The following morning, we performed to care home residents who had been brought to Bristol Beacon to listen to the orchestra. The players of Aurora once again spread out around the room and the encore was performed—a rendition of four of Mozart’s twelve variations on the theme that has come to be known as ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, arranged for Aurora Orchestra by Iain Farrington. The music, complete with disco ball lighting, was particularly moving because many of the care home residents sang along. 

Later that same day, Tuesday 16 June 2026, we performed in a more traditional concert setting at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford-on-Avon. The orchestra performed Jessie Montgomery’s ‘Strum’ for string orchestra, along with a short Jupiter symphony presentation, which was enjoyed by the audience. The end of the complete performance sparked a spontaneous outburst, from one audience member, of a well-known expletive phrase that rhymes with ‘clucking bell’!

On Wednesday 17 June, we rehearsed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major (Op. 15) of 1795 with the pianist Benjamin Grosvenor at the Bishopsgate Institute in London, and I was treated to an orchestral rendition of happy birthday! I also cycled for the first time since I sprained my ankle in Göttingen, so it was great to get back ‘in the saddle’, quite literally.

Bury St Edmunds was the venue for the performance on Thursday 18, and we performed the Jupiter symphony both outside the Apex, as a kind of amuse-bouche for passing shoppers, and inside the concert hall. The first half of the concert, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, brilliantly complemented the Jupiter symphony in the second half. I had a wonderful day in Bury St Edmunds, as I caught up with my former natural trumpet teacher for lunch and I also saw my friend Andy Flack, who listened to our performance outside the Apex. It was great to see them both. 

I had a wonderful day on Friday 19 June. Having measured the silver William Bull trumpet in the Market Hall Museum in Warwick last October, I had been meaning to book an appointment to study the silver Bull trumpet in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. I realised that I would be in Oxford with a morning free on 19 June, so I booked an appointment well in advance. I visited the museum and spent two hours photographing and measuring the instrument. It was so interesting to compare my findings with the Warwick instrument, which I have studied in great detail since October. There are quite a number of differences, most obviously in the size of the ornamental ball (and the chasing pattern on the trumpet now in Oxford is an acanthus pattern, as opposed to the petal-like pattern of the instrument now in Warwick). This trumpet displays some more clues as to how certain components were made, so it was well worth studying it up close. Before leaving, I also looked at the silverware cabinets, and at various stringed instruments by Stradivarius, Amati, and Steiner that were on display in the collection.

After a fascinating morning at the Ashmolean, I retired to the covered patio of the Rose and Crown on North Parade Avenue, an old favourite pub that I haven’t been to since I was a student, and enjoyed a cold drink in the sunshine along with a fantastic pork pie (and hot English mustard), while I compared and contrasted—generally mused about—the two silver Bull trumpets.

This had already been a fantastic day, and the icing on the cake was performing with Aurora in Oxford’s new concert hall. We were apparently the first full orchestra to perform in the Sohmen Concert Hall at The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities in Oxford, and we also gave a ‘pop-up’ impromptu performance in the impressive atrium of this unbelievable new building. The concert hall was a delight to play in. I’m looking forward to returning to perform here with the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir in November, under the direction of Christophe Rousset, and again with the Aurora Orchestra and the BBC Singers, once again with Nicholas Collon, for Bach’s Magnificat one week later in November. 

Just before the worst of the heatwave came, it was great to perform at the beautifully air-conditioned Saffron Hall in northwest Essex. It was one of the highlights of the patch, in my opinion, and it offered perfect conditions for us to perform and to give a presentation about the symphony. The concert took place on Sunday afternoon, and I had time to walk around the ancient oaks on the outskirts of the grounds of Audley End House with Benji (Benjamin Hartnell-Booth) between the rehearsal and matinee. Nicholas Collon developed a fantastic rapport with this audience, who seemed to love his delivery, and everything about the performance was top class and hugely enjoyable.

After a stressful couple of days at home enduring an incredible heatwave, during which my wife was hospitalised due to high blood pressure during her pregnancy, we continued the tour with a performance in Harrogate. Fortunately my wife was released from hospital in enough time for me to travel to Harrogate to perform the Jupiter Symphony and presentation with Aurora. It was incredibly hot weather, and one of our number had been taken ill at the last minute. We were very fortunate that an oboist, Michael O’Donnell, from a previous Aurora memorised Jupiter patch (they performed this symphony from memory 7 and 10 years ago), was able to step in and he performed from memory at such incredibly short notice—what a hero! The first half of the concert featured Jessie Montgomery’s ‘Strum’ and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major (K. 414)—this (trumpet-less) piano concerto was performed by Tom Poster. The second half of the concert took place in exceptionally warm conditions. Nevertheless, I enjoyed playing in Harrogate’s Royal Hall and I instantly felt at home in this beautiful Grade II* listed building; it reminded me of the Gaiety Theatre (and Villa Marina) on the Isle of Man, where I performed countless times as a child. I later discovered that the Royal Hall in Harrogate was designed by the same architect as the Isle of Man’s Gaiety Theatre, Frank Matcham. It was great to perform there, despite the incredibly hot conditions on stage! This was one of the only performances I can remember where the trumpet slipped off my face due to the heat—I had to dry my mouthpiece with a handkerchief in every rest in the final movement!

The heatwave endured for a few more days but had thankfully subsided by the time we performed at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 28 June 2026. This performance saw the audience on stage at the Royal Festival Hall surrounded by players of Aurora Orchestra. The seats in the actual auditorium remained intentionally empty so that the audience could listen among the players, as if in the orchestra, on stage at the Festival Hall. A few more seats had been filled around the back and sides of the stage, and a few brave souls from the orchestra played from up there—trumpets and horns included. With audience space on stage at a premium, we gave three performances—the first at 14:00 was tailored towards young people, and the remaining two at 16:00 and 18:30 were for people of all ages. The presentation was particularly enthralling and engaging in this cheek-by-jowl, audience-by-orchestra setting. The day did not drag at all, which would always be a risk with any multiple-performance day, but Nicholas Collon made it interesting and tailored each performance to the audience. He even staged a youth version of the ‘opera’ scene which had been so successful in Bristol. It was just as good in London, and he even roped in John Harte, Aurora’s departing CEO on his final day working for the orchestra, as the ‘hero’ character—which he took up with apt aplomb. We will all miss John, a fantastic heroic figure and true gentleman, who has been instrumental in the orchestra's development—helping to shape Aurora into one of the leading orchestras in its field and a household name in the UK thanks to their groundbreaking appearances at the BBC Proms and other similar high-profile festivals throughout Europe. 

The orchestra performed at London’s Gladesmore Community School in Haringey on Tuesday 30 June, though without me. As I’m unable to join the tour to China, it made sense for my replacement to perform the symphony with the orchestra a few times ahead of the tour; this seemed like the perfect opportunity as they performed the symphony more than once on this day.

I rejoined the orchestra for an education day at Saffron Hall on Thursday 2 July 2026. Students from schools in the area congregated at Saffron Hall to hear the Aurora Orchestra perform the Jupiter Symphony and to experience their presentation of this work. The brilliantly arranged ‘Meet the Strings’ and ‘Meet the Wind’ had also been memorised by the orchestral players. This allowed the students to learn interactively while the orchestra morphed and moved around the room. Excerpts from Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major (K. 313), Serenade No. 10 for winds in B♭ major (K. 361/370a) ‘Gran Partita’, Oboe Concerto in C major (K. 314), and Horn Concerto No. 4 in E♭ major (K. 495) had been skilfully arranged, with some vamp bars for Nicholas Collon’s explanations about the instruments, so that the introductions formed a through-composed work. The equivalent string arrangement, based on Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca from his Piano Sonata No. 11 (K. 331), was just as brilliant. This was a masterclass in orchestral outreach.

My final performance before my self-enforced paternity leave begins (sadly self-employed paternity leave does not exist in the UK), and the orchestra’s last performance in the UK before their Shanghai concerts, took place at Cheltenham Town Hall on Friday 3 July 2026. This Grade II listed building in the Edwardian Baroque style was a delight to play in, and the audience at this concert, the opening night of the Cheltenham Festival, were in great spirits. The performance was probably the most energetic and spirited of the whole patch, and I was delighted both with the orchestra as a whole and with this brilliant trumpet and timpani section with Sam Kinrade on 2nd trumpet and Tom Lee on timpani; they were both so musically receptive—it can be difficult to find players who will treat Mozart’s trumpet and timpani parts (often deceptively simple on first appearance) with the depth and inventiveness that this music deserves.

This has been a wonderful patch with Aurora. I have been so lucky to spend so much of June into July with such fantastic people, and I was so fortunate that it was all in the UK, so I didn’t have to go too far from home at this critical time—with thanks to the orchestra for allowing me to omit the China tour! It’s been a joy to give so many performances to a multitude of different audiences, and different types of audience, throughout the UK. It is always career-affirming to work with this miraculous orchestra, and this project has sent me into my paternity leave with a spring in my step. I’ve got absolutely no idea about what parenthood will actually be like, but I’m looking forward to finding out! I’m sure it will be one of the most important and fulfilling things that I will ever do.