[3/7] - Vientiane - Laos - Toyota Classics Tour 2018 - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | Vietnam We arrived in Vientiane at Wattay International Airport on the evening of Friday 26th October 2018. The Lao Plaza hotel was only 6km away and we checked in very efficiently upon arrival. After dropping off our luggage we left the hotel and went to find something to eat. The hotel was near Nam Phou, a square with a central
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[2/7] - Bangkok - Thailand - Toyota Classics Tour 2018 - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | Vietnam We arrived at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (‘Land of Gold’) airport to the East of Bangkok and met the coaches that would take us to the Swissôtel Le Concorde in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district. The scenes from the coach window were very different to Brunei’s. Even though it was 22:00 the volume of traffic was immense.
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[1/7] - Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei - Toyota Classics Tour 2018 - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | Vietnam As we entered the arrival hall at Brunei International Airport we received an exceptionally warm welcome. There was a 10-metre wide banner upon which ‘Welcome Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’ had been printed, and a whole team of people had come to greet us: taking photographs of the occasion, helping us with
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[0/7] - Overview - Toyota Classics Tour 2018 - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Overview | Brunei | Thailand | Laos | Cambodia | Philippines | Malaysia | Vietnam The weekend of the 16th and 17th of June 2018 saw three significant events in my life. Saturday 16th June 2018 was my stag do; seven of us visited the Adnams Brewery in Southwold and enjoyed incredible food and hospitality afterwards at the home of my former trumpet teacher. The following day, after tidying up (and notably
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Aurora Orchestra - The Kaleidoscopic Artist

Over the summer I had the pleasure of deputising with the Aurora Orchestra, playing first trumpet in a Mozart Symphony prior to their performances at Kings Place in London and at La Seine Musicale in Paris. I had been unable to play in the whole project on that occasion as it was around the time of my wedding so I agreed to deputise for just one rehearsal, which was most enjoyable. A few months later
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Bach - B Minor Mass - Croatian Baroque Ensemble - Varaždin

Although I am something of a regular flyer, I still find aerial views to be inspiring, humbling and often quite moving. This was especially true as there was hardly a cloud in the sky between London Heathrow Airport and Franjo Tuđman Airport in Zagreb on Thursday 27th September 2018. Upon arrival I was greeted by a familiar face, that of Krešimir Fabijanić. Krešimir (also known, for reasons
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Bach - Magnificat - Ambronay & Ribeauvillé - Vox Luminis

After enjoyable projects over the summer with Vox Luminis in Uzès and at the Utrecht Early Music Festival, it was great to rejoin our friends and colleagues for two more festival appearances on consecutive evenings. The ensemble performed Handel’s Dixit Dominus [HWV 23] and Bach’s Magnificat [BWV 243] in the Ambronay Festival (Festival D’Ambronay) on Friday 21st September 2018 and in the
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I Fagiolini - Monteverdi - L'Orfeo - Antwerp

I Fagiolini’s interpretation of L’Orfeo, with Matthew Long in the starring role, began in Venice in November 2015 and has seen subsequent performances in London (May 2017), Purbeck (June 2017) and Cheltenham (July 2017) since then. The most recent performance took place in Antwerp in Belgium. I had been performing at the Utrecht Festival on Friday 24th of August 2018,
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Delalande - Te Deum - Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht - Vox Luminis

I have visited Utrecht in the Netherlands before but this was the first time I had been involved in the Utrecht Early Music Festival: Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht - the largest early music festival in the world. The opening of the festival took place on Friday 24th August 2018 with four simultaneous concerts across Utrecht’s city centre. The overall title of the opening night was Het Bourgondische
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Bach - B Minor Mass - Southwell Festival

Russell Gilmour (1st trumpet), William Russell (2nd trumpet), Gareth Hoddinott (3rd trumpet) and Keith Price (timpani) performed Bach’s B Minor Mass on Wednesday 22nd August 2018 in Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire as part of the Southwell Music Festival. The Southwell Festival Baroque Sinfonia was led from the baroque violin by one of the Artistic Directors Jamie Campbell. The other Artistic
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Bach & Vivaldi - Fiori Musicali - Fotheringhay

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
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The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice - Shakespeare’s Globe

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
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Handel - Eternal Source of Light Divine - The Charterhouse

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
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Handel & Bach - Uzès - Vox Luminis

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
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Gottfried Finger - Recording - Bishopsbourne

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
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Clarke, Purcell & Stanley - Christuskirche - Knightsbridge, London

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
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Handel - Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne & Coronation Anthems - Temple Church

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
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The Fairy Queen - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment - King’s Lynn & Great Massingham

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
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Bach 333 - Rendsburg, Germany

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
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The Fairy Queen - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment - London

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
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Russell Gilmour
Russell Gilmour Blog
writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.