Bach - Christmas Oratorio - SJE Arts, Oxford & St James Piccadilly, London

I performed Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Oxford Bach Soloists at SJE Arts in Oxford on Friday 3 January 2025 and at St James Piccadilly in London on Saturday 4 January 2025. The performance, featuring parts I, IV, and VI of the Christmas Oratorio, was directed by Steven Grahl and featured the soloists Nick Pritchard (Evangelist), Emilia Bertolini (soprano), Stephanie Franklin (alto), Thomas
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Bach & Mozart - Academy of Ancient Music - Royal Northern College of Music

I coached students of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester from 18–21 June 2024 as part of the Academy of Ancient Music's AAMplify initiative. I taught with Joe Crouch (cello) and (fellow RNCM alumni) Mark Baigent (oboe). I played first trumpet alongside the RNCM students in a performance of Bach’s Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11), directed by Alexander Rebetge,
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Cimarosa - L’Olimpiade - Les Talens Lyriques - Vienna

I performed Domenico Cimarosa’s L’Olimpiade (1784) with Christophe Rousset’s Les Talens Lyriques in Halle E of the Theater an der Wien in Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier on Sunday 31 March 2024. This concert performance of the opera took place just a few days before our staged opera production began—we will be giving six performances of Salieri’s opera Cublai gran kan de' Tartari (1788) in Halle
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Bach - BWV 50, 130, 19, and 149 - Oxford Bach Soloists

I played third trumpet in Bach’s cantatas Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft [BWV 50], Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir [BWV 130], Es erhub sich ein Streit [BWV 19] and Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg [BWV 149] at New College in Oxford on Sunday 1st October 2023. These festive cantatas were composed between 1724 and 1729 for the Feast of the Archangel Michael. I performed exactly this programme
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Gluck - Orfeo Ed Euriduce - Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

After a wonderful Handel Festival in Göttingen, I returned home for just a few days before returning to Germany with a case full of cornetti and trumpets. I joined the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, under the conductor René Jacobs, for their rehearsals and performances of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo Ed Euriduce in June 2023. We began with rehearsals in the beautiful city of Freiburg, in
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Handel - Messiah - The Anvil Basingstoke

I performed Handel’s Messiah at The Anvil in Basingstoke with the Basingstoke Choral Society on Sunday 28th November 2022. I played first trumpet in the orchestra, which was led by Ellen Bundy (violin) and conducted by David Gibson. Will Russell and Ben Fullbrook played second trumpet, and timpani respectively. I last performed Messiah with this choral society on Sunday 15th November 2015.Believe
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Handel - Messiah - The Apex, Bury St Edmunds

I played first trumpet in a performance of Handel's Messiah which took place at the Apex in Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk on Saturday 12th November 2022. The sold-out performance featured Suffolk Baroque Players and the Bury Bach Choir under guest conductor Tom Appleton. The Apex is a gorgeous hall to play in. The Bury Bach Choir is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. I had the pleasure of
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Bach - B Minor Mass - Victoria Theatre - Halifax

I was extremely lucky, on Sunday 30th October 2022, to be able to fill in for an indisposed trumpet player in a B minor mass at the Victoria Theatre in Halifax. At 5pm I finished another all-Bach performance in Leeds, and by 5:40pm I was in Halifax, ready for a 6:30pm B minor mass. As a period instrument specialist, this basically never happens—what luck! The performance featured the Halifax Choral
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Bach - Cantatas - Leeds Baroque

I performed with Leeds Baroque under the direction of Peter Holman on Sunday 30th October 2022 at the  Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, part of the School of Music of the University of Leeds. The programme featured three works with kettledrums, as the concert celebrated the recent purchase of Leeds Baroque's own timpani. The programme also featured a contrasting cantata (without trumpets and
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Bach - Magnificat - English Chamber Choir

Just before the pandemic, I performed with the English Chamber Choir in a performance to celebrate the 75th birthday of the trumpeter Crispian Steele-Perkins.On this occasion, Monday 24th October 2022, the English Chamber Choir was celebrating its own anniversary—its fiftieth—at Cadogan Hall in Sloane Square. A spokesperson from the choir explained that this choir had performed in the second concert
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Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 – Aurora Orchestra - Saffron Hall & BBC Proms

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
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Bach - B Minor Mass - Gabrieli Consort - St Bartholomew's Hospital, London

I performed Bach's B Minor Mass [BWV 232] with the Gabrieli Consort in the Great Hall at the historic St Bartholomew's Hospital in London on Thursday 8th July 2021. The hospital was founded by Rahere, a courtier of Henry I, in 1123. An astonishing 900 years later, the hospital is still caring for patients on the same site. This YouTube video explains the fascinating history of the hospital: 
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Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No.2 - Castle Ashby

July 2019 saw a personal milestone with a 10th performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major [BWV 1047] on the natural trumpet. I first performed this notorious work on the 24th June 2011 while studying historical performance at the Royal College of Music and I have subsequently performed it at Bedford School, at St. Anne’s in Kew Green in Richmond, at the Valletta Baroque Festival
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Göttingen International Handel Festival - 2019 - Saul - Hannoversche Münden

There is no doubt that the Festspiel Orchester Göttingen (FOG), the resident orchestra at the Göttingen International Händel Festival, is very special to all of us who play in it. The overriding ethos within the orchestra is often nothing short of euphoric and the Göttingen International Händel Festival is musically, socially and culturally one of the highlights of my working year. I feel
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Bach - B Minor Mass - Greenwich Old Royal Naval College Chapel

I performed Bach’s B Minor Mass [BWV 232] with the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists and the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir on Wednesday 17th April 2019. The performance was directed by Ralph Allwood MBE (who I had remembered from a previous Brandenburg Baroque Soloists performance at Wellington College in August 2017). The Old Royal Naval College Chapel is a magnificent building
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Beethoven - Missa Solemnis - Queen Elizabeth Hall

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
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Mozart - C Minor Mass - Musica Poetica - St. John's Smith Square

This week continued with more Mozart, this time at St. John’s Smith Square on Wednesday 3rd April 2019. Will Russell (2nd trumpet) and I (1st trumpet) played natural trumpets with Musica Poetica and the English Baroque Choir under the direction of former King’s Singer, Jeremy Jackman. The programme consisted of Biber’s Requiem in F Minor [IHB 17] and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor [K. 427], both
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Mozart Masterpieces - Brandenburg Sinfonia - Streatham Choral

On Saturday 30th March 2019 I traveled to St. Peter’s Church on Leigham Court Road in Streatham to perform Mozart’s Krönungsmesse (Coronation Mass) [K.317] and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore [K.339] with the Brandenburg Sinfonia and Streatham Choral. The well-attended concert, entitled Mozart Masterpieces, featured Ave Verum Corpus [K. 618], Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Exultate Jubilate
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Monteverdi - Vespers - Stockholm

I performed Monteverdi’s Vespers in the Swedish capital city of Stockholm on Sunday 24th March 2019. Prior to this visit I had spent only a few hours in Sweden (in Malmö, on a day trip over the railway bridge from Denmark) so I took the opportunity to extend my visit over a long weekend that tied in with the cheapest flights. This opportunity had arisen at fairly short notice and my Mum (who lives
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Mielczewski - Wrocław Baroque Ensemble - Płock & Warsaw

Andrzej Kosendiak and the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble performed music by Marcin Mielczewski in two cities alongside the Vistula river in central Poland. The first concert took place in Płock Cathedral (the Bazylika Katedralna Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny) on Saturday 2nd February 2019, and the second concert took place in the Great Hall of the Royal Castle in Warsaw on Sunday 3rd February
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Russell Gilmour
Russell Gilmour Blog
writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.

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