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.
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writing on music, photography, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.
Mozart - Ascanio in Alba - Les Talens Lyriques - Theater an der Wien
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2026, %RWhile we were in Vienna performing Florian Leopold Gassmann’s L’Opera Seria, Les Talens Lyriques also gave a concert (i.e. un-staged) performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba (K. 111), a work written for the wedding of the son of Empress Maria Theresa in 1771. We performed the opera on stage at the Theater an der Wien, where we have been in residence for a few weeks already.
The performance, which took place on 10 March 2026, was directed by Christophe Rousset and featured brilliant vocalists including Mélissa Petit (Venere), Alisa Kolosova (Ascanio), Anna El Khashem (Silvia), Alasdair Kent (Aceste), and Eleonora Bellocci (Fauno); the chorus was the Vienna-based Arnold Schönberg Chor. The orchestration was much the same as for L’Opera Seria, however this work featured four horns: Jeroen Billiet and Yannick Maillet played first and second horn, respectively, and the third and fourth horn players, Alexandra Zanetta and Mariantonia Riezu also played serpentini—as the name suggests small serpents, with finger holes along the S shaped wooden body of these instruments.
My wife, visiting from the UK, listened from a box in the theatre. She will also be coming to the finale of Gassmann’s L’Opera Seria on 11 March 2026, after enjoying many of the delights of Vienna!
A week after returning from Vienna, we will be making a CD recording of Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba in Paris and performing it again at Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris (25 March 2026) and at the Opéra de Lausanne in Switzerland (29 March 2026).
Les Talens Lyriques, Natural Trumpet, Opera
The performance, which took place on 10 March 2026, was directed by Christophe Rousset and featured brilliant vocalists including Mélissa Petit (Venere), Alisa Kolosova (Ascanio), Anna El Khashem (Silvia), Alasdair Kent (Aceste), and Eleonora Bellocci (Fauno); the chorus was the Vienna-based Arnold Schönberg Chor. The orchestration was much the same as for L’Opera Seria, however this work featured four horns: Jeroen Billiet and Yannick Maillet played first and second horn, respectively, and the third and fourth horn players, Alexandra Zanetta and Mariantonia Riezu also played serpentini—as the name suggests small serpents, with finger holes along the S shaped wooden body of these instruments.
My wife, visiting from the UK, listened from a box in the theatre. She will also be coming to the finale of Gassmann’s L’Opera Seria on 11 March 2026, after enjoying many of the delights of Vienna!
A week after returning from Vienna, we will be making a CD recording of Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba in Paris and performing it again at Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris (25 March 2026) and at the Opéra de Lausanne in Switzerland (29 March 2026).