I performed with the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists at the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich on Tuesday 30th April 2024. The performance featured two choirs, the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir (directed by Ralph Allwood) and the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea (directed by William Vann). The concert was a choral celebration

There have been times in my career when I have performed in the so-called ‘modern premiere’ of a work, but I think performing in an actual premiere of a work that was written in the eighteenth century but never performed at the time is a first for me. ‘Composed in 1788, Salieri’s opera Cublai, Gran Kan De’ Tartari was a satire on the autocracy and court intrigues at the court of the

I performed Domenico Cimarosa’s L’Olimpiade (1784) with Christophe Rousset’s Les Talens Lyriques in Halle E of the Theater an der Wien in Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier on Sunday 31 March 2024. This concert performance of the opera took place just a few days before our staged opera production began—we will be giving six performances of Salieri’s opera Cublai gran kan de' Tartari (1788) in Halle

I played first trumpet in Handel’s Jephtha [HWV 70] on Sunday 17 March 2024 in Oslo Cathedral, with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques. The performance featured the singers: Jeremy Ovenden (Jephtha), Deborah Cachet (Iphis), Sophie Harmsen (Storgé), Edwin Crossley-Mercer (Zebul), Tim Mead (Hamor), Lian Wei (Angel) and the Chœur de Chambre de Namur. This performance was the last

It was wonderful to be back at the magnificent Théâtre du Châtelet in February 2024, having performed a complete Schubert symphony cycle here around this time last year. I returned, once again with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques, to give ten staged performances of Mozart’s opera Così fan tutte (1790). It is quite amazing to watch Christophe directing, juggling his roles as conductor

I first visited Malta in January 2013, stepping in at very short notice to perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 [BWV 1047] in the Valletta Baroque Festival. (Incidentally, one of the violinists in that orchestra recalled that I could ‘jump in’ at short notice on that notorious piece, and she put my name forward to record that iconic concerto at very short notice as part of the Ansbach Bach

The Hampstead Collective formed in 2020 and managed to present a season of 17 weekly performances amid the Covid-19 pandemic; it is fantastic that they have continued to give (now monthly) concerts in Hampstead Parish Church. They began the year in style with a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (cantatas 1, 3, 5 and 6), conducted by Aidan Coburn, on Monday 8th January 2024. I had the pleasure

I performed Bach’s Christmas Oratorio [BWV 248] with Vox Luminis four times in December 2023, with performances at: deSingel in Antwerp, Lyon’s Chapelle de la Trinité, Malonne Abbaye, and the Concertgebouw in Bruges. I played first trumpet with Will Russell on second, Krešimir Fabijanić on third, and Koen Plaetinck on timpani—a fantastic section. It was an excellent project, and such

I joined Les Talens Lyriques for a recording of Domenico Cimarosa’s L’Olimpiade, a drama by Pietro Metastasio. The recording was directed by Christophe Rousset and we used a new edition by Korneel Bernolet produced specially for the occasion. I joined Les Talens Lyriques on the last day of their rehearsals in Paris, at the Mairie of the 9th Arrondissement, on 17 December 2023. The following day

My final Messiah of the year (and last performance in the UK before Christmas) took place in Exeter Cathedral on Sunday 10 December 2023. However, the 'D major marathon' is far from over, and I’m looking forward to four performances of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, in Belgium and France with Vox Luminis, and a recording of music by Cimarosa with Les Talens Lyriques, in Paris, before Christmas itself. I

What an experience it would have been to hear Bach’s music in the first year of his 27-year tenure as Thomaskantor and director musices of Leipzig in 1723. It was wonderful to be involved in an ambitious initiative, called Bach300, which is providing opportunities to perform works by Bach 300 years after the occasions for which they were originally composed. It was with great pleasure that I was

I played first trumpet in a sold out performance of Handel’s Messiah in the quire of Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday 2nd December 2023. It was, as the advertisements for the performance promised, ‘an intimate presentation of some of Handel’s most enduring music’.I played first trumpet, with Will Russell (2nd trumpet), and Ben Fullbrook (timpani) in the section. The concert, part of the Canterbury

I played in an education project with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) which was based on Purcell’s Fairy Queen. This community opera, called The Fairy Queen: Three Wishes featured music by the composer and animateur James Redwood with lyrics by Hazel Gould. The performance took place at Northgate High School in Ipswich on Wednesday 22 November 2023 and it featured students from Northgate

I played first trumpet in a sold-out concert of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at St. Dunstan’s Church in Mayfield in East Sussex. I performed this festive work with the Mayfield Festival Choir, directed by Jeremy Summerly, on Sunday 19 November 2023. The orchestra was led by George Clifford (violin) and the trumpet section featured Russell Gilmour, William Russell, and Imogen Whitehead, with Laura

London’s St. John’s Smith Square was the venue for a performance Handel’s Messiah, in which I played first trumpet (alongside Will Russell, 2nd trumpet, and Adrian Bending, timpani) on Saturday 18 November 2023. The concert was directed by Scott Inglis-Kidger and featured the Platinum Consort, Platinum Choristers, and Platinum 415 baroque ensemble led by Conor Gricmanis (violin). It was wonderful

I performed Vivaldi’s Gloria (RV 589) and Handel’s ‘Eternal Source of Light Divine’ from the Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (HWV 74) at Snape Maltings on Saturday 11 November 2023. The performance featured the wonderful Aldeburgh Music Club (choir) and was directed by Tom Appleton. The all-Vivaldi first half began with Ostro picta, armata spina (RV 642) and continued with his most famous

I played Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Magnificat in a performance with the Adderbury Ensemble and Cherwell Choral Society, directed by Paul Hedley, at Deddington Parish Church in Oxfordshire on Saturday 4th November 2023. The performance also featured motets by Telemann and Bach’s fifth Brandenburg Concerto, performed by Anhad Arora (harpsichord)—who stepped in at very short notice. I played first

I performed Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 [BWV 1068], Orchestral Suite No. 4 [BWV 1069], and Handel’s Water Music in D major [HWV 349] with the orchestra Armonia Atenea in the Megaron concert hall in Athens on Sunday 22nd October 2023. It was wonderful to visit Greece again and to perform in Athens for the first time—my previous visit was en route to a wedding on the island of Santorini in 2011. 

I played the Zugtrompete (a trumpet with a single slide) and a trumpet in low B-flat at A = 415 Hz for a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Wo soll ich fliehen hin [BWV 5] with the Choir of New College, Oxford under their Director of Music, Robert Quinney. We performed the cantata as part of a Sunday service in New College Chapel, and the service also included readings in German and Lutheran

I first visited Poland in July 2011 to play cornetto in Mikołaj Zieleński’s Offertoria et Communiones Totius Anni (1611), alongside David Staff (cornetto), with Emma Kirkby (soprano), Joel Frederiksen (bass), and a group called Collegium Zielenski directed by Stanisław Gałoński (who is now 93 years old) in Krakow. David Staff and I returned to Krakow several times for recordings and performances