Göttingen International Handel Festival - 2018

It was wonderful to return to the Göttingen International Handel Festival in 2018. Performing in this festival is one of the musical highlights of my year. The director and players of the FestspielOrchester Göttingen (FOG) are infectiously-energetic musicians; performing in their element. Thriving on each others’ energy, these remarkable and characterful musicians creatively achieve incredible
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Purcell - King Arthur - Gabrieli Consort & Players - Groningen & Hamburg

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’
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Monteverdi - Vespers - The Torbay Singers

I first encountered The Torbay Singers prior to their performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on Saturday 7th December 2013 at St Matthias’ Church in Torquay. Although I did write occasional blog articles back then, I had a tendency only to do so after long tours and even then I kept only the briefest of notes as an aide-memoire. In July 2013, for example, I wrote just seventy words after making
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Valletta International Baroque Ensemble - Music at the Court of Kroměříž

The Teatru Manoel presented a concert on the occasion of the European Day of Early Music (Wednesday 21st March 2018) at the Basilica of St. Dominic in the European Capital of Culture 2018: Valletta. Valletta is on the island of Malta in the Maltese Archipelago. I have been very fortunate to visit on two previous occasions (January 2013 and January 2015). It was great to return two subsequent times
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Bach - B Minor Mass - Eton College

I played first trumpet in Bach's B Minor Mass with the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists on Saturday 17th March 2018. The performance, featuring The Windsor and Eton Choral Society and soloists: Gemma Summerfield (soprano), Tim Travers-Brown (countertenor), Tom Raskin (tenor) and Alex Ashworth (baritone) took place in the School Hall at Eton College. Founded in 1837, the Windsor and Eton Choral Society
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Schubert - Mass in G [D. 167] - Trinity College Cambridge - Stephen Layton

I performed in an Orchestral Mass at Trinity College Cambridge at 6:15pm on Sunday 11th of March 2018 (The Fourth Sunday of Lent). The mass setting by Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) was performed by The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge and a small orchestral ensemble (comprising a string quintet, chamber organ, two natural trumpets and timpani). The performance was conducted by the brilliant Stephen
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Gluck - Orphée et Eurydice - Les Talens Lyriques - Théâtre du Capitole - Toulouse

Capital of the Occitanie region and the fourth largest city in France, Toulouse is situated on the River Garonne and known as la Ville Rose. Between Saturday 17th and Sunday 25th of February 2018 the Pink City was home to the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques, who rehearsed and gave performances of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s 1774 Paris version of Orphée et Eurydice at the Théâtre du Capitole. Christophe
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Vox Luminis - King Arthur - Recording - Antwerp

Performing Purcell’s King Arthur at Snape Maltings with Vox Luminis was one of my highlights of 2017, so it was with great pleasure that I got the opportunity to visit Belgium for two days of recording with Vox Luminis. The ensemble was recording King Arthur at AMUZ (Augustinus Muziekcentrum) in the centre of Antwerp. Arriving in Antwerp is certainly an impressive affair; Antwerpen-Centraal
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Handel - Messiah - Worcester College, Oxford

I played first natural trumpet (with the excellent Will Russell on second) in Handel’s Messiah on Saturday 20th January 2018 in the ornate Chapel of Worcester College, Oxford. The performance was directed by Thomas Allery as part of the Epiphanytide Festival. It featured the magnificent Worcester College chapel choirs, the period instrument ensemble 1714* and soloists Rebecca Silverman (Soprano),
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Tudor Music - Tower of London - January 2018

I performed on the cornetto and natural trumpet for a murder mystery corporate function at the Tower of London on Thursday 11th January 2018.Performing firstly in the White Tower and later in the New Armouries, Sam Goble, Russell Gilmour, Nick Perry and Jamie Akers performed Tudor Music, wearing appropriate costume (provided), upon cornetti, natural trumpets, pipes, recorder, curtal, guitar, hurdy
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Handel - Messiah - Northampton Cathedral - Fiori Musicali

I played first natural trumpet for a performance entitled ‘Mr Handel’s Messiah’. The performance was given by Penelope Rapson and the choir and orchestra of Fiori Musicali and it took place in Northampton Cathedral on Friday 22nd of December 2017.The performance featured solo performances from: Malu Lin Swayne (Violin), Eloise Irving (Soprano), Robert Cross (Counter-tenor), Edmund Hastings (Tenor),
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Bach - Magnificat - Voces8

It was great to play with Voces8 again after the successful Messiah performance last year. On Wednesday 20th December 2017 the group performed Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme [BWV 140], three carols, and Bach’s Magnificat in D [BWV 243], at Voces8’s home - the (surprisingly reverberant) Gresham Centre. The performance was ably conducted by Voces8's Artistic Director, Barnaby Smith. Final
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Bach - B Minor Mass - Solomon’s Knot - Nottingham & St. John’s Smith Square

Following memorable performances in December 2016 (Shoreditch Town Hall) and in July 2017 (Ulverston), Solomon’s Knot gave two subsequent performances of J. S. Bach’s B Minor Mass in December 2017; the first in Nottingham and the second at St. John’s Smith Square, London. The following video was filmed at Shoreditch Town Hall (December 2016) and published in advance of the ​Nottingham &
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Handel - Messiah - Brangwyn Hall, Swansea

Following a memorable Messiah performance in December 2014, I returned to Brangwyn Hall in Swansea on Sunday 17th of December 2017 to perform another rendition of this, Handel’s most renowned oratorio, with the Swansea Bach Choir - under the direction of Greg Hallam, with the orchestra Musica Poetica London. The impressive decorative panels adorning Brangwyn Hall, completed by the Belgian-born Sir
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Bach - Christmas Oratorio & Handel - Foundling Hospital Anthem - Barts Choir - Cadogan Hall

I began playing on Friday 15th of December 2017 at 10am at Holy Trinity Church (Prince Consort Road) with an intensive B Minor Mass rehearsal with Solomon’s Knot ahead of their performances in Nottingham (16th Dec) and at St. John’s Smith Square (18th Dec). After this rehearsal, I walked to Cadogan Hall and took part in an afternoon rehearsal and evening performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio
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Lully - Alceste - Les Talens Lyriques - Opéra Royal de Versailles

Just as a distinctive smell can immediately remind you of a time, of a place, or of people in your life - so too can receiving a finished copy of a CD that you were involved with. Listening back is always an exciting, sensory-rich moment, one that gives an opportunity to reminisce about the process of capturing that recording. It gives the ability to remember the music after some time away from it
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Telemann - Der Tag des Gerichts - Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century - Tour 142 - Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

Living a life as a touring musician, it is certainly a frequent occurrence to wake up and wonder exactly where you are. Sometimes it takes just a few moments to realise, as you recall your movements of the previous day. On other occasions a blandly corporate hotel room (while offering predictability and consistency) gives little indication of whether you are in London, Paris, Vancouver or Sydney. Even
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Handel - Messiah - Snape Maltings

I played first trumpet with the Suffolk Baroque Players for Aldeburgh Music Club Choir’s performance of Handel’s Messiah, which was conducted by Edmond Fivet CBE. The concert took place on Saturday 18th of November 2017 in the wonderful venue of Snape Maltings at 7pm. The soloists were Zöe Bonner (Soprano), Amy Lyddon (Mezzo-Soprano), Christopher Bowen (Tenor) and Alex Ashworth (Bass). I performed
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Vivaldi - Gloria - Dunedin Consort - Edinburgh

Incredibly, it has been eight years since I last visited Edinburgh. Back in July 2009, I visited the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Glasgow) and the Musical Instrument Museums Edinburgh (located at the Reid Concert Hall and St Cecilia's Hall). I visited these places as part of the ‘BRaSS’ (Brass Research and Scholarship in Scotland) Conference and spent much of the
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Handel - Zadok the Priest, Dettingen Te Deum, Music for the Royal Fireworks, Messiah (Part 3) - Chichester

After a memorable concert in November 2016 (when Will Russell and I performed Vivaldi’s ‘Concerto for two trumpets in C’) in St. George’s Church in Chichester, we were invited by Andrew Naylor - musical director of Chichester Voices - to return for their 2017 concert, entitled ‘Messiah with Fireworks’. We returned to Chichester on Saturday 4th of November with several additions to our trumpet
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Russell Gilmour
Russell Gilmour Blog
writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.