As strong geomagnetic activity caused the aurora borealis to show itself over much of Britain, the Aurora Orchestra gave six colourful and mesmerising performances of Beethoven’s third (‘Eroica’) symphony for audiences in France and southeast England. We performed the symphony from memory at the Apex in Bury St. Edmunds (7 May), the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London (8 May), Snape Maltings in Suffolk

I enjoyed an action-packed week with the Aurora Orchestra and their conductor, Nicholas Collon, in the week beginning 20th March 2023. We performed Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony from memory six times in several different venues and settings in England and Germany. It was a pleasure to revisit this symphony, having memorised it for performances, including at the BBC Proms, in 2022.After two days of rehearsals

I had an enjoyable morning on Monday 17th October 2022 working with the Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings, and students of the Royal Academy of Music.Maggie Faultless introduced the morning class. She called it a laboratory—a chance for everyone to experiment and ask questions. Representatives from the Academy of Ancient Music explained several interesting concepts that arose as we studied

It was a great pleasure to revisit Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique after the thrilling performances, including at the BBC Proms, in 2019. Our first performance in 2022—again, memorised— took place at 18:00 on Saturday 17th September 2022 at the Telekom Forum in Bonn. The performance was live-streamed to YouTube.We also played Beethoven's Triple Concerto (Op. 56) in the first half of the

The last time I performed at the BBC Proms with the Aurora Orchestra was in 2020—in the midst of the pandemic. Back then, we played Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 to a remote audience. This year was thankfully a stark contrast: it was great to experience the electrifying ambiance of a packed Royal Albert Hall once again, and it was a privilege to perform in the Proms in the BBC’s centenary year. Full

‘Until about the first third of the nineteenth century, audiences considered themselves in charge of the event. They paid attention and listened as they pleased. […] Performers had to win their audience’s attention before they could win them over.’ – Burgess, Geoffrey – 'The Pathetick Musician' – Oxford University Press (2016) – § '9: To Kindle the Heart: Engagement in Performance' The

The Aurora Orchestra’s performance of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony was socially distanced and performed without an audience at the 2020 BBC Proms, so it was with great pleasure that we were able to revisit this symphony, to perform it (again from memory) to capacity audiences in Nottinghamshire, London, and Suffolk. The first three performances – at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham (Wednesday

Now that I have had both vaccinations, and France has moved to the UK’s amber list (and vice versa), travel has become significantly more straightforward. Having had the vaccine I did not have to quarantine upon arrival in France, nor did I have to quarantine when I returned to the UK. There were still passenger locator forms, declarations from high incidence areas, an antigenic test to be undertaken,

It is difficult to put into words how it feels to once again, after this long interval, perform live music with an orchestra. I’ve missed the explorative sounds, the thrill of a challenge, the deeply immersive concentration in performance, the organic progression of a project, the collective pursuit of excellence, the feeling of belonging, the extraordinary characters, the excitement, the unexpected

Three Manx trumpet players performed in two consecutive BBC Proms concerts (in socially-distanced orchestras with no audience present) at the Royal Albert Hall in September 2020. Despite the shortening of this year’s Proms season, Manx trumpeters were key players at the world’s biggest classical music festival. Jason Evans took centre stage to perform the strongly-featured trumpet part in

Performing Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique with the Aurora Orchestra was one of the most enjoyable projects I participated in last year. It was great to return to play with the orchestra in February 2020 for music by Beethoven and Mozart. The orchestra rehearsed Beethoven’s Symphony No.1 in C [Op.21] on Wednesday 5th February 2020 at Morley College in London. We regrouped at London’s Heathrow

I performed with the orchestra Musicians of London and the Goldsmiths Choral Union, under their conductor Brian Wright on Monday 15th April 2019. The ensemble performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis [Op. 123] in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at London’s Southbank Centre. I played first natural trumpet in the section with Nick Wright on second trumpet. Nick had taken on the daunting task of fixing this