Occasionally in life, you come across something so incredible that you just cannot stop thinking about it. One of the most impressive things I have ever seen with my own eyes is the Basilica di San Marco in Venice (I once even had the pleasure of performing there): there are more than a million, million pieces of gold on the domes and on the ceiling, and the building was already

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

I had the pleasure of mentoring for ‘Future Talent’ at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) on Sunday 9th February 2020. The extreme weather of Storm Ciara made some of the travel arrangements a bit of a challenge. Fortunately my route to and from Manchester was largely unaffected but there was more debris on the roads than normal, and at one point I had to ford a deeply-flooded road on

Inspired by the Medieval manuscript the Chronicles of Mann, two Manx-born musicians Russell Gilmour (trumpet) and David Kilgallon (organ) performed in the duo ‘Chronicles’ at St. Paul’s Church in Ramsey on the Isle of Man on Friday 28th December 2018. The Chronicles of Mann mentions various locations including: the Isle of Man, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and even places as far away as Norway and

I travelled to the Isle of Man to celebrate Onchan Silver Band’s 80th Anniversary by participating in a performance of their newly-commissioned ‘Seven Kingdoms’ suite, which was performed on Tuesday 26th of September 2017 (for the first time on land) in the second half of their final concert this season at the Villa Marina Arcade in Douglas (promoted by the Isle of Man Arts Council). The band

Lake District Summer Music’s 33rd festival season opened on Saturday the 29th July 2017 at Ulverston’s Coronation Hall with an "electrifying performance" of Bach’s B Minor Mass, performed by Solomon’s Knot. Get yourself to @corohall for 7:30pm tonight to hear Bach B minor Mass. @solomonsknot sounding phenomenal in rehearsal. Tickets on door pic.twitter.com/oC5VYM2yWN — LDSM Festival

Culture Vannin put on a show on Sunday 24th of July at the Gaiety Theatre in the Isle of Man called ‘Manannan’s Isle’. It combined Manx music with Manx dance and Manx folklore and gave the audience a flavour of a similar show given at the 2015 Festival Interceltique de Lorient (FIL). 2015 had been ’the year of the Isle of Man and Cornwall’. Click here to read my earlier blog about the 2015

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 performed with 'Chronicles' (Manx Trumpet and Organ duo) in Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral on the 25th of July 2014. Liverpool University hosted the event, as part of their "Festival of Ideas", which included several other events around Liverpool. Other Manx musicians, including Ruth Keggin, Mec Lir and Nish as Rish, were also involved in the festival, giving performances in a large marquee in