It was wonderful to perform at Wiltshire Music Centre (21 November 2025), Snape Maltings (22 November), Saffron Hall (23 November), Highgate Wood School (24 November), and the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham (25 November) with the Aurora Orchestra; we performed Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with Chloë Hanslip and Mendelssohn’s 4th Symphony from memory under the baton of Nicholas Collon. It

It was a pleasure to perform Purcell’s The Fairy Queen (Z. 692) with Vox Luminis at De Bijloke in Ghent on Thursday 13 November 2025 and at the Teatro Real in Madrid on Saturday 15 November 2025. We began rehearsing in Belgium on Armistice Day—Namur was particularly quiet on this poignant day. It was great to explore the historic old town in Ghent and fantastic to revisit Madrid. My last performance

It was a pleasure to give two performances with Spiritato this week: firstly at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon on 5 November 2025 and then again as part of the London Festival of Baroque Music at Smith Square Hall (formerly St. John’s Smith Square) on 7 November 2025. The orchestra, directed from the violin by Kinga Ujszászi, presented a thrilling programme that explored the music

I played first trumpet with the period instrument orchestra Spiritato; we performed Handel’s Jubilate (HWV 279), as well as Bach’s Orchestral Suite No 3 in D major (BWV 1068) and Bach’s Magnificat in D (BWV 243) with Hertford Choral Society on Saturday 25 October 2025. The performance was directed by Manvinder Rattan and the orchestra was led by violinist George Clifford. For me (and Sam

It was a pleasure to perform with Vox Luminis at DeSingel in Antwerp on Friday 24 October 2025, in a programme featuring Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Missa Paschalis (ZWV 7). The concert also featured Georg Frideric Handel’s Dixit Dominus (HWV 232). The programme reprised the Missa Paschalis by Zelenka that Vox Luminis had included (paired with Bach’s Easter Oratorio) in their 20th anniversary concert,

I played first trumpet with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAEducation) for an education outreach project on Tuesday 21 October 2025 at the Corn Exchange in King’s Lynn. The project featured music from The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell with additional music composed by James Redwood, who was also an engaging animateur and leader. The project brought together the Orchestra of the Age

It can sometimes be difficult to find an inventive way to start writing an article—I believe writers refer to their initial angle as an ‘in’. Writer’s block seems particularly strong, in my experience, when I am attempting to document something that has been particularly enjoyable, impressive, or formative. In such cases I hope to illustrate my enjoyment through a well-written account in order

Dartington Hall is a very special place to me; it is where I attended summer school (2007–12), met Jo (2012), proposed (2017), and got married (2018)! So, it was a pleasure to return to Dartington to play in Devon Baroque’s 25th anniversary concert, which took place in the Great Hall on Sunday 28 September 2025.I was one of the soloists in the concert and I performed ‘Mr Handel’s Water

It was a pleasure to play in a performance entitled ‘Rejoice, Joyful Voices!’, subtitled ‘Bach with Trumpets and Timpani’, with Bach Winchester Voices and the Winchester Bach Orchestra on Sunday 7 September 2025 at St Paul’s Church, Winchester. The concert was directed by Andrew Hayman and featured music by Johann Sebastian Bach with the jubilant combination of trumpets and timpani. The programme

On Sunday 24 August 2025 I played first trumpet in Bach’s B minor mass (BWV 232) at Southwell Minster. The performance was part of the Southwell Music Festival and it showcased the Festival Voices and Baroque Sinfonia under the musical and artistic director, Marcus Farnsworth. In addition to the performance of the B minor mass on Sunday, we also performed Bach’s Magnificat (BWV 243) for the ‘Come

After enjoyable performances at Bachfest Leipzig and Stour Music Festival, Solomon’s Knot gave two all-Bach concerts on consecutive evenings (Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 August 2025) at St Gumbertus Church for Bachwoche Ansbach. The first programme featured movements of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 (BWV 1051) interspersed throughout. For the second, the order was altered:

I’m delighted to share the release of a long-awaited video interview, filmed in Wandsworth in May 2023, between myself and the now-retired trumpeter Michael Laird (b. 1942). In it, Michael reflects on his studies with Walter Holy (1921–2006), which began in 1963, and the development of the finger-holed trumpet during the ‘Early Music Revival’ of the late 20th century.When I was a student at

It was a treat to welcome Crispian Steele-Perkins to my home for what turned out to be a memorable and fun occasion. We spent Monday 21 July 2025 making a light-hearted video which featured a pair of sterling silver natural trumpets made by Henry Potter & Co. in 1885, which are now in my collection. I had been waiting for a natural trumpet player to visit so we could explore these instruments together.

On Wednesday 16 July 2025, I played first trumpet in a recording of Handel’s Zadok the Priest (HWV 258) at St Columba’s Church on Pont Street in Knightsbridge, London. The session, conducted by Ben Lewis-Smith, featured a twelve-piece professional choir, three trumpets, and organ.The recording took place in the organ gallery at the back of the church, with both audio and video captured for use

Following two enjoyable performances of Handel’s La Resurrezione (HWV 47) with Le Banquet Céleste in Rennes in March this year, it was great to rejoin this ensemble to reprise this work at the Beaune International Baroque Opera Festival (Festival international d'opéra baroque de Beaune) on Friday 11 July 2025. I have performed in this festival twice before: my first appearance was Handel’s L’Allegro,

It was a great pleasure to play principal trumpet with the Aurora Orchestra under the baton of Nicholas Collon in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre in London on Sunday 29 June 2025. The programme featured Harold in Italy (Op. 16, H. 68) by Hector Berlioz, with the obbligato viola part played by Lawrence Power, and we also gave a memorised rendition of Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.

Following on from a very enjoyable performance at Bachfest Leipzig, Solomon’s Knot reprised their all-Bach programme at Stour Music Festival at Boughton Aluph Church, a beautiful venue in the Kent countryside, on Friday 27 June 2025, performing Johann Christoph Bach’s Es erhub sich ein Streit and J. S. Bach’s Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg (BWV 149), Es erhub sich ein Streit (BWV 19), Herr Gott,

Leipzig’s Nikolaikirche was the venue for Solomon’s Knot’s all-Bach programme, on Sunday 22 June 2025, as part of the famous and truly international Bachfest Leipzig. I last performed in this festival (also with Solomon’s Knot) in 2016. Solomon’s Knot last performed a similar programme to this at the BBC Proms in 2016. On this occasion the programme began with Johann Christoph Bach’s

I have long been an admirer of Masaaki Suzuki’s recordings with Bach Collegium Japan, so it was an enormous pleasure for me to play for this champion of Bach interpretation when he directed the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir for a performance at London’s St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Thursday 19 June 2025 (an exceptionally warm day). The artfully crafted programme featured four

Mitridate, re di Ponto [K. 87 (74a)] was written in 1770 by a 14-year-old Mozart, and it was premiered at Milan’s Teatro Regio Ducale. On Sunday 18 May 2025, I played first trumpet in this work with Les Talens Lyriques under the direction of Christophe Rousset at Milan’s famous Teatro alla Scala. I first performed at this venue only a few months ago, with the English Baroque Soloists, also directed