Bach - B Minor Mass - York

11 December 2021, 22:00

I will always remember the performance of Handel's Israel in Egypt in York Minster on the 11th March 2020, with the Yorkshire Bach Choir. That performance would be my last for 172 days. So, it was with great delight to be back in York and – thankfully – in front of a live audience in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall at York University. (I had visited York with Spiritato for a recorded performance in December 2020, as well).

Nick Wright and I travelled together by car, and we arrived in York quite early. We parked in the vicinity of the National Centre for Early Music, ready for a quick look around York city centre. We noticed that some colleagues, including the cornettist Gawain Glenton, were performing in a lunchtime recital so we popped in to say hello before having a look around York. It was great to catch up. York was busy with Christmas shoppers and there was a fantastic atmosphere. After a quick bite to eat, we headed up to Heslingden to rehearse.

I played first trumpet in Bach's B Minor Mass, with Nick Wright on 2nd, George Parnaby on 3rd and Rosie Toll on timps. Peter Seymour directed from the harpsichord, and had gathered his excellent orchestra – the Yorkshire Bach Soloists – the Yorkshire Bach Choir, and soloists Hannah Ely (who stood in at short notice for Bethany Seymour), Helen Charlston (mezzo), Matthew Vernon-Long (tenor) and Jonny Hereford (bass) – with whom Richard Bayliss (horn) played a fantastic Quoniam alongside bassoonists Will Gough and Tristan Lambert. There was also excellent oboe playing from Angelika Stangl, Cherry Forbes and Tony Robson. There was an emotional end to the concert, with a palpable sense of achievement at having been able to perform in some semblance of normality.

I drove back to Bedford that night. The next day I bumped in to one of the soloists on the 16:31 Eurostar, on our way to separate projects in Paris!

Russell Gilmour

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