On Tuesday 3 November 2026, I performed at St George’s Hanover Square, with Spiritato and for the London Handel Festival, a newly devised programme entitled Handel and the New Society.

The concert explored the music of Handel and his contemporaries, including Boyce, Arne, Greene, Festing, and Castrucci, with a selection of overtures, trio sonatas, and concerti grossi. The programme, created by William Russell, celebrated members of the original Royal Society of Musicians, known in 1738 at its formation as the Fund for Decay’d Musicians. The concert took place in Handel's former church.

Spiritato was led by violinist Kinga Ujszászi. I played first trumpet, with Will Russell on second trumpet and Keith Price on timpani. The programme included Handel’s overture to Alessandro Severo and Boyce’s Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, concluding with Boyce’s Symphony No. 5 in D major. The latter is a favourite of mine which I chose to be performed at my wedding in 2018.

It was a pleasure to take part in this celebration of the music of Handel and his contemporaries and well done to Will Russell for putting it together.