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

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

‘Snape Maltings, Snape Maltings, Thank Benjamin Britten for Snape Maltings’ was the specially-written encore of Vox Luminis’ King Arthur performance at Snape Maltings in 2017. That memorable performance, exactly two years ago, was my first appearance with the group and there have been many exceptional projects in the interim, including performances at Versailles, the Utrecht Early Music Festival,

I performed Bach’s B Minor Mass [BWV 232] with the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists and the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir on Wednesday 17th April 2019. The performance was directed by Ralph Allwood MBE (who I had remembered from a previous Brandenburg Baroque Soloists performance at Wellington College in August 2017).The Old Royal Naval College Chapel is a magnificent building -

I performed first trumpet in Handel’s Messiah with Oxford Baroque on Saturday 6th April 2019. The performance took place in the Dobson Art Centre in King Edward VI School in Southampton. Oxford Baroque provided a period instrument orchestra to accompany the Southampton Choral Society. The performance was directed by their conductor Benjamin Costello. During the rehearsal, Benjamin kindly remarked

Snape Maltings was the venue for Aldeburgh Music Club’s performance of a programme entitled ‘The Amazing Mr. Handel’ on Saturday 16th March 2019. The performance featured the Coronation Anthems [HWV 258], Water Music Suite in G [HWV 350], Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.9 [HWV 327], Chandos Anthem No.7 'My song shall be alway' [HWV 252] and the Chandos Anthem No.4 'O worship the Lord in the beauty of

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAEducation) gave two performances on Wednesday 30th of January 2019 in two schools in County Durham.The project followed on from a similar one that took place in London in November 2018. Like the November project, it catered for young musicians including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Again, Purcell's Fairy Queen was the focus of these educational

Northampton Cathedral was the venue for my only complete Messiah performance this December. I played with the choir and orchestra of Fiori Musicali with their Director Penelope Rapson. Some years ago Handel’s Messiah seemed to be, almost exclusively, the only piece that I was asked to perform at this time of year. At the moment it seems to be slightly less common for me to have a solely Messiah-filled

Spain is a country I have visited only twice before. The more recent trip was to Úbeda with the Academy of Ancient Music in 2013. I performed as a soloist playing Handel’s Diana cacciatrice [HWV 79] with the soprano soloist Lucy Crowe. Before that I visited Spain for the first time with Le Concert Lorrain. We finished an extensive European tour in Burgos on the 21st of December 2010 with a performance

Music by three successive Leipzig Thomaskantors (incidentally, all with the first name Johann) was the focus of Solomon’s Knot’s performances in Advent 2018. Rehearsals for the programme entitled ‘Christmas in Leipzig’ began on 26th November 2018 at Holy Trinity Church on Prince Consort Road in London. The first public performance took place at St. Mary’s Church in the Lace Market, Nottingham

When I first visited the Palace of Versailles on a school history trip in March 2005 I would never have imagined that I would, one day, have the opportunity to play there as a professional trumpet player.Since then I have performed and recorded in the Opéra Royal de Versailles with Les Talens Lyriques (often playing operas that were originally performed there, such as Lully’s Alceste and Salieri’s

I performed with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAEducation) at the Amadeus Centre near Warwick Avenue in London on Wednesday 28th of November 2018. The project featured participants from Gospel Oak, Rhyl and Swiss Cottage primary schools in Camden and it catered for (and I must say, enthralled) these young musicians including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN).This was a revisited

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | VietnamApproaching Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport from the south-east gave stunning views over the meandering course of the Mekong Delta. As we descended, Ho Chi Minh City’s vast sprawl was apparent; 13.5 million inhabitants live in the metropolitan area and 8.4 million live in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) itself.

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | VietnamFrom Manila we flew over the South China Sea again and arrived back at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia at 17:05 on Thursday 8th November 2018. Getting through immigration had been relatively tricky here. We all had the correct documentation but the sudden deluge of our group rather overwhelmed the sole staff

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | VietnamAs soon as our plane landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila on 4th November 2018, an army of workers were waiting at the gate ready to unload our aircraft. I imagine they had at least double or triple the number of ground staff that would meet a plane landing the United Kingdom. We left to meet two coaches

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | VietnamMarking the half-way point of the tour, we arrived in the capital city of Cambodia at Phnom Penh International Airport. Two coaches, decked out with lace curtains like a Pullman carriage, transported us toward the busy city centre and our hotel. It was interesting to observe the shops and stalls at the roadside. There

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | VietnamWe arrived in Vientiane at Wattay International Airport on the evening of Friday 26th October 2018. The Lao Plaza hotel was only 6km away and we checked in very efficiently upon arrival. After dropping off our luggage we left the hotel and went to find something to eat. The hotel was near Nam Phou, a square with a central

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | VietnamWe arrived at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (‘Land of Gold’) airport to the East of Bangkok and met the coaches that would take us to the Swissôtel Le Concorde in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district. The scenes from the coach window were very different to Brunei’s. Even though it was 22:00 the volume of traffic was immense.

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | VietnamAs we entered the arrival hall at Brunei International Airport we received an exceptionally warm welcome. There was a 10-metre wide banner upon which ‘Welcome Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’ had been printed, and a whole team of people had come to greet us: taking photographs of the occasion, helping us with

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | VietnamThe weekend of the 16th and 17th of June 2018 saw three significant events in my life. Saturday 16th June 2018 was my stag do; seven of us visited the Adnams Brewery in Southwold and enjoyed incredible food and hospitality afterwards at the home of my former trumpet teacher. The following day, after tidying up (and notably

After enjoyable projects over the summer with Vox Luminis in Uzès and at the Utrecht Early Music Festival, it was great to rejoin our friends and colleagues for two more festival appearances on consecutive evenings. The ensemble performed Handel’s Dixit Dominus [HWV 23] and Bach’s Magnificat [BWV 243] in the Ambronay Festival (Festival D’Ambronay) on Friday 21st September 2018 and in the

I have visited Utrecht in the Netherlands before but this was the first time I had been involved in the Utrecht Early Music Festival: Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht - the largest early music festival in the world. The opening of the festival took place on Friday 24th August 2018 with four simultaneous concerts across Utrecht’s city centre.The overall title of the opening night was Het Bourgondische

The historic Church of St Mary and All Saints in Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire was the venue for Fiori Musicali’s concert on Saturday 18th of August 2018. The performance celebrating the Feast of the Assumption featured music by Bach, Marcello, Vivaldi and Zelenka.The church (currently undergoing some restoration work) at Fotheringhay is close to the remains of Fotheringhay Castle which was once

I was invited to perform in Groningen and Hamburg with the Gabrieli Consort and Players, directed by Paul McCreesh. They performed 'King Arthur or The British Worthy - A Dramatick Opera' by Henry Purcell and John Dryden. The group performed this piece using a new Concert Performing Edition by Christopher Suckling & Paul McCreesh which included some additional music from Purcell’s ‘Dioclesian’

The Teatru Manoel presented a concert on the occasion of the European Day of Early Music (Wednesday 21st March 2018) at the Basilica of St. Dominic in the European Capital of Culture 2018: Valletta. Valletta is on the island of Malta in the Maltese Archipelago. I have been very fortunate to visit on two previous occasions (January 2013 and January 2015). It was great to return two subsequent times

I played first trumpet in Bach's B Minor Mass with the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists on Saturday 17th March 2018. The performance, featuring The Windsor and Eton Choral Society and soloists: Gemma Summerfield (soprano), Tim Travers-Brown (countertenor), Tom Raskin (tenor) and Alex Ashworth (baritone) took place in the School Hall at Eton College.Founded in 1837, the Windsor and Eton Choral Society is

It was great to play with Voces8 again after the successful Messiah performance last year.On Wednesday 20th December 2017 the group performed Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme [BWV 140], three carols, and Bach’s Magnificat in D [BWV 243], at Voces8’s home - the (surprisingly reverberant) Gresham Centre. The performance was ably conducted by Voces8's Artistic Director, Barnaby Smith.Final

Just as a distinctive smell can immediately remind you of a time, of a place, or of people in your life - so too can receiving a finished copy of a CD that you were involved with. Listening back is always an exciting, sensory-rich moment, one that gives an opportunity to reminisce about the process of capturing that recording. It gives the ability to remember the music after some time away from it

Living a life as a touring musician, it is certainly a frequent occurrence to wake up and wonder exactly where you are. Sometimes it takes just a few moments to realise, as you recall your movements of the previous day. On other occasions a blandly corporate hotel room (while offering predictability and consistency) gives little indication of whether you are in London, Paris, Vancouver or Sydney. Even

I played first trumpet with the Suffolk Baroque Players for Aldeburgh Music Club Choir’s performance of Handel’s Messiah, which was conducted by Edmond Fivet CBE. The concert took place on Saturday 18th of November 2017 in the wonderful venue of Snape Maltings at 7pm. The soloists were Zöe Bonner (Soprano), Amy Lyddon (Mezzo-Soprano), Christopher Bowen (Tenor) and Alex Ashworth (Bass). I performed

I performed with Devon Baroque in the Great Hall at Dartington on Sunday 29th October 2017 for a concert entitled “Musical Battles, and the Trumpet, Naturally”. I performed Torelli’s ‘Concerto in D for trumpet and strings’ [G1] and as one of the four featured soloists in Bach’s ‘Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F Major’ [BWV 1047].Tromba - Russell GilmourFlauto - Olwen FoulkesHautbois -

Russell Gilmour, William Russell and Gareth Hoddinott travelled to Saarbrücken in Germany to perform with Le Concert Lorrain and the newly re-named BachChor Saarbrücken, with whom we have built up an excellent rapport over many years. The trumpet section was joined by timpanist Simon Stierle and it is always great to work with him. The performance took place at 6pm on Sunday 17th September 2017 in

Sunday 10th September 2017 saw a performance of J. S. Bach's 'Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott' [BWV 129] as part of the Lutheran Vespers at St Michael at the North Gate in Oxford. Oxford Bach Soloists, directed by Tom Hammond-Davies, performed the cantata liturgically as part of this 4pm service. The church was full to capacity.BWV 129 was written in 1724/5 for the Feast of the Trinity (possibly in

Exeter Cathedral was the venue for ‘Grand Baroque III’, a programme compiled by Blackdowns Early Music Projects which featured several ‘German Choral Masterworks’ from composers such as Rosenmüller, Schelle and Kuhnau. The performance took place at Exeter Cathedral on Monday 28th August 2017.The baroque orchestra consisted of the English Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble, the Monteverdi String

Lake District Summer Music’s 33rd festival season opened on Saturday the 29th July 2017 at Ulverston’s Coronation Hall with an "electrifying performance" of Bach’s B Minor Mass, performed by Solomon’s Knot.Get yourself to @corohall for 7:30pm tonight to hear Bach B minor Mass. @solomonsknot sounding phenomenal in rehearsal. Tickets on door pic.twitter.com/oC5VYM2yWN— LDSM Festival 2017

Following on from a residency at the Opera National du Lorrain in Nancy (2014), and a tour to Versailles and Vienna (2016), I joined Les Talens Lyriques for a third time; performing and recording Jean-Baptiste Lully's 'Alceste, ou Le triomphe d’Alcide' (1674) under the direction of Christophe Rousset.Lully's opera 'Alceste, ou Le triomphe d’Alcide' is a 'tragedy in music', with a

I performed at a wedding on Saturday 8th July 2017. The ceremony took place in the ancient (and now almost redundant) St Peter's Church in Wolfhampcote in Warwickshire. The Church is near the county border, close to Braunston and Daventry in Northamptonshire. The presence of St Peter's Church in Wolfhampcote is noted in the Domesday Book and the oldest parts of the current church building date from

I performed with The Wren Players at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea on Tuesday 4th of July 2017. The evening of music began at 18:30 with an outdoor performance in the Royal Hospital’s ‘Figure Court’. It was a beautiful and warm evening. The outdoor performance included a selection from Handel’s Water Music (D Major suite) and his Music for the Royal Fireworks:Water Music - D major suiteAllegroAlla

I was invited to join Vox Luminis for their performance of Purcell’s 'King Arthur' at Snape Maltings on Thursday 22nd of June 2017, as part of the Aldeburgh Festival. The festival is celebrating the 50th anniversary of music at Snape Maltings - one of the earliest examples of an ex-industrial building being repurposed as a performance space.I was delighted to perform with Vox Luminis. I was deputising

I performed with the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists at Eton College on Thursday 15th of June 2017 at 8:45pm. The performance of Handel’s 'Coronation Anthems' took place in the magnificent Chapel of Eton College.The chorus was directed by Matthew O'Donovan, who brilliantly directed the 14-piece period-instrument orchestra, led by violinist Walter Reiter.I first met Walter Reiter at Dartington International

I performed with Solomon’s Knot in Halle (Saale) and Regensburg in Germany. We performed the Dublin version (1742) of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ in the Dom zu Halle as part of the Halle Händel-Festspiele on Friday 2nd of June. Two nights later we performed in the Dreieinigkeitskirche in Regensburg as part of the Tage Alter Musik festival. Rehearsals took place in London and the group worked

I travelled to the wonderful University City of Göttingen in Germany to perform with FestspielOrchester Göttingen (FOG) directed by Laurence Cummings. It was delightful to be back at the Göttingen International Händel Festival having enjoyed performing in the 2014 and 2015 festivals.The Galakonzert took place at the Stadthalle on Saturday 13th of May 2017 and it marked the opening of the Göttingen

I played first trumpet in Bach’s ‘B Minor Mass’ in a performance at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London on Thursday 20th of April 2017. Ivor Setterfield directed the The New London Singers, the Trafalgar Baroque Ensemble and the soloists: Grace Davidson (Soprano), Timothy Morgan (Countertenor), Peter Kirk (Tenor) and Timothy Nelson (Bass).Et in terra pax! Still time to join us tonight in London

I performed with the Oxford Bach Soloists on the cornetto and natural trumpet. The group performed two contrasting works by Johann Sebastian Bach: ‘Christ Lag in Todes Banden’ (BWV 4) and the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249). The performance was conducted by Tom Hammond-Davies and took place at New College, Oxford on Easter Saturday: 15th April 2017. The concert began with the première of ‘Roads Shining

Goldsmiths Choral Union and the orchestra, 'Musicians of London' performed Handel's 'Dettingen Te Deum', Handel's 'Te Deum in A' and Bach's 'Magnificat' at Cadogan Hall in London on Wednesday 5th of April 2017.Brian Wright conducted the choir, orchestra and their excellent group of soloists: Rachel Ambrose Evans (soprano), Ruth Provost (soprano), Benjamin Williamson (countertenor), Peter Harris (tenor)

It's always an exciting prospect to explore a lesser-known work by Handel. On this occasion, I performed Handel's oratorio 'Belshazzar' (HWV 61) from 1744, with the chorus 'Petros Singers' in a performance at St. James's Piccadilly on Saturday 25th of March 2017. Petros Singers take great pride in performing repertoire that is "often idiosyncratic, eschewing the typical canonical works in order to

I played first trumpet in a performance of Handel’s Messiah on Saturday 18th of March 2017 at St. John’s Church, on Spencer Hill in Wimbledon. The performance involved members of the pro-choir Sonoro, the Wimbledon Community Chorus and the Sonoro Baroque Ensemble, led by Susie Carpenter-Jacobs.The performance was conducted by one of the Artistic Directors of Sonoro, Neil Ferris [who has recently

Performing at St. Martin-in-the-Fields is always a privilege. The site on the North-East corner of London's iconic Trafalgar Square has a fascinating history dating back to Roman times (c.410 AD). A magnificent example of Neoclassical architecture, the current building was designed by architect James Gibbs and construction was completed in 1726.Concerts at St. Martin-in-the-Fields tend to attract sizeable

I performed the 'Sound the Trumpet' programme with ‘Spiritato’ at the Chichester Assembly Room on Thursday the 16th of February 2017. The evening included works by Purcell, Corbett, Rebel, Fantini, Legrenzi, Albrici, Matheis and Franceschini. Rehearsing Albrici in #chichester ahead of our Sound the Trumpet concert tonight! pic.twitter.com/KW9oOgb3ok— Spiritato! (@Spiritato) February 16, 2017H

On Thursday 9th of March 2017, I was involved in delivering a Historically Informed Performance Class at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Four members of the period-instrument ensemble ‘Spiritato!’ talked about their recent ‘Guts & Glory’ project - which involved discussing many of the key aspects of being a Historically Informed performer. The class focused on the pros and cons of

On Saturday the 28th of January 2017, I performed Bach’s Magnificat [BWV 243] and the Cantata: Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis [BWV 21] at St. Martin-in-the-Fields as part of the Brandenburg Choral Festival of London.Bach's Magnificat is, of course, very well-known and it pairs excellently with BWV 21. I played a very similar programme (although it was the E-flat Magnificat) at the Leipzig BachFest

December 2016 has consisted of several Messiah, B Minor Mass, Magnificat and Christmas Oratorio performances. The final concert before the festive season offered a similarly balanced variety of music from Handel and Bach. It featured Part I of Handel's Messiah in the first half and Bach's Magnificat in D [BWV 243] in the second half. The performance took place at St. Anne's in Kew Green, London on

After two days and two Weihnachtsoratorium performances in Germany, I travelled on to Luxembourg by train and car to join a different Weihnachtsoratorium project, this time with Le Concert Lorrain on Monday 19th of December 2016. From the starting point in Halle I went by train to Köln via Hannover - where I met the third trumpet player, Gareth. From the outskirts of Köln, we met the conductor who

I performed Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium [BWV 248, Cantatas I–III & VI] with the Halle Händelfestpiele Orkester in Zerbst (17th December 2016) and Halle (18th December 2016) in Germany. I had been invited to play with the orchestra as their guest principal trumpet player. The Stadtsingechor zu Halle and the choir of Halle University joined forces to sing the Christmas Oratorio,

On Thursday 15th of December 2016, I performed Part I of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ in the majestic chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford. The performance featured the magnificent Choir of Magdalen College, four soloists and the orchestra, Oxford Baroque.The choir and the orchestra - led by violinist Claudia Norz - performed from the nave of the chapel with trumpeters Russell Gilmour and William Russell

Solomon’s Knot Baroque Collective performed Bach’s B Minor Mass on Sunday the 11th of December 2016 at Shoreditch Town Hall in London. This, the penultimate concert of Spitalfields Music’s Winter Festival 2016, had been selected by The Times as their 'top pick' in the Classical column (written by Richard Morrison).© James BerrySolomon's Knot brought their characteristic - now trademark

Devon Baroque and Exeter Festival Chorus performed J S Bach's Christmas Oratorio in Exeter Cathedral on Saturday 3rd December 2016. The performance was directed by Aidan Oliver.The Exeter Festival Chorus did an excellent job and the soloists, Anna Patalong (soprano), Kate Symonds-Joy (alto), David Webb (tenor) and Benedict Nelson (bass) were all very good too.The guest conductor, Aidan Oliver, had

The Little Baroque Company, led by Kinga Ujszaszi, performed with the St. Cecilia Chorus on Saturday 12th of November at St. Andrew’s Church in Cheam. The evening, conducted by Jonathan Rennert promised ‘festive and celebratory music from the first half of the 18th century… predominantly bright in mood, with brilliant orchestral colour, often featuring trumpets.'The ensemble performed William

Spiritato's tour of the 'Guts & Glory' programme continued on Friday 11th November 2016 at St. George’s Kemp Town, in Brighton. The performance was part of the Brighton Early Music Festival 2016.Brighton Early Music Festival had chosen the theme of ‘Nature & Science’ for their 2016 festival, exploring observation, discovery, invention and creation. In the spirit of innovation, Spiritato

St. George’s in Bristol was the venue for the most recent performance of Spiritato’s 'Guts and Glory' programme. Click here to read an older post about this programme.The concert took place on the 9th of November 2016 in this magnificent venue in the vibrant city of Bristol. Spiritato performed the programme with vigour and assurance, informing and delighting the audience along the way. The programme

I performed Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’ with the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists at St. Martin-in-the-fields at 1900 on Thursday 15th of September 2016. The first half of the concert explored instrumental works by J.S. Bach. The Violin Concerto in E major (BWV 1042) and the 'Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G major' (BWV1048) were finely-played and led by violinist, Persephone Gibbs.Oboist, Tony Robson and natural

Zelenka - HypocondrieBach - Magnificat in DBach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 2- Interval -Handel - Dixit DominusArs Eloquentiae and the Southampton Philharmonic Choir performed a programme of demanding choral and instrumental works on Saturday 18th of June 2016. The 7:30pm concert in Winchester Cathedral was attended by a substantial and ethereally back-lit audience. As the concert began the sun was

The baroque collective Solomon’s Knot performed on the second day of Leipzig’s Bachfest, giving a concert on Saturday, 11th of June 2016 in the Nikolaikirche. The singers performed the entire concert from memory and the conductorless ensemble wowed the Leipzig audience with what the Leipzig Bachfest described as an ‘outstandingly vivid’ performance. The response from the audience was overwhelming

Oxford Early Music festival put on a concert of Georg Frederic Händel’s ‘Israel in Egypt’ on Friday 13th of May 2016 in the University of Oxford’s first official building, the University Church. The International Baroque Players joined a fantastic line-up of soloists: Emma Kirkby (soprano), Robyn Allegra Parton (soprano), Robin Blaze (countertenor), Thomas Hobbs (tenor), Jonathan Arnold

St Andrew's Church in Cheam, (in the London Borough of Sutton) was the venue for a performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass on Saturday 16th of April 2016. The performance was given by the St Cecilia Chorus and the Little Baroque Company (orchestra). The performance was directed by Jonathan Rennert.It was a fantastic orchestra and the choir did a wonderful job singing this epic and virtuosic work.Soloists:Soprano:

Last week saw the realisation of Spiritato’s innovative ‘Guts and Glory’ project. Exploring ‘equal tension’ strings and using natural trumpets without finger holes, the group devised and delivered a programme of 17th Century music by Biber, Schmelzer, Vejvanovsky and Bertali.The project began with an open rehearsal and discussion event on Friday 8th April 2016 in which Spiritato welcomed

I played first trumpet in Handel's Coronation Anthems in St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. The section consisted of Russell Gilmour, William Russell & Gareth Hoddinott.The Joyful Company of Singers and the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists were conducted by Peter Broadbent in this candlelit concert on Thursday 7th of April, as part of the Brandenburg Choral Festival 2016 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields.The

I left home very early on Saturday morning to be able to spend the morning in York before rehearsing and performing there. I had arranged to meet my friend from the Isle of Man (Matthew) and we both arrived in York at 0930. We had a good breakfast before visiting the National Railway Museum and we had a brief wander around York before my rehearsal. With the recent media coverage of the completion and

On Tuesday the 23rd February 2016, the choir 'Sonoro' gave a performance of a programme entitled 'Baroque Masterpieces' at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. The programme showcased the vibrant sonority of this new professional choir with performances of Handel's 'Zadok the Priest', Vivaldi's 'Gloria' and Bach's 'Magnificat in D'. The Sonoro Baroque Ensemble, led by Simon Standage also performed

The ‘baroque collective’ Solomon’s Knot gave a performance entitled ‘Christmas in Leipzig’ on Monday 21st December 2015 as part of St. John’s Smith Square’s 30th Christmas Festival. The concert featured music by three composers who consecutively held the position of Kantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig: Johann Schelle, Johann Kuhnau and Johann Sebastian Bach."This concert gives us a

The final concert of Spitalfields Music’s Winter Festival was given by the Baroque Collective - ‘Solomon’s Knot’ on Tuesday 15th of December 2015 at Shoreditch Church (St Leonard’s) in London. This was Solomon’s Knot’s debut at Spitalfields Music.The group performed parts I, III, V and VI from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio without a conductor and the eight singers performed the whole concert

Sherborne Abbey was the magnificent venue for a concert entitled ‘Baroque Christmas’ on Saturday 5th of December 2015 at 7:30pm. The concert was given by the Sherborne Chamber Choir, the ensemble ’In Echo’ [founded by Gawain Glenton who is now a resident of Sherborne] and trumpet players from the Altenburg Ensemble. The advertising for the concert had invited the audience to ‘join us as we

On Wednesday 1st July 2015, I finished teaching for the day and I noticed a missed call on my iPhone. It was from my former teacher Michael Laird. I called him back as I walked to the railway station and he told me, now that he had turned 75, he would be retiring from trumpet playing entirely. He explained that he had played since he was 15 years old and now, 60 years on, it was time to stop playing