Bach - B Minor Mass - St. James’s Piccadilly - Dulwich Chamber Choir
9 October 2021, 21:00I performed Bach’s B Minor Mass [BWV 232] at St. James’s Piccadilly in London on Saturday 9th October 2021. The performance was directed by Richard Mayo and was led by Lesley Larkum (violin); singers stepped forward from the choir to sing the solo and duet arias.

The brass section played, as did the rest of the orchestra (the English Heritage Chamber Orchestra), on modern instruments. I played first trumpet and it was wonderful to play with two of my former Royal College of Music contemporaries, Sam Kinrade and Ryan Linham. They made for an excellent section, and it was great to spend the day with them. Richard Bayliss played a stylish and flawless Quoniam on the horn, and it was great to see him again after our epic 2018 trip to Southeast Asia. Richard had already performed Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet at Covent Garden that morning.
Everything seemed to be happening in London today. London’s Piccadilly was even busier than I remember from before the pandemic. Things seemed almost back to ‘normal’. This performance felt like another milestone in the Covid recovery process; it was wonderful to hear a choral society making music again (this was the Dulwich Chamber Choir). It is the first time I have played with a choral society since before the pandemic, when the English Chamber Choir held a concert for Crispian Steele-Perkins’ 75th birthday at St. James’s Piccadilly on 22nd February 2020.
Olivia Clark (soprano) stepped forward from the choir to sing the duet ‘Et in unum Dominum’ with the alto Karen O’Keeffe. Olivia remembered me from our time together in St Andrews in 2015, and it was lovely to see her again, and to be reminded of that project.
It was great to play Bach’s B Minor Mass again, and I was glad of an afternoon and evening away from my computer – where I am spending a lot of time writing, editing, and seeking image permissions for my upcoming book about the natural trumpet.
The brass section played, as did the rest of the orchestra (the English Heritage Chamber Orchestra), on modern instruments. I played first trumpet and it was wonderful to play with two of my former Royal College of Music contemporaries, Sam Kinrade and Ryan Linham. They made for an excellent section, and it was great to spend the day with them. Richard Bayliss played a stylish and flawless Quoniam on the horn, and it was great to see him again after our epic 2018 trip to Southeast Asia. Richard had already performed Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet at Covent Garden that morning.
Everything seemed to be happening in London today. London’s Piccadilly was even busier than I remember from before the pandemic. Things seemed almost back to ‘normal’. This performance felt like another milestone in the Covid recovery process; it was wonderful to hear a choral society making music again (this was the Dulwich Chamber Choir). It is the first time I have played with a choral society since before the pandemic, when the English Chamber Choir held a concert for Crispian Steele-Perkins’ 75th birthday at St. James’s Piccadilly on 22nd February 2020.
Olivia Clark (soprano) stepped forward from the choir to sing the duet ‘Et in unum Dominum’ with the alto Karen O’Keeffe. Olivia remembered me from our time together in St Andrews in 2015, and it was lovely to see her again, and to be reminded of that project.
It was great to play Bach’s B Minor Mass again, and I was glad of an afternoon and evening away from my computer – where I am spending a lot of time writing, editing, and seeking image permissions for my upcoming book about the natural trumpet.
Russell Gilmour

writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.
Russell Gilmour's innovative new book, 'Just' Natural Trumpet, is now available: please click here for more information.
Aurora Orchestra
Bach
Baroque
Baroque Style
BBC Proms
Beethoven
Berlioz
Biber
Brandenburg
Brandenburg Baroque Soloists
Brass Instrument Making
Broadcast
Chronicles
Classical
Concert
Cornetto
Education Outreach
English Slide Trumpet
Engraving
Festival
France
Germany
Gorczycki
Guts and Glory
Göttingen Handel Festival
Handel
Haydn
Historic Royal Palaces
Horn
Instrument
Instrument Making
Interview
Isle of Man
Keyed Trumpet
Kuhnau
Le Concert Lorrain
Lecture
Leipzig
Les Talens Lyriques
London
Masterclass
Modern Trumpet
Monteverdi
Mozart
Museum
Music
Natural Trumpet
Natural Trumpet Courses
OAE
OAEducation
Opera
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
Oxford
Period Costume
Photography
Poland
Purcell
Radio Broadcast
Recording
Renaisannce
Review
Royal Academy of Music
Royal Society of Musicians
Schelle
Schütz
Shakespeare
Solomon's Knot
Spain
Spiritato!
St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Switzerland
Taverner Consort
Teaching
Telemann
The English Concert
The Netherlands
The Section
Tour
Touring
Toyota Classics Tour 2018
Travel
Trumpet
Trumpet and Organ
Venice
Ventless
Vivaldi
Vox Luminis
Wedding
Wigmore Hall
Workshop
Wrocław Baroque Orchestra
York
Zelenka
Zugtrompete
‘Just’ Natural Trumpet
Bach
Baroque
Baroque Style
BBC Proms
Beethoven
Berlioz
Biber
Brandenburg
Brandenburg Baroque Soloists
Brass Instrument Making
Broadcast
Chronicles
Classical
Concert
Cornetto
Education Outreach
English Slide Trumpet
Engraving
Festival
France
Germany
Gorczycki
Guts and Glory
Göttingen Handel Festival
Handel
Haydn
Historic Royal Palaces
Horn
Instrument
Instrument Making
Interview
Isle of Man
Keyed Trumpet
Kuhnau
Le Concert Lorrain
Lecture
Leipzig
Les Talens Lyriques
London
Masterclass
Modern Trumpet
Monteverdi
Mozart
Museum
Music
Natural Trumpet
Natural Trumpet Courses
OAE
OAEducation
Opera
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
Oxford
Period Costume
Photography
Poland
Purcell
Radio Broadcast
Recording
Renaisannce
Review
Royal Academy of Music
Royal Society of Musicians
Schelle
Schütz
Shakespeare
Solomon's Knot
Spain
Spiritato!
St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Switzerland
Taverner Consort
Teaching
Telemann
The English Concert
The Netherlands
The Section
Tour
Touring
Toyota Classics Tour 2018
Travel
Trumpet
Trumpet and Organ
Venice
Ventless
Vivaldi
Vox Luminis
Wedding
Wigmore Hall
Workshop
Wrocław Baroque Orchestra
York
Zelenka
Zugtrompete
‘Just’ Natural Trumpet