performance department. Since I had proposed the idea, I had the job of arranging the inaugural class and I could choose the repertoire myself. I chose Johann Sebastian Bach’s ‘Christen, ätzet diesen Tag’ [BWV 63], originally

I devised and presented an early brass workshop for the students of Berkshire Maestros in Reading. The class was entitled 'The Evolution of the Trumpet Ensemble' and it featured trumpet ensemble music (spanning c.400 years) by Thomsen, Bendinelli, Fantini, Monteverdi, C. P. E. Bach, Altenburg, Dauverné and Andrzej Panufnik. I provided nine natural trumpets in D at A=415Hz for the students to play,

After Grand Baroque IV last week, I returned to Exeter Cathedral on Sunday 8th December 2019 to perform Handel’s Messiah with Devon Baroque and the Exeter Cathedral Choir, under the direction of Timothy Noon.  The 2:30pm performance was packed with people, eager to hear this Advent favourite. I played first trumpet in Devon Baroque led by Persephone Gibbs (violin) and it was great to see many

St John’s Voices performed a varied programme on Saturday 7th December 2019 in the resplendent College Chapel at St. John’s College in Cambridge. I played first trumpet in the Cambridge Baroque Camerata, led by Jane Gordon (violin) and conducted by Graham Walker, with fellow trumpet players Will Russell (second trumpet) and Gareth Hoddinott (third trumpet) in the section.The performance began with

I performed in the Brandenburg Traditional Christmas Concert at St. James's Sussex Gardens (Paddington) at 2pm on Tuesday 3rd December 2019. Bob Porter conducted the Brandenburg Singers who were accompanied by Rupert Jeffcoat on the organ.The performance began with Once in Royal David's City, followed by: See Amid the Winter's Snow, In the Bleak Midwinter (Darke), The Shepherd's Farewell, Angels from

I played first trumpet in Handel's Messiah in Manchester Cathedral on Saturday 30th November 2019. The performance featured the Manchester Cathedral Choir and Manchester Baroque, conducted by Christopher Stokes.It was great to perform Handel's Messiah in Manchester Cathedral again. I did this annual performance at Manchester Cathedral (for a few years running) about 10 and 11 years ago! View this post

Blackdowns Early Music Projects presented a concert entitled 'Grand Baroque IV' at Exeter Cathedral on Friday 29th November 2019. JanJoost van Elburg conducted the Blackdowns Early Music Projects Choir, the Monteverdi String Band, the English Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble and a team of natural trumpets and drums, played by Russell Gilmour, Will Russell and Scott Bywater. The two trumpet players opened

I performed Handel's Messiah on Sunday 24th November 2019 at St. Barnabas Church in Walthamstow, as part of the St. Barnabas Sunday Concerts series. The Waltham Forest Community Choir performed with an excellent freelance orchestra, made up of several Walthamstow-based professional musicians. Tom Randle conducted the performance. The capacity audience at St. Barnabas Church was encouraged to sing

I played first trumpet with the Harmonious Society of Tickle Fiddle Gentlemen (a group that takes its name from Ned Ward's (1667 - 1731) description of the musicians who played at one of the world's first series of public concerts in London) for a performance of Haydn's Creation in Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday 16th November 2019. The orchestra was directed by David Newsholme and featured the Girls

I performed the Last Post and Rouse in the Eucharist for Remembrance Sunday at St. Martin-in-the-Fields on the morning of Sunday 10th November 2019. I also played Malcolm Archer's 'In War, Resolution' (2010) and Ralph Vaughan Williams' motet 'Lord, Thou hast been our refuge' (1921) with the Choir of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, directed by Tom Williams and accompanied by Andrew Earis on the organ. I had

I performed Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem with the Eagle Choir at St Mary's Church in Buckden, Cambridgeshire on Saturday 9th November 2019. The concert raised funds for the Royal British Legion and it featured fantastic solos from Eve McGrath (soprano), Fraser Morgan (treble) and Rhys Bowden (tenor). Harry Bagnall conducted and had arranged the piece to suit the smaller orchestral forces of organ,

I performed three works with obligato trumpet parts in a candlelit concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Friday 8th November 2019. I had been asked to perform on the piccolo trumpet, so I played Handel's Let the Bright Seraphim from Samson [HWV 57] and Henry Purcell's Overture from the Indian Queen [Z. 630] on a piccolo trumpet in A by Scherzer, and Bach's 'Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen' [BWV 51]

Alison Balsom: “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen - welcome to England at the end of the seventeenth century. Don’t panic. I’m not here to talk. I have this (she holds the trumpet). And, you know, some people hear in this only one thing - a call to arms, a military fanfare, the triumphant crow of a proud and patriotic soldier. But in the 1680s and 90s, Henry Purcell, a composer who means the whole

Vox Luminis performed Bach's B Minor Mass at the Carré Magique in Lannion in Brittany on Sunday 6th October 2019.Myself, Will Russell and Katie Hodges (trumpeters) travelled from the UK entirely by rail, changing trains in Paris and Plouaret Trégor. The orchestra and choir of Vox Luminis arrived in Lannion to begin rehearsals on Friday 4th October. This would be our first time playing the B Minor

The Georges Enescu Festival welcomed Les Talens Lyriques to perform Handel’s Giulio Cesare [HWV 17] on the 20th September 2019 and Handel’s Agrippina [HWV 6] on the 21st September 2019. These consecutive late night performances took place at the Romanian Athenaeum in the Romanian capital city of Bucharest.This project began with rehearsals in Paris at one of Les Talens Lyriques’ usual Montmartre

Ping. An email notification from the Aurora Orchestra: “Hi Russell, Is there a chance you might be available and willing to play 1st natural trumpet for this memorised Berlioz project, including at the BBC Proms? You’d just be needed for Symphonie Fantastique.” There followed a moment of hesitance and doubt, quickly overridden by a feeling of ‘if others can do it, I can do it’. Four

Handel wrote two oratorios featuring trombones in his brass section; one is Saul [HWV 53], which I had the great pleasure of playing earlier this year at the Göttingen Händel Festival and the other is Israel in Egypt [HWV 54], which was the focus of Saturday night’s concert at the Southwell Music Festival.The Festival Baroque Sinfonia and Festival Voices joined forces under Marcus Farnsworth’s

I performed with Vox Luminis in the 11th century Romanesque Basilica of St Magdalene in Vézelay, a UNESCO world heritage site, around 230km southeast of Paris in the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The choir and orchestra of Vox Luminis gave a concert at 21:00 on Thursday 22nd August 2019 as part of La Cité de la Voix Festival in Vézelay.The group performed three works by George Frideric

After I played in the BBC Proms for the first time in September 2016 I wrote about the inspiring influence of being allowed to stay up late as a child to watch the Last Night of the Proms - broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall. Later in life, as a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music, the area around the Royal Albert Hall became very familiar. On occasion, I would have morning rehearsals

As I played the final phrase of my tenth performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F major [BWV 1047] (which took place last Saturday at Castle Ashby) I felt as I often do after playing that piece - that it would be great to play it again very soon. Playing Brandenburg 2 is a definite adrenaline rush and there’s something in the thrill of its survival that makes you

I performed John Stanley’s Trumpet Voluntary as the bride (Celia Madden) entered St Benet's Minster in Beccles, Suffolk on Saturday 3rd August 2019. Celia and I met while studying together at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and it was a great pleasure and privilege to play as she entered the church on her wedding day.Celia married Joseph Carter at 2pm and their wedding service featured

Solomon’s Knot’s Purcell Pageant programme - which we first aired in the Ryedale Festival just one week ago - was in fact devised to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary of two of Solomon’s Knot’s loyalest supporters. The couple invited Solomon’s Knot to the Cambridge Buddhist Centre on Friday 2nd August 2019 to perform a musical pageant in celebration of their wedding anniversary

July 2019 saw a personal milestone with a 10th performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major [BWV 1047] on the natural trumpet. I first performed this notorious work on the 24th June 2011 while studying historical performance at the Royal College of Music and I have subsequently performed it at Bedford School, at St. Anne’s in Kew Green in Richmond, at the Valletta Baroque Festival