Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - Aurora Orchestra - Royal Festival Hall - London, Festspielhaus Bregenz, Elbphilharmonie - Hamburg, De Singel - Antwerp, National Concert Hall - Dublin & Warwick Arts Centre

7 October 2022, 21:00
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 memorised performances.

This tour was a fantastic reminder that there is so much more to the Aurora Orchestra than the incredible spectacle that is witnessed on stage: there is also a fantastic community and atmosphere backstage. When a project is as musically fulfilling and well-organised as this, there is every reason to smile: and every single player can look beyond each early morning start in pursuit of another thrilling performance. It is so refreshing to be around these likeminded, happy, exceptional and energetic souls, and to perform under the ever-inspiring conductor Nicholas Collon.

It was great to revisit Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique after the excellent performances in 2019. Although there were many new faces in the orchestra, our line up in the high brass was much the same as before, with myself (Russell Gilmour) and Imogen Whitehead playing the natural trumpet parts. Thomas Nielsen joined us on first cornet and Simon Cox played second cornet. It was a lovely extended section to play with, and Tom played the featured cornet part in the second movement of the Berlioz incredibly beautifully: he also played the trumpet parts in Thomas Adès’ Three Studies from Couperin and in Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G. 

After our performance at the Bonn BeethovenFest on 17th September 2022, we subsequently performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Festspielhaus in Bregenz, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, de Singel in Antwerp, National Concert Hall in Dublin and Warwick Arts Centre.

The Royal Festival Hall performance was the first performance of the Aurora Orchestra’s residency at the Southbank Centre—with Mathew Baynton as Berlioz, and many of us carrying model houses to depict the Parisian scenes he described. The performance also featured disco balls, fireflies, the bassoon section, and masks! The standing ovation and roar of the audience was music to my ears—a very welcome contrast to lockdown!

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We travelled to Bregenz in Austria (via Zürich in Switzerland) on Thursday 29th September and gave two performances on the same evening in the Festspielhaus, just metres from Lake Constance (Bodensee). The concert also featured Thomas Adès’ Three Studies from Couperin.

The next day, we had the great pleasure of performing in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. This state-of-the-art concert hall, built on top of a pre-existing brick warehouse, is right in the middle of the river Elbe. A wavy sail-like glass structure sits on top of the warehouse, and it is the tallest inhabited building in Hamburg. The venue cost €866 million euros to complete and it is, almost literally, a flagship. The concert we gave was among the most memorable of the whole project, and the standing ovation we received was immediate and unanimous! In addition to the Adès, the first half of the concert featured Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, performed by Alexandre Tharaud. As an encore, we played the end of Symphonie Fantastique with players spaced all around the Grand Hall. 

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Friday 30th September took us to Antwerp, where we performed in de Singel. The programme was the same as the Hamburg programme, and I felt the concert was just as exciting!

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After a few days to recover, we traveled to Dublin and performed in the National Concert Hall. Tom Poster was the piano soloist in the Ravel, and Geoffrey Paterson conducted (the latter covering for illness): both did a fantastic job! It was great to be back in Dublin. After the concert we managed to visit Temple Bar and enjoy the atmosphere, and the Guinness! 


The final concert of the project took place at Warwick Arts Centre. A few of us had what I can only describe as early onset post-tour blues, but nevertheless we gave the programme a great final outing, and an excellent send-off! This was Aurora Orchestra's first tour since before the pandemic: our last tour must have been our trip to Gstaad in February 2020. This really is a remarkable orchestra and organisation. Well done to all who made these performances happen!

We had a great brass section, comprising:
Back row (L-R): Huw Evans, Benny Vernon, Joe Arnold, Sasha Koushk-Jalali & Stuart Beard
Front row (L-R): Simon Cox, Thomas Nielsen, Russell Gilmour & Imogen Whitehead
Horns (not pictured): Annemarie Federle, Hugh Sisley, Andrew Budden & Richard Stroud

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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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