Immediately after performing George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante at the Göttingen Händel Festival, I segued into another Handel (pasticcio) opera project, Il Muzio Scevola, with Il Gusto Barocco in Stuttgart. This opera featured a Prologue which had been specially written for the occasion by Th. W. Leininger in 2021 to a text from 1723 (Hamburg). The first act was by Filippo Amadei, with a second

It was brilliant to return to Göttingen for the International Handel Festival in September 2021. The festival usually takes place in May each year, but it has been displaced by the coronavirus pandemic. The last time the festival took place was in May 2019, when we performed Handel’s Saul [HWV 53] in Hannoversche Münden. Getting to the first rehearsal was challenging; the Lufthansa flight

Now that I have had both vaccinations, and France has moved to the UK’s amber list (and vice versa), travel has become significantly more straightforward. Having had the vaccine I did not have to quarantine upon arrival in France, nor did I have to quarantine when I returned to the UK. There were still passenger locator forms, declarations from high incidence areas, an antigenic test to be undertaken,

It all began with doubt as I boarded the train towards London St. Pancras. In light of the coronavirus situation French entry requirements had changed just 10 hours before I travelled, which left some doubt as to whether I would be permitted to get even as far as the Eurostar lounge. Luckily, entry was permitted. I travelled to Puteaux, to the west of Paris where I would be in quarantine. Other Parisians

Prof. Dr. Edward Hankins Tarr (b.15/06/1936 Norwich, Connecticut, USA - d.24/03/2020 Rheinfelden, Germany) was a pioneering performer and one of the most esteemed modern scholars of the natural trumpet. His research, editions, articles, dictionary entries, and books are indispensable to any student of the trumpet or natural trumpet. His translations of Bendinelli, Fantini and Altenburg’s treatises,

Last year I had the honour of playing the Last Post at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. One year on, I spent the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month listening to the silence on the radio on route to Birmingham Airport. The airport maintained a similar silence on account of travel restrictions; just a few passengers presented for the Frankfurt flight. As I waited to board I thought about

I especially missed Germany during lockdown, not just because of the cancelled festivals I had been looking forward to in Göttingen (Handel), Halle (Handel) and Bonn (Beethoven), but because I just love spending time in Germany. It was with great pleasure that Solomon's Knot could visit Hamburg for a concert at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg on Monday 26th October 2020, returning to a programme established

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

Handel’s Agrippina [HWV 6] was the focus for Christophe Rousset’s Les Talens Lyriques at the beginning of June 2019, with performances in the Klangvocal Festival in Dortmund on Saturday 8th June 2019 and in the Halle Händel Festspiele on Monday 10th June 2019. Rehearsals began in Paris and the group worked to familiarise itself with this long (circa 4-hour) and intricate opera. The ensemble rehearsed

There is no doubt that the Festspiel Orchester Göttingen (FOG), the resident orchestra at the Göttingen International Händel Festival, is very special to all of us who play in it. The overriding ethos within the orchestra is often nothing short of euphoric and the Göttingen International Händel Festival is musically, socially and culturally one of the highlights of my working year. I feel

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

Celebrating 333 years since the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach, the Director of Music at the St. Marien Kirche in Rendsburg (Volker Linhardt) invited Russell Gilmour, William Russell and Gareth Hoddinott (listed on the posters as ‘Trompetenensemble Russell Gilmour (London)') to perform with the Kantatenchor St. Marien Rendsburg and Members of the Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert entitled

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’

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

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 to become

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

The Evangelische Chorgemeinschaft an der Saar and Le Concert Lorrain invited me to perform in their New Year Concert, at the Congreßhalle in Saarbrücken. It took place on the Saturday 7th of January 2017. The group, directed by Georg Grün, performed Handel’s ‘Messiah’ with notable soloists from the UK and Germany.The trumpet section consisted of Russell Gilmour (1st trumpet) and William Russell

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,

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