Bach & Mozart - Academy of Ancient Music - Royal Northern College of Music

I coached students of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester from 18–21 June 2024 as part of the Academy of Ancient Music's AAMplify initiative. I taught with Joe Crouch (cello) and (fellow RNCM alumni) Mark Baigent (oboe). I played first trumpet alongside the RNCM students in a performance of Bach’s Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11), directed by Alexander Rebetge,
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Bach - O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe - Finsbury Park, London

I played first trumpet with the Istante Collective at St Thomas the Apostle church in Finsbury Park, London, on 18 May 2024. The performance featured the three trumpets and timpani in Handel’s coronation anthem, ‘The King Shall Rejoice’ and in Bach’s cantata, O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe [BWV 34]. I played first trumpet with Will Russell on second, Rebecca Toal on third and Ben Fullbrook
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Bach - Christmas Oratorio - Hampstead Collective

The Hampstead Collective formed in 2020 and managed to present a season of 17 weekly performances amid the Covid-19 pandemic; it is fantastic that they have continued to give (now monthly) concerts in Hampstead Parish Church. They began the year in style with a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (cantatas 1, 3, 5 and 6), conducted by Aidan Coburn, on Monday 8th January 2024. I had the pleasure
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Bach - Christmas Oratorio - Antwerp, Lyon, Malonne & Bruges

I performed Bach’s Christmas Oratorio [BWV 248] with Vox Luminis four times in December 2023, with performances at: deSingel in Antwerp, Lyon’s Chapelle de la Trinité, Malonne Abbaye, and the Concertgebouw in Bruges. I played first trumpet with Will Russell on second, Krešimir Fabijanić on third, and Koen Plaetinck on timpani—a fantastic section. It was an excellent project, and such
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Bach - BWV 70 & BWV 243a - Solomon’s Knot - Wigmore Hall & Nottingham

What an experience it would have been to hear Bach’s music in the first year of his 27-year tenure as Thomaskantor and director musices of Leipzig in 1723. It was wonderful to be involved in an ambitious initiative, called Bach300, which is providing opportunities to perform works by Bach 300 years after the occasions for which they were originally composed. It was with great pleasure that I was
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Bach - Christmas Oratorio - Mayfield

I played first trumpet in a sold-out concert of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at St. Dunstan’s Church in Mayfield in East Sussex. I performed this festive work with the Mayfield Festival Choir, directed by Jeremy Summerly, on Sunday 19 November 2023. The orchestra was led by George Clifford (violin) and the trumpet section featured Russell Gilmour, William Russell, and Imogen Whitehead, with Laura
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Bach - Orchestral Suites & Handel - Water Music - Megaron, Athens

I performed Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 [BWV 1068], Orchestral Suite No. 4 [BWV 1069], and Handel’s Water Music in D major [HWV 349] with the orchestra Armonia Atenea in the Megaron concert hall in Athens on Sunday 22nd October 2023. It was wonderful to visit Greece again and to perform in Athens for the first time—my previous visit was en route to a wedding on the island of Santorini in 2011. 
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Bach - Wo soll ich fliehen hin [BWV 5] - New College, Oxford

I played the Zugtrompete (a trumpet with a single slide) and a trumpet in low B-flat at A = 415 Hz for a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Wo soll ich fliehen hin [BWV 5] with the Choir of New College, Oxford under their Director of Music, Robert Quinney. We performed the cantata as part of a Sunday service in New College Chapel, and the service also included readings in German and Lutheran
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Bach - BWV 50, 130, 19, and 149 - Oxford Bach Soloists

I played third trumpet in Bach’s cantatas Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft [BWV 50], Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir [BWV 130], Es erhub sich ein Streit [BWV 19] and Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg [BWV 149] at New College in Oxford on Sunday 1st October 2023. These festive cantatas were composed between 1724 and 1729 for the Feast of the Archangel Michael. I performed exactly this programme
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Bach - B Minor Mass - Vox Luminis - Wigmore Hall

I travelled to Malonne, near Namur, in Belgium the morning after our performance with Les Talens Lyriques at La Seine Musicale. I was in Belgium to rehearse Bach’s B Minor Mass with the choir and orchestra of Vox Luminis at their rehearsal headquarters in Wallonia.We subsequently travelled to London and performed Bach’s B Minor Mass at Wigmore Hall. Robert Hughill described a performance with
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Bach - Christmas Oratorio Tour - Les Talens Lyriques & Nederlands Kamerkoor

Eight performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio; eight standing ovations. This was a tour of Holland to remember, with so many great components, including the Nederlands Kamerkoor, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset, Johanna Winkel (soprano), Sophie Harmsen (alto), Zachary Wilder (tenor) and Krešimir Strazanac (bass). We performed in the Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht (12 December 2022), De
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Bach - Brandenburg 1 & 2 and Orchestral Suite 3 & 4 - Les Talens Lyriques

As part of their 30th anniversary season Les Talens Lyriques performed an all-Bach programme in three cities in the week beginning 21st November 2022. The first performance took place at Salle Gaveau in Paris (21st), the second at the Théâtre d'Orléans (23rd), and the third at the Casino de Montbenon as part of the Bach Festival in Lausanne (25th). The programme featured Bach’s Orchestral Suite
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Bach - B Minor Mass - Victoria Theatre - Halifax

I was extremely lucky, on Sunday 30th October 2022, to be able to fill in for an indisposed trumpet player in a B minor mass at the Victoria Theatre in Halifax. At 5pm I finished another all-Bach performance in Leeds, and by 5:40pm I was in Halifax, ready for a 6:30pm B minor mass. As a period instrument specialist, this basically never happens—what luck! The performance featured the Halifax Choral
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Bach - Cantatas - Leeds Baroque

I performed with Leeds Baroque under the direction of Peter Holman on Sunday 30th October 2022 at the  Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, part of the School of Music of the University of Leeds. The programme featured three works with kettledrums, as the concert celebrated the recent purchase of Leeds Baroque's own timpani. The programme also featured a contrasting cantata (without trumpets and
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Bach - Magnificat - English Chamber Choir

Just before the pandemic, I performed with the English Chamber Choir in a performance to celebrate the 75th birthday of the trumpeter Crispian Steele-Perkins.On this occasion, Monday 24th October 2022, the English Chamber Choir was celebrating its own anniversary—its fiftieth—at Cadogan Hall in Sloane Square. A spokesperson from the choir explained that this choir had performed in the second concert
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Bach - B Minor Mass - Grand Baroque V - Exeter Cathedral

I performed Bach’s B Minor Mass in a concert organised by Catherine and Geoffrey Bass for Blackdowns Early Music Projects. The concert was the fifth in the ‘Grand Baroque’ series. I have had the pleasure of performing in four out of five of these concerts which usually take place every two years. I performed in Grand Baroque V (2022), Grand Baroque IV (2019), Grand Baroque III (2017) and Grand
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Bach - Vox Luminis - Pontaumur & Santander

I performed Bach’s Missa Brevis (essentially the Kyrie and Gloria of the B Minor Mass), as well as the Magnificat in two performances with Vox Luminis. We also played the final chorus of the B Minor Mass, Dona Nobis Pacem, as an encore. The first performance took place in Pontaumur in France in the Bach en Combrailles festival on 13th August 2022, and the other concert took place two days later
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Purcell - The Indian Queen - Stour Music Festival

Exactly one week ago, also at 15:00, I was standing right here in Boughton Aluph playing in the Stour Music Festival. I was glad to be back on Sunday 26th June 2022: it has been a busy intervening week. I’ve been doing a lot of work on my book (www.justnaturaltrumpet.com) but also trying to make time to enjoy nature and the good weather; I've been memorising Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 ready for
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Inspiring Bach - Spiritato - Stour Music Festival

It was great to return to Stour Music Festival in East Kent to revisit Spiritato’s programme entitled ‘Inspiring Bach’, with the Marian Consort. We picked up from where we left off after our performance at St Giles Cripplegate in October 2021. I last performed at the Stour Music Festival in 2019, for I Fagiolini's performance of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo.On Sunday 19th June 2022, we performed
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Bach Sinfonia from Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir (BWV 29), Sinfonia (BWV 1045) & Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (BWV 11) - Wigmore Hall & Purbeck Arts Week

I performed with the Gabrieli Consort & Players, directed by Paul McCreesh, at London’s Wigmore Hall on Friday 27th May 2022. A subsequent performance of the same programme took place at Lady St. Mary’s Church in Wareham the following day. I last performed at Wigmore Hall with this group just last month, and I had previously performed at the Purbeck Art Weeks festival in Dorset with I Fagiolini
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Russell Gilmour
Russell Gilmour Blog
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