The Medieval Manuscript the 'Chronicles of Mann and Sudreys' mentions various locations, including the Isle of Man, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and even places as far away as Norway and Brittany.
Russell Gilmour (trumpet) and David Kilgallon (organ) use melodies from these countries and they merge and fuse these ideas together with their own to create unique compositions for trumpet and organ. The idea behind their musical collaboration is to explore traditional music from these countries and to adapt the music, interpret it and explore it. Chronicles' musical format is slightly unusual in that it combines trumpet and organ - not the instruments you may initially associate with folk music - but it is an approach that has sparked a lot of interest.
Their limited edition EP "Prologue" is a sample of things to come, as the production of a full album is underway. The full album will be Chronicles' musical impression of the Isle of Man's influences and rich history - as documented in the Chronicles of Mann.
Related Journal Articles:
writing on music, photography, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.
Handel - Messiah - Academy of Ancient Music - Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2024, %RI went to Gatwick Airport on 17 December 2024, straight after performing at St. Martin-in-the-Fields with the English Baroque Soloists, in preparation to travel to Gran Canaria early the following morning. Once I arrived in Gran Canaria on Wednesday 18 December 2024 (and following a quick dip in the hotel’s rooftop swimming pool, where the water temperature was a bracing 13°C and the weather
Bach - Unser Mund sei voll Lachens - Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists - La Scala, Milan
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2024, %RLa Scala, Milan | Alte Oper, Frankfurt | Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg | St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London
I played first trumpet, and a solo trumpet aria, in Johann Sebastian Bach’s Unser Mund sei voll Lachens [BWV 110] at La Scala in Milan on Monday 2 December 2024. The performance, given by the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists under the direction of Christophe Rousset,
Porpora - Ifigenia in Aulide - Les Talens Lyriques - Markgräfliches Opernhaus, Bayreuth
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2024, %RThe 15th September 2024 marked my 20th performance of a staged opera this year with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset—it is actually 23 if you count ticketed dress rehearsals, and even more if you count concert versions. Ten performances of Mozart’s Così fan tutte took place at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in February, six performances of Salieri’s Cublai gran kan de' Tartari took
Mozart - Così fan tutte - Les Talens Lyriques - Würzburg
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2024, %RThe last few months have been quite a whirlwind—in fact, it’s been incredibly busy since January when we began rehearsing Mozart’s Così fan tutte for a staged production at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. It was great to perform this opera at the Würzburg Mozartfest with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset: we gave performances on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th June 2024 in the
Die Spiegel von Versailles - Berlin Baroque Trumpet Ensemble - Halle
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2024, %RI played as one of three first trumpeters with the Berlin Baroque Trumpet Ensemble (Barocktrompeten Ensemble Berlin), under the direction of Johann Plietzsch, in the Halle Handel Festival. We performed in the Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen, the church in which Handel was baptised and was first taught to play the organ, on Sunday 2 June 2024.The programme entitled 'The Mirrors of Versailles'
Salieri - Cublai gran kan de' Tartari - Les Talens Lyriques - Vienna
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2024, %RThere 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
Bach - Christmas Oratorio Tour - Les Talens Lyriques & Nederlands Kamerkoor
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2022, %REight performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio; eight standing ovations. This was a tour of Holland to remember, with so many great components, including the Nederlands Kamerkoor, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset, Johanna Winkel (soprano), Sophie Harmsen (alto), Zachary Wilder (tenor) and Krešimir Strazanac (bass). We performed in the Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht (12 December 2022), De
Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - Aurora Orchestra - Royal Festival Hall - London, Festspielhaus Bregenz, Elbphilharmonie - Hamburg, De Singel - Antwerp, National Concert Hall - Dublin & Warwick Arts Centre
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2022, %RAurora. What an orchestra, what energy, and what a privilege it has been to perform with them again. I recently wrote an article, in which I listed some of the most incredible things I have ever seen with my own eyes, among them: the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, the Vasa museum in Stockholm, Shakespeare’s Globe in London, Roger W Smith’s mechanical watchmaking, and the Aurora Orchestra's
Bach - Vox Luminis - Pontaumur & Santander
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2022, %RI performed Bach’s Missa Brevis (essentially the Kyrie and Gloria of the B Minor Mass), as well as the Magnificat in two performances with Vox Luminis. We also played the final chorus of the B Minor Mass, Dona Nobis Pacem, as an encore.
The first performance took place in Pontaumur in France in the Bach en Combrailles festival on 13th August 2022, and the other concert took place two days later
Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer - Suites d'orchestre - Les Talens Lyriques - Versailles & Paris
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2021, %RI arrived at the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles (CMBV) around three hours early for the afternoon rehearsal on Sunday 12th December 2021. I had intended to leave my trumpet in the rehearsal room and have a walk around the gardens at the Palace of Versailles. However, when I arrived at the CMBV, I cupped my hands to look through the tinted window in the door and I was spotted by the musical
Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 - Varaždin
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2021, %RI performed as one of the soloists in Bach’s Second Brandenburg Concerto [BWV 1047] with the Croatian Baroque Ensemble - Hrvatski barokni ansambl - for the second time this year. Last time, in May, I played in a programme entitled ‘Erschallet, Trompeten!’ in the Croatian Music Institute in Zagreb and I had to isolate for 10 days upon my return. This time I performed in Varaždin as part
Mozart - Idomeneo - Les Talens Lyriques - Mozartfest Würzburg
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2021, %RIt all began with doubt as I boarded the train towards London St. Pancras. In light of the coronavirus situation French entry requirements had changed just 10 hours before I travelled, which left some doubt as to whether I would be permitted to get even as far as the Eurostar lounge. Luckily, entry was permitted. I travelled to Puteaux, to the west of Paris where I would be in quarantine. Other Parisians
Handel - La Resurrezione - The English Concert - Sage Gateshead
%AM, %Europe/London %b %2021, %RAfter last month’s abridged video recording (for television broadcast), The English Concert made an unabridged audio recording of Handel’s ‘La Resurrezione’ [HWV 47] at the Sage Gateshead. The orchestra and vocal soloists were conducted by Harry Bicket. In light of the improving pandemic situation, musicians were able to travel to the UK to play in the project (having followed the restrictions
In Memoriam: Edward H. Tarr (1936 - 2020)
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2021, %RProf. Dr. Edward Hankins Tarr (b.15/06/1936 Norwich, Connecticut, USA - d.24/03/2020 Rheinfelden, Germany) was a pioneering performer and one of the most esteemed modern scholars of the natural trumpet. His research, editions, articles, dictionary entries, and books are indispensable to any student of the trumpet or natural trumpet. His translations of Bendinelli, Fantini and Altenburg’s treatises,
Handel & Telemann - Cleofida - Il Gusto Barocco - Trossingen & Stuttgart
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2020, %RLast year I had the honour of playing the Last Post at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. One year on, I spent the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month listening to the silence on the radio on route to Birmingham Airport. The airport maintained a similar silence on account of travel restrictions; just a few passengers presented for the Frankfurt flight. As I waited to board I thought about
Purcell Pageant - Solomon’s Knot - Laeiszhalle, Hamburg
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2020, %RI especially missed Germany during lockdown, not just because of the cancelled festivals I had been looking forward to in Göttingen (Handel), Halle (Handel) and Bonn (Beethoven), but because I just love spending time in Germany. It was with great pleasure that Solomon's Knot could visit Hamburg for a concert at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg on Monday 26th October 2020, returning to a programme established
Bach - Cantatas 62, 63, 110 & 243 - Luxembourg & Budapest
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2019, %RWhen I was a student at the Royal College of Music I proposed a series of classes (in 2011) that would be organised and directed by postgraduate students from the Historical Performance department. Since I had proposed the idea, I had the job of arranging the inaugural class and I could choose the repertoire myself. I chose Johann Sebastian Bach’s ‘Christen, ätzet diesen Tag’ [BWV 63], originally
Bach - B Minor Mass - Vox Luminis - Festival de Lanvellec et du Trégor
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2019, %RVox Luminis performed Bach's B Minor Mass at the Carré Magique in Lannion in Brittany on Sunday 6th October 2019.
Myself, Will Russell and Katie Hodges (trumpeters) travelled from the UK entirely by rail, changing trains in Paris and Plouaret Trégor. The orchestra and choir of Vox Luminis arrived in Lannion to begin rehearsals on Friday 4th October. This would be our first time playing the B Minor
Handel - Agrippina - Les Talens Lyriques - Enescu Festival, Bucharest
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2019, %RThe Georges Enescu Festival welcomed Les Talens Lyriques to perform Handel’s Giulio Cesare [HWV 17] on the 20th September 2019 and Handel’s Agrippina [HWV 6] on the 21st September 2019. These consecutive late night performances took place at the Romanian Athenaeum in the Romanian capital city of Bucharest.
This project began with rehearsals in Paris at one of Les Talens Lyriques’ usual Montmartre
Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - Aurora Orchestra
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2019, %RPing. An email notification from the Aurora Orchestra: “Hi Russell, Is there a chance you might be available and willing to play 1st natural trumpet for this memorised Berlioz project, including at the BBC Proms? You’d just be needed for Symphonie Fantastique.”
There followed a moment of hesitance and doubt, quickly overridden by a feeling of ‘if others can do it, I can do it’. Four