Handel - Messiah - Northampton Cathedral

I returned to Northampton Cathedral on Friday 20th December 2019 to play first trumpet in ‘Mr. Handel’s Messiah’ with the choir and orchestra of Fiori Musicali, under the direction of Penelope Rapson. Katy Hill (soprano), Robert Cross (countertenor), Edmund Hastings (tenor) and James Birchall (Bass) were the soloists for this year’s performance, and I played The Trumpet Shall Sound with James
Read more ...

Bach - Cantatas 62, 63, 110 & 243 - Luxembourg & Budapest

When I was a student at the Royal College of Music I proposed a series of classes (in 2011) that would be organised and directed by postgraduate students from the Historical Performance department. Since I had proposed the idea, I had the job of arranging the inaugural class and I could choose the repertoire myself. I chose Johann Sebastian Bach’s ‘Christen, ätzet diesen Tag’ [BWV 63], originally
Read more ...

Natural Trumpet Masterclass - Berkshire Maestros

I devised and presented an early brass workshop for the students of Berkshire Maestros in Reading. The class was entitled 'The Evolution of the Trumpet Ensemble' and it featured trumpet ensemble music (spanning c.400 years) by Thomsen, Bendinelli, Fantini, Monteverdi, C. P. E. Bach, Altenburg, Dauverné and Andrzej Panufnik. I provided nine natural trumpets in D at A=415Hz for the students to play,
Read more ...

Handel - Messiah - Exeter Cathedral

After Grand Baroque IV last week, I returned to Exeter Cathedral on Sunday 8th December 2019 to perform Handel’s Messiah with Devon Baroque and the Exeter Cathedral Choir, under the direction of Timothy Noon.  The 2:30pm performance was packed with people, eager to hear this Advent favourite. I played first trumpet in Devon Baroque led by Persephone Gibbs (violin) and it was great to see
Read more ...

Handel - Coronation Anthems & Bach Cantata 51 - Cambridge

St John’s Voices performed a varied programme on Saturday 7th December 2019 in the resplendent College Chapel at St. John’s College in Cambridge. I played first trumpet in the Cambridge Baroque Camerata, led by Jane Gordon (violin) and conducted by Graham Walker, with fellow trumpet players Will Russell (second trumpet) and Gareth Hoddinott (third trumpet) in the section. The performance began
Read more ...

Brandenburg Singers - Traditional Christmas Concert

I performed in the Brandenburg Traditional Christmas Concert at St. James's Sussex Gardens (Paddington) at 2pm on Tuesday 3rd December 2019. Bob Porter conducted the Brandenburg Singers who were accompanied by Rupert Jeffcoat on the organ. The performance began with Once in Royal David's City, followed by: See Amid the Winter's Snow, In the Bleak Midwinter (Darke), The Shepherd's Farewell, Angels
Read more ...

Handel - Messiah - Manchester Cathedral

I played first trumpet in Handel's Messiah in Manchester Cathedral on Saturday 30th November 2019. The performance featured the Manchester Cathedral Choir and Manchester Baroque, conducted by Christopher Stokes. It was great to perform Handel's Messiah in Manchester Cathedral again. I did this annual performance at Manchester Cathedral (for a few years running) about 10 and 11 years ago! View this
Read more ...

Grand Baroque IV - Exeter Cathedral

Blackdowns Early Music Projects presented a concert entitled 'Grand Baroque IV' at Exeter Cathedral on Friday 29th November 2019. JanJoost van Elburg conducted the Blackdowns Early Music Projects Choir, the Monteverdi String Band, the English Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble and a team of natural trumpets and drums, played by Russell Gilmour, Will Russell and Scott Bywater. The two trumpet players opened
Read more ...

Handel - Messiah - Walthamstow

I performed Handel's Messiah on Sunday 24th November 2019 at St. Barnabas Church in Walthamstow, as part of the St. Barnabas Sunday Concerts series. The Waltham Forest Community Choir performed with an excellent freelance orchestra, made up of several Walthamstow-based professional musicians. Tom Randle conducted the performance. The capacity audience at St. Barnabas Church was encouraged to sing
Read more ...

Haydn - Creation - Canterbury Cathedral

I played first trumpet with the Harmonious Society of Tickle Fiddle Gentlemen (a group that takes its name from Ned Ward's (1667 - 1731) description of the musicians who played at one of the world's first series of public concerts in London) for a performance of Haydn's Creation in Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday 16th November 2019. The orchestra was directed by David Newsholme and featured the Girls
Read more ...

Last Post - St. Martin-in-the-Fields

I performed the Last Post and Rouse in the Eucharist for Remembrance Sunday at St. Martin-in-the-Fields on the morning of Sunday 10th November 2019. I also played Malcolm Archer's 'In War, Resolution' (2010) and Ralph Vaughan Williams' motet 'Lord, Thou hast been our refuge' (1921) with the Choir of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, directed by Tom Williams and accompanied by Andrew Earis on the organ. I
Read more ...

Lloyd Webber - Reqiuem - Buckden

I performed Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem with the Eagle Choir at St Mary's Church in Buckden, Cambridgeshire on Saturday 9th November 2019. The concert raised funds for the Royal British Legion and it featured fantastic solos from Eve McGrath (soprano), Fraser Morgan (treble) and Rhys Bowden (tenor). Harry Bagnall conducted and had arranged the piece to suit the smaller orchestral forces of organ,
Read more ...

Vivaldi & Bach - St. Martin-in-the-Fields

I performed three works with obligato trumpet parts in a candlelit concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Friday 8th November 2019. I had been asked to perform on the piccolo trumpet, so I played Handel's Let the Bright Seraphim from Samson [HWV 57] and Henry Purcell's Overture from the Indian Queen [Z. 630] on a piccolo trumpet in A by Scherzer, and Bach's 'Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen' [BWV 51]
Read more ...

The English Concert - Alison Balsom in Gabriel: An Entertainment with Trumpet

Alison Balsom: “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen - welcome to England at the end of the seventeenth century. Don’t panic. I’m not here to talk. I have this (she holds the trumpet). And, you know, some people hear in this only one thing - a call to arms, a military fanfare, the triumphant crow of a proud and patriotic soldier. But in the 1680s and 90s, Henry Purcell, a composer who means the whole
Read more ...

Bach - B Minor Mass - Vox Luminis - Festival de Lanvellec et du Trégor

Vox Luminis performed Bach's B Minor Mass at the Carré Magique in Lannion in Brittany on Sunday 6th October 2019. Myself, Will Russell and Katie Hodges (trumpeters) travelled from the UK entirely by rail, changing trains in Paris and Plouaret Trégor. The orchestra and choir of Vox Luminis arrived in Lannion to begin rehearsals on Friday 4th October. This would be our first time playing the B Minor
Read more ...

Handel - Agrippina - Les Talens Lyriques - Enescu Festival, Bucharest

The Georges Enescu Festival welcomed Les Talens Lyriques to perform Handel’s Giulio Cesare [HWV 17] on the 20th September 2019 and Handel’s Agrippina [HWV 6] on the 21st September 2019. These consecutive late night performances took place at the Romanian Athenaeum in the Romanian capital city of Bucharest. This project began with rehearsals in Paris at one of Les Talens Lyriques’ usual Montmartre
Read more ...

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - Aurora Orchestra

Ping. An email notification from the Aurora Orchestra: “Hi Russell, Is there a chance you might be available and willing to play 1st natural trumpet for this memorised Berlioz project, including at the BBC Proms? You’d just be needed for Symphonie Fantastique.”  There followed a moment of hesitance and doubt, quickly overridden by a feeling of ‘if others can do it, I can do it’. Four
Read more ...

Handel - Israel in Egypt - Southwell Music Festival

Handel wrote two oratorios featuring trombones in his brass section; one is Saul [HWV 53], which I had the great pleasure of playing earlier this year at the Göttingen Händel Festival and the other is Israel in Egypt [HWV 54], which was the focus of Saturday night’s concert at the Southwell Music Festival. The Festival Baroque Sinfonia and Festival Voices joined forces under Marcus
Read more ...

Handel - Ode for St Cecelia’s Day - Vox Luminis - Vézelay

I performed with Vox Luminis in the 11th century Romanesque Basilica of St Magdalene in Vézelay, a UNESCO world heritage site, around 230km southeast of Paris in the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The choir and orchestra of Vox Luminis gave a concert at 21:00 on Thursday 22nd August 2019 as part of La Cité de la Voix Festival in Vézelay. The group performed three works by George Frideric
Read more ...

Bach - Prom 38 - Solomon’s Knot - BBC Proms - Royal Albert Hall

After I played in the BBC Proms for the first time in September 2016 I wrote about the inspiring influence of being allowed to stay up late as a child to watch the Last Night of the Proms - broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall. Later in life, as a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music, the area around the Royal Albert Hall became very familiar. On occasion, I would have morning rehearsals
Read more ...

Russell Gilmour
Russell Gilmour Blog
writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.