The Festival Baroque Sinfonia and Festival Voices joined forces under Marcus Farnsworth’s direction to perform an all-Handel programme, which began with the vibrant overture suite from the Occasional Oratorio [HWV 62] and continued with the second and third parts of Israel in Egypt. The choir was exceptional and the orchestra, led by violinist and Associate Artistic Director of the Festival Jamie Campbell, was also superb.

It was great to perform in a fantastic brass section with myself on 1st natural trumpet, Nick Wright (2nd natural trumpet), Simon Cox (3rd natural trumpet), Martyn Sanderson (1st sackbutt), Laura Agut (2nd sackbutt), Guy Morley (bass sackbutt) and Keith Price (timpani). The latter, a stalwart of the festival, performed a fantastic timpani solo in the double chorus after ‘He rebuked the Red Sea’. The final interlinked movements brought a rousing and powerful culmination to the performance, with great encouragement from the conductor Marcus Farnsworth.