Playing with ‘Spiritato!’ is becoming synonymous with performing innovative programmes in interesting settings. I participated in a project which involved two performances, the first of which was on October 20th in St. John’s Smith Square in London and the second was on November 1st at Bury Court Barn, in Bentley near Farnham in Surrey. The performances were presented by St. John’s Smith Square

I played for the blessing of a marriage at the Temple Church in London on Saturday 17th of October 2015 at 2pm. The groom, Jonny Sells, is the musical director of 'Solomon's Knot' and resultantly the service was filled with musical excitement. There was an eight-piece choir from Solomon's Knot. The ensemble also included myself on trumpet and William Vann playing the magnificent organ at the Temple

On Wednesday 30th of September I performed with 'Spiritato!' in their lunchtime concert at the Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford-on-Avon. The concert, entitled 'Sound the Trumpet', included music by Purcell, Corbett, Matteis, Albrici and Francescini. It explored the links between English and Italian styles. We had performed similar programmes to this earlier this year at the Forge in Camden and

I travelled to the Thüringen region of Germany to participate in Cantus Thuringia's project; to perform and record music by Johann Peter Kellner (1705-1772). The project took place in the village of Gräfenroda, where Kellner was born and we performed in the church in which Kellner worked as the Cantor from 1732. The village of Gräfenroda is around 50 kilometres South-West of Weimar and it is set

On Saturday 19th of September, I performed with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in their 'Water Cycle' Education project. The event took place in St. Mary Brookfield church (NW5) at 6pm. The trumpet section consisted of William Russell, myself, Adrian Woodward and Adrian Bending on Timpani. We played Händel's 'Zadok the Priest' and excerpts from Purcell's 'The Fairy Queen'. Will had more

The National Forum of Music in Wrocław commissioned me to 'recreate' cornett and sackbutt parts for Marcin Mielczewski's Vesperae Dominicales. The original version of the piece has eight vocal parts, two violin parts, a dulcian part and basso continuo, though historical sources indicate that this would have been extended to include cornetts and sackbutts in a later version. A later manuscript

The Wratislavia Cantans festival, now celebrating its 50th year, has a long tradition of holding an 'Interpretation Course' for young instrumentalists and singers to perform cantatas and oratorios. The importance of this course became quickly apparent in the first ever festival, where the participants of the course had to spring into action to replace an orchestra that could not get to Wrocław in

It was an immense honour to perform in the opening concert of the new National Forum of Music (Narodowe Forum Muzyki) in Wrocław, Poland. The NFM is an incredible facility and a stunning addition to Wrocław's architectural skyline and musical culture. It will play a valuable role during Wrocław's 'European Capital of Culture' status in 2016.   The musicians of the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra

Exeter Cathedral was the venue for a concert entitled 'Grand Baroque II', organised by Blackdowns Early Music Projects. It was the sequel to their successful debut concert in 2013.The Altenburg Ensemble, consisting of Steve Bailey, Steve Burke, Steve Gilbey, myself, Katie Hodges, William Russell and guest player Jean-François Madeuf, opened the concert with a performance of Biber's Sonata for 6 trumpets

I performed Clarke's "Prince of Denmark's March" at the wedding of Karen Clarke and Paul Taylor at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford on Saturday 29th of August 2015. I performed alongside a professor of music from Oxford University who is the resident organist at Lady Margaret Hall, Dr. Nicholas Prozzillo. As well as being a fabulous day for the happy couple it was also a great excuse for me to spend time

Festival Interceltique de Lorient (FIL) was one of the highlights of summer 2015. The festival jointly featured the Isle of Man and Cornwall as host nations - in what they call the ‘Année de la Cornouailles et de l’Île de Man’. The festival ran from the 7th to the 16th of August 2015 and it incorporated a staggering number of events and cultural delights from numerous Celtic nations. The festival

I performed with 'The Parley of Instruments', directed from the harpsichord by Peter Holman, in a performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F Major (BWV 1047) in a concert entitled 'Bach's Library' which was given for the participants of the Cambridge Early Music Summer School. The concert took place at 8pm on Wednesday 5th of August 2015 at Great St. Mary's in the Market Place in the magnificent

I performed Clarke's "Prince of Denmark's March" at the Wedding of Carrie Smith and Damian King at Christ's Chapel in Dulwich, South East London. I enjoy playing this kind of processional music and on this occasion it made for a triumphant start to the wedding ceremony. I was accompanied by Alexander Ffinch, an excellent organist. He was playing the chapel's 18th Century organ, originally

The Isle of Man's folk music festival 'Yn Chruinnaght' or 'The Gathering' took place between the 15th and the 19th of July 2015. There were events happening all around the Isle of Man, with a particular focus around the festival's home in Peel, on the West coast of the island.I had been invited to play with 'Chronicles' (the trumpet and organ duo featuring myself and David Kilgallon) in St. German's

I participated in a performance of Handel’s oratorio 'Israel in Egypt’ with Twickenham Choral Society at All Saints Church in Kingston-upon-Thames. Christopher Herrick directed the choir and the Brandenburg Baroque Sinfonia. I played second trumpet to Neil Brough. The rehearsal was very well organised and it ran exactly to the timings that the director had planned - starting with full forces and

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

I performed Handel’s Messiah with Oxford Baroque on Monday 29th of June 2015 at the Church of St John the Evangelist on Iffley Road as part of the MCS Arts Festival 2015.  The orchestra accompanied singers from the Choir of Magdalen College and the performance was directed from the harpsichord by Daniel Hyde. St John the Evangelist is a beautiful venue. It has a very peaceful courtyard

One of my ambitions in life is to be able to play everything Bach wrote for the trumpet and associated instruments. This might sound like a fairly modest ambition - it’s not like I’m attempting to climb Mount Everest, win on centre court at Wimbledon or become a best-selling novelist - but you may be surprised by just how much is involved in this seemingly humble endeavour. The collected parts

Spiritato! gave a concert of a programme entitled ‘Sound the Trumpet’ on Friday 26th of June. The performance was part of the Stroud Green Festival in London which took place in Holy Trinity Church in Stroud Green. The programme itself included works by Purcell, Corbett, Fantini, Rebel, Matteis, Albrici and Franceschini. We had performed a similar programme to this earlier in the year at the Forge

I performed the Last Post and The Rouse in a morning service on Saturday 20th of June, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. The service was entitled 'A Celebration for the Descendants of Thomas Marks of London [1780-1836]'. Several of his descendants had researched the Marks family history and they had organised a gathering of all of the descendants in this central London location. People had