B Minor Mass - Solomon’s Knot - Shoreditch Town Hall

Solomon’s Knot Baroque Collective performed Bach’s B Minor Mass on Sunday the 11th of December 2016 at Shoreditch Town Hall in London. This, the penultimate concert of Spitalfields Music’s Winter Festival 2016, had been selected by The Times as their 'top pick' in the Classical column (written by Richard Morrison). © James Berry Solomon's Knot brought their characteristic - now
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‘Bach’s Christmas Vespers 1723’ - Oxford Baroque - King’s Place

Oxford Baroque performed a programme entitled ‘Bach’s Christmas Vespers 1723’ on Saturday 10th of December 2016 at King’s Place - as part of the venue's ‘Baroque Unwrapped’ season. Jeremy Summerly conducted the choir and orchestra of Oxford Baroque throughout this fascinating programme which included liturgically-linked music by Bach, Franck, Gabrieli, Kuhnau, Praetorius and others. JS
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Spiritato - Guts & Glory - York Early Music Winter Festival

Spiritato’s final 2016 performance of their ‘Guts & Glory’ programme opened the York Early Music Winter Festival on Thursday 8th of December 2016 at St. Margaret’s Church in York - home of the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM). The ensemble was led by the wonderful violinist Kinga Ujszaszi. The fun Guts and Glory project finished for 2016 in York last night. Thank you guys for all
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Handel - Messiah - Schola Cantorum - Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School

I performed Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at St. Gabriel’s Church in Pimlico on Tuesday 6th of December 2016. The orchestra ‘Spiritato!’ and the Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School was conducted by Scott Price, Director of Music of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School. Photography by Weenson Oo The boys of the Schola Cantorum sang all of the arias, recitatives and
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Handel - Messiah - Voces8 - The Gresham Centre

The Gresham Centre at the church of St Anne & St Agnes (near the old city wall of London) was the venue for Voces8's performance of Handel's 'Messiah' on Monday the 5th of December 2016. According to the Gresham Centre's website, there has been a church on this site since 1137 - though it has been rebuilt several times due to fire (including the 1666 Great Fire of London) and the Blitz of the Second
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Bach - Christmas Oratorio - Exeter Cathedral

Devon Baroque and Exeter Festival Chorus performed J S Bach's Christmas Oratorio in Exeter Cathedral on Saturday 3rd December 2016. The performance was directed by Aidan Oliver. The Exeter Festival Chorus did an excellent job and the soloists, Anna Patalong (soprano), Kate Symonds-Joy (alto), David Webb (tenor) and Benedict Nelson (bass) were all very good too. The guest conductor, Aidan Oliver,
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Handel - Deborah - Newcastle Upon Tyne

The Newcastle Upon Tyne Bach Choir performed George Frederic Handel's oratorio 'Deborah’ [HWV 51] in the King's Hall at Newcastle University on Saturday 16th of November 2016. Eric Cross conducted the choir and the orchestra: Newcastle Baroque. We were joined by excellent soloists: Charlotte La Thrope (Soprano - Deborah), Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson (Soprano - Jael), Rosanna Cooper (Mezzo-Soprano -
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Rutter - Gloria - Headington School

Headington School in Oxford put on a concert showcasing the talents of their thriving Music Department [@MusicHSO] on Thursday 24th November 2016. The programme featured an array of the school ensembles. The school choir had chosen to sing John Rutter’s ‘Gloria’ and a number of professional brass players joined them. There were also three very good brass players from the school playing in
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OAEducation - Music is Special

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment joined forces with Camden Music to put on an educational project called 'Music is Special' at Cecil Sharp House on Monday 21st of November 2016. This innovative project integrated students from two special needs schools and two mainstream schools with the period-instrument players of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Composer and animateur, Sam Chaplin
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Handel - Messiah - Esher

Venturing into the 18th Century, the Monteverdi String Band performed Handel’s ‘Messiah’ with The Ripieno Choir (directed by David Hansell) in the London suburb of Esher on Saturday 19th of November 2016. The Monteverdi String Band was joined by two oboes, a bassoon, two trumpets and timpani for the performance of Handel’s glorious ‘Messiah’. Wonderful evening yesterday venturing into
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Haydn - The Creation - Middle Temple Hall

Wednesday 16th of November 2016 saw a performance of 'The Creation’ by Joseph Haydn at the ancient and magnificent Middle Temple Hall in London. Greg Morris directed the Temple Players and the Bar Choral Society through this miraculous work with great energy.The Bar Choral Society’s Autumn Concert featured soprano Amy Haworth, tenor Andrew Tortise and bass DeAndre Simmons - the latter joining us
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Croft - Te Deum & Torelli - Trumpet Sonata - St. Andrew’s Church - Cheam

The Little Baroque Company, led by Kinga Ujszaszi, performed with the St. Cecilia Chorus on Saturday 12th of November at St. Andrew’s Church in Cheam. The evening, conducted by Jonathan Rennert promised ‘festive and celebratory music from the first half of the 18th century… predominantly bright in mood, with brilliant orchestral colour, often featuring trumpets.'The ensemble performed William
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Spiritato - Guts & Glory - Brighton Early Music Festival 2016

Spiritato's tour of the 'Guts & Glory' programme continued on Friday 11th November 2016 at St. George’s Kemp Town, in Brighton. The performance was part of the Brighton Early Music Festival 2016.Brighton Early Music Festival had chosen the theme of ‘Nature & Science’ for their 2016 festival, exploring observation, discovery, invention and creation. In the spirit of innovation, Spiritato
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Spiritato - Guts & Glory - St. George’s Bristol

St. George’s in Bristol was the venue for the most recent performance of Spiritato’s 'Guts and Glory' programme. Click here to read an older post about this programme. The concert took place on the 9th of November 2016 in this magnificent venue in the vibrant city of Bristol. Spiritato performed the programme with vigour and assurance, informing and delighting the audience along the way.
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Vivaldi - Gloria & Concerto for Two Trumpets in C Major - Chichester

Trumpeters Russell Gilmour and William Russell travelled to Chichester on Saturday 5th November 2016, to be involved in a concert entitled ‘Gloria’, hosted by the choir 'Chichester Voices’ and their director Andrew Naylor. The all-Vivaldi programme was performed in St. George’s Church on Cleveland Road and featured Vivaldi’s: ‘Magnificat’, ‘Concerto for Two Trumpets in C Major’, ‘Beatus
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Haydn & Mozart - Cadogan Hall

Cadogan Hall was the venue for a concert given by Goldsmiths Choral Union, celebrating the 70th birthday of their acclaimed and longstanding Musical Director, Brian Wright. The programme consisted of Haydn’s 'Nelson Mass' and Mozart’s ‘Requiem’. The choral union was accompanied by the ‘Musicians of London’ orchestra. The period-instrument orchestra featured a fantastic obbligato from
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Mozart Requiem - St. Anne’s Church, Kew Green

A performance of Mozart’s ‘Requiem’ took place at St. Anne’s in Kew Green for the 'commemoration of the faithful departed’ service on All Souls’ Day. The Requiem Mass was held from 18:30 until 19:30 on Sunday 30th of October 2016.Chad Kelly directed the St. Anne's Choir and an orchestra of reduced forces (namely: Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello, Cor Anglais I, Cor Anglais II, Bassoon
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Wedding at St. Peter’s Church, Sibton

I performed at the marriage of Cleo Rose Brock-Abraham and James Andrew Talbot on 22nd October 2016 at St. Peter’s Church in Sibton, Suffolk. Leos Strings [@Leos_Strings] performed music as the wedding guests arrived at the church. As the family entered, they played Bach’s ‘Air on the G String’ and a processional ‘Trumpet Tune’ by Purcell was performed for the entrance of the bridesmaids
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Salieri - ‘Les Horaces’ - Les Talens Lyriques - Versailles & Vienna

Christophe Rousset’s orchestra, Les Talens Lyriques [@talenslyriques] invited me to play in their project comprising two performances and a recording of the opera ‘Les Horaces' (1786) by Antonio Salieri (1750 - 1825). On the 10th of October 2016, I travelled from London to Paris on the Eurostar [a marvel of railway engineering that I never fail to be impressed by]. Rehearsals with Les Talens
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Vivaldi - Gloria - St. Martin-in-the-Fields

I performed Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’ with the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists at St. Martin-in-the-fields at 1900 on Thursday 15th of September 2016. The first half of the concert explored instrumental works by J.S. Bach. The Violin Concerto in E major (BWV 1042) and the 'Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G major' (BWV1048) were finely-played and led by violinist, Persephone Gibbs.Oboist, Tony Robson and natural
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Russell Gilmour
Russell Gilmour Blog
writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.