The historic Church of St Mary and All Saints in Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire was the venue for Fiori Musicali’s concert on Saturday 18th of August 2018. The performance celebrating the Feast of the Assumption featured music by Bach, Marcello, Vivaldi and Zelenka. The church (currently undergoing some restoration work) at Fotheringhay is close to the remains of Fotheringhay Castle which was

Situated on the south bank of the River Thames (just 230 metres away from the site of the original) is the modern reconstruction of the Globe theatre. The name of the theatre (reconstructed in 1997) comes from the original theatre, which was built in 1599, and rebuilt in 1614 after a fire, on Maiden Lane (now Park Street) in Southwark. The original Globe theatre was initially owned by Richard Burbage

At 4pm on Thursday 9th of August 2018, I performed at The Charterhouse in London for the funeral service of Nicolas Christopher Henry Browne-Wilkinson (b. 30th March 1930- d.25th July 2018). Julian Perkins played preliminary music on the organ by Bach and Handel, before the Introit ‘Psalm 23’ by Charles Hylton Stewart was sung by the choir. The choir consisted of Augusta Hebbert (soprano), Tom

Before travelling to Uzès for two performances with Vox Luminis, the trumpet section (Russell Gilmour, William Russell and Gareth Hoddinott) rendezvoused at Gareth & Cecile’s holiday home in the Alps at Montgilbert in the Maurienne valley in the Savoie region. Meeting up a few days beforehand allowed us to travel via more convenient airports on both sides (avoiding Ryanair) and it enabled us

The church of St. Mary the Virgin in the tranquil village of Bishopsborne in Kent was the venue for a recording of music by Gottfried Finger (c.1655-1730). The recording was organised by Professor Robert Rawson - Professor of Musicology and Historically Informed Performance at Canterbury Christ Church University. The recording of music by ‘The Ingenious Mr Finger’ began on Friday 6th July

I performed for a Confirmation Service at the German Church (Christuskirche) in Knightsbridge (London) at 11am on Sunday 24th of June 2018. The bilingual service was led by Pastor Georg Amann and it featured: Jeremiah Clarke’s Prince of Denmark’s March, an arrangement of Henry Purcell’s Fairest Isle from King Arthur and John Stanley’s Trumpet Voluntary. The music was played by Russell Gilmour

I performed music by Georg Frideric Handel in the Summer Concert given by the Bar Choral Society at Temple Church in London on Tuesday 19th of June 2018. Greg Morris directed the all-Handel programme featuring the Temple Players and the Bar Choral Society with soloists: Amy Wood (soprano), James Hall (countertenor), James Way (tenor) and Richard Latham (bass).  The performance began with

I performed with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAEducation) as part of their residency in King’s Lynn in the week beginning on Monday 18th of June 2018. This educational project has been touring the country for quite some time, but this particular branch of the project took place at the Corn Exchange in King’s Lynn with a performance based around music from Purcell’s Fairy Queen

Celebrating 333 years since the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach, the Director of Music at the St. Marien Kirche in Rendsburg (Volker Linhardt) invited Russell Gilmour, William Russell and Gareth Hoddinott (listed on the posters as ‘Trompetenensemble Russell Gilmour (London)') to perform with the Kantatenchor St. Marien Rendsburg and Members of the Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert entitled

I performed in an educational concert with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on Wednesday 6th June 2018 at Conway Hall in London. The project was based around Purcell’s Fairy Queen and it featured music composed by James Redwood. The additional music had been specially composed to allow for musical interaction with the Key Stage 2 students. The students sang and played instruments with the

After an incredible fortnight at the Göttingen International Handel Festival I returned to the UK via the Hook of Holland to Harwich ferry to join Solomon’s Knot in their continuing B Minor Mass UK tour; a project that began in December 2016 at Shoreditch Town Hall and has seen subsequent performances in Ulverston (July 2017), Nottingham and at St. John’s Smith Square in London (December

It was wonderful to return to the Göttingen International Handel Festival in 2018. Performing in this festival is one of the musical highlights of my year. The director and players of the FestspielOrchester Göttingen (FOG) are infectiously-energetic musicians; performing in their element. Thriving on each others’ energy, these remarkable and characterful musicians creatively achieve incredible

I was invited to perform in Groningen and Hamburg with the Gabrieli Consort and Players, directed by Paul McCreesh. They performed 'King Arthur or The British Worthy - A Dramatick Opera' by Henry Purcell and John Dryden. The group performed this piece using a new Concert Performing Edition by Christopher Suckling & Paul McCreesh which included some additional music from Purcell’s ‘Dioclesian’

I first encountered The Torbay Singers prior to their performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on Saturday 7th December 2013 at St Matthias’ Church in Torquay. Although I did write occasional blog articles back then, I had a tendency only to do so after long tours and even then I kept only the briefest of notes as an aide-memoire. In July 2013, for example, I wrote just seventy words after making

The Teatru Manoel presented a concert on the occasion of the European Day of Early Music (Wednesday 21st March 2018) at the Basilica of St. Dominic in the European Capital of Culture 2018: Valletta. Valletta is on the island of Malta in the Maltese Archipelago. I have been very fortunate to visit on two previous occasions (January 2013 and January 2015). It was great to return two subsequent times

I played first trumpet in Bach's B Minor Mass with the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists on Saturday 17th March 2018. The performance, featuring The Windsor and Eton Choral Society and soloists: Gemma Summerfield (soprano), Tim Travers-Brown (countertenor), Tom Raskin (tenor) and Alex Ashworth (baritone) took place in the School Hall at Eton College. Founded in 1837, the Windsor and Eton Choral Society

I performed in an Orchestral Mass at Trinity College Cambridge at 6:15pm on Sunday 11th of March 2018 (The Fourth Sunday of Lent). The mass setting by Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) was performed by The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge and a small orchestral ensemble (comprising a string quintet, chamber organ, two natural trumpets and timpani). The performance was conducted by the brilliant Stephen

Capital of the Occitanie region and the fourth largest city in France, Toulouse is situated on the River Garonne and known as la Ville Rose. Between Saturday 17th and Sunday 25th of February 2018 the Pink City was home to the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques, who rehearsed and gave performances of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s 1774 Paris version of Orphée et Eurydice at the Théâtre du Capitole. Christophe

Performing Purcell’s King Arthur at Snape Maltings with Vox Luminis was one of my highlights of 2017, so it was with great pleasure that I got the opportunity to visit Belgium for two days of recording with Vox Luminis. The ensemble was recording King Arthur at AMUZ (Augustinus Muziekcentrum) in the centre of Antwerp. Arriving in Antwerp is certainly an impressive affair; Antwerpen-Centraal

I played first natural trumpet (with the excellent Will Russell on second) in Handel’s Messiah on Saturday 20th January 2018 in the ornate Chapel of Worcester College, Oxford. The performance was directed by Thomas Allery as part of the Epiphanytide Festival. It featured the magnificent Worcester College chapel choirs, the period instrument ensemble 1714* and soloists Rebecca Silverman (Soprano),