Aurora Orchestra - Beethoven No. 9 - Saffron Hall & BBC Proms

I will never forget the joyous cheer from the full-to-capacity Royal Albert Hall audience after the Aurora Orchestra finished Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor (in its 200th anniversary year) at the 2024 BBC Proms: we performed the entire work from memory under the baton of Nicholas Collon alongside 110 members of the National Youth Choir, 18 BBC Singers, and the soloists Masabane
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Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (‘Eroica’) - Aurora Orchestra

As strong geomagnetic activity caused the aurora borealis to show itself over much of Britain, the Aurora Orchestra gave six colourful and mesmerising performances of Beethoven’s third (‘Eroica’) symphony for audiences in France and southeast England. We performed the symphony from memory at the Apex in Bury St. Edmunds (7 May), the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London (8 May), Snape Maltings in Suffolk
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Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 – Aurora Orchestra - Bristol, London, Heidelberg & Munich

I enjoyed an action-packed week with the Aurora Orchestra and their conductor, Nicholas Collon, in the week beginning 20th March 2023. We performed Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony from memory six times in several different venues and settings in England and Germany. It was a pleasure to revisit this symphony, having memorised it for performances, including at the BBC Proms, in 2022.After two days of rehearsals
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Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - Aurora Orchestra - Royal Festival Hall - London, Festspielhaus Bregenz, Elbphilharmonie - Hamburg, De Singel - Antwerp, National Concert Hall - Dublin & Warwick Arts Centre

Aurora. What an orchestra, what energy, and what a privilege it has been to perform with them again. I recently wrote an article, in which I listed some of the most incredible things I have ever seen with my own eyes, among them: the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, the Vasa museum in Stockholm, Shakespeare’s Globe in London, Roger W Smith’s mechanical watchmaking, and the Aurora Orchestra's
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Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - Aurora Orchestra - Bonn BeethovenFest

It was a great pleasure to revisit Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique after the thrilling performances, including at the BBC Proms, in 2019. Our first performance in 2022—again, memorised— took place at 18:00 on Saturday 17th September 2022 at the Telekom Forum in Bonn. The performance was live-streamed to YouTube.We also played Beethoven's Triple Concerto (Op. 56) in the first half of the
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Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 – Aurora Orchestra - Saffron Hall & BBC Proms

The last time I performed at the BBC Proms with the Aurora Orchestra was in 2020—in the midst of the pandemic. Back then, we played Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 to a remote audience. This year was thankfully a stark contrast: it was great to experience the electrifying ambiance of a packed Royal Albert Hall once again, and it was a privilege to perform in the Proms in the BBC’s centenary year. Full
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Beethoven 7 - Aurora Orchestra - Printworks, London

‘Until about the first third of the nineteenth century, audiences considered themselves in charge of the event. They paid attention and listened as they pleased. […] Performers had to win their audience’s attention before they could win them over.’ – Burgess, Geoffrey – 'The Pathetick Musician' – Oxford University Press (2016) – § '9: To Kindle the Heart: Engagement in Performance' The
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Beethoven & Mendelssohn - Aurora Orchestra & Nicola Benedetti

The Aurora Orchestra’s performance of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony was socially distanced and performed without an audience at the 2020 BBC Proms, so it was with great pleasure that we were able to revisit this symphony, to perform it (again from memory) to capacity audiences in Nottinghamshire, London, and Suffolk. The first three performances – at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham (Wednesday
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Beethoven - Symphony No.7 - Aurora Orchestra - Coal Drops Yard, Saffron Hall & BBC Proms

It is difficult to put into words how it feels to once again, after this long interval, perform live music with an orchestra. I’ve missed the explorative sounds, the thrill of a challenge, the deeply immersive concentration in performance, the organic progression of a project, the collective pursuit of excellence, the feeling of belonging, the extraordinary characters, the excitement, the unexpected
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Three Manx trumpet players at the BBC Proms 2020 Live series

Three Manx trumpet players performed in two consecutive BBC Proms concerts (in socially-distanced orchestras with no audience present) at the Royal Albert Hall in September 2020. Despite the shortening of this year’s Proms season, Manx trumpeters were key players at the world’s biggest classical music festival. Jason Evans took centre stage to perform the strongly-featured trumpet part in
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Beethoven & Mozart - Aurora Orchestra - Gstaad & Kings Place

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
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Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - Aurora Orchestra

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
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Aurora Orchestra - The Kaleidoscopic Artist

Over the summer I had the pleasure of deputising with the Aurora Orchestra, playing first trumpet in a Mozart Symphony prior to their performances at Kings Place in London and at La Seine Musicale in Paris. I had been unable to play in the whole project on that occasion as it was around the time of my wedding so I agreed to deputise for just one rehearsal, which was most enjoyable. A few months later
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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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