February/March 2025

Welcome to my first newsletter of 2025 - and it’s a bumper one! Thank you for signing up to receive updates about recent and upcoming performances.

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Recent Highlights

Jacob Collier & Britten Sinfonia

In January I experienced a true career highlight, performing with my orchestra Britten Sinfonia alongside musical superstars Jacob Collier and Chris Thile (mandolin), conducted by Jacob’s mother Suzie Collier. For anyone who hasn’t heard of Jacob before, he just won his seventh Grammy - at the age of 30! We performed to sold-out crowds at the Bristol Beacon and London Barbican and our programme was a jam-packed feast of music. Our concert at the Barbican was filmed, so hopefully that will be available to share soon...

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Masterclass & Recital at the RCS

Last week I was invited to visit the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow to work with the trumpet students and to perform a short recital. My programme included works by Philippe Gaubert, Charlotte Harding, Florence Price and Peter Maxwell Davies, and it was a great opportunity to introduce the students to pieces that they might not have heard before. This was followed by a masterclass on solo repertoire, and the next morning I gave a class on orchestral excerpts. I loved getting to know the students & their playing and I hope we’ll have a chance to work together again in the future.

Christopher Horn Trust - 25th Anniversary

In the New Year I helped to organise a party commemorating 25 years of the Christopher Horn Trust. The Trust’s objective is ‘to advance the education of full-time music college students in the art and technique of classical brass playing’. The award alternates between the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School each year and I was lucky enough to be the recipient in 2012, using the award to buy my piccolo trumpet. The party was held at the Academy and included a speech by Alison Balsom (the Trust’s Patron) and a performance of ‘Steal Away’, arranged for trumpet choir by Roger Harvey. It was a very special way to celebrate all that this wonderful Trust has achieved so far.

Anibal Vidal Concerto - Live Recording

I am pleased to be able to share with you the live recording from my World Premiere performance of Anibal Vidal’s Trumpet Concerto, Invocación n.2: A Kintsugi Resurrection. The performance took place on 2nd November 2024 at St Giles Cripplegate as part of Britten Sinfonia’s Magnum Opus Showcase. Anibal’s piece takes inspiration from the Haydn Trumpet Concerto and Mahler’s Symphony No.2 (Resurrection), which are both recognisable in fragments throughout the work. You’ll also hear the busy percussion part as a secondary soloist and various toy instruments in the woodwind section! Click below to listen and to read more in Anibal’s own words…

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Upcoming Concerts

Aurora & Abel Selaocoe - Germany/Belgium/London

From 26th February - 8th March, I will be joining Aurora Orchestra on tour as Guest Principal Trumpet. We’ll be performing Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 from memory, as well as South African cellist Abel Selaocoe’s own concerto Four Spirits. The tour will take us to Munich, Bielefield, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne and Bruges before two final performances at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. I’m also particularly excited for this tour because my husband Rupert will playing in the orchestra alongside me!

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Britten Sinfonia - Surround Sound Playlist

In March I’m looking forward to performing with Britten Sinfonia for some rather different concerts at Chelmsford (19th), Ely (21st) and Peterborough (22nd) Cathedrals. We’ll be joined by vocal ensemble Tenebrae, saxophone soloist Amy Dickson and oud player Joseph Tawadros for an eclectic programme featuring works by Vivaldi, Handel, Parry, Copland, Caroline Shaw, Morten Lauridsen and more. The audience will be encouraged to sit, stand or lie on the floor (cushions provided!) and gaze up at the cathedral ceiling, enjoying ‘shifting lighting states as a seamless musical sequence fills the magical space from all directions’.

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St Martin’s Voices: The Trumpet Sounds

On Tuesday 25th January I’ll be performing alongside St Martin’s Voices for the next of my concerts as Artist-in-Residence. The programme will feature works for trumpet and choir by Cecilia McDowall, Gabriel Jackson, Colin Mawby & Ian Coleman. This concert is part of the of the Choral Discovery series, ‘which invites audiences to discover lesser known, thought-provoking choral music in short concerts with St Martin’s Voices’. Tickets are £10 and the concert will last for one hour from 7-8pm.

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Valentine's Day Harpy Hour

I’m looking forward to joining harpist Olivia Jageurs for a special, Valentine’s Day edition of her popular online concert series Harpy Hour. Olivia and I have been friends since 2011 - we met working as ushers at Wigmore Hall and got on so well during our first shift together that we went to MacDonald’s afterwards and stayed chatting there for hours! During this concert, hosted on Zoom from 6-7pm, Olivia and I will play romantic music by composers including Fauré, Gershwin and some songs from the musicals. We’ll also be joined by actor Alex Knox who will read a selection of poetry. Click below to find out more and buy a ticket:

HARPY HOUR

Future Performances

Aurora Orchestra & Imogen Cooper - Saffron Hall (Sun 23rd Feb)
London Mozart Players - Piano Explored: Mozart & Mendelssohn (Tues 26th March, 12.45pm)
Neoteric Ensemble - Painswick Music Society (Sat 12th April, 3pm)
Britten Sinfonia & Sinfonia Smith Square - St George’s Cathedral, Southwark (Wed 30th April)
LSO Tour with Gustavo Dudamel - Mahler Symphony No. 1 in Madrid & Barcelona (9th/11th May)
Hummel Trumpet Concerto - Britten Sinfonia (24th/26th May)
St Martin’s Voices - Heaven and Earth (Tues 10th June)
Trumpet & Piano Lunchtime Recital with Patrick Milne - Proms at St Jude’s (Tues 24th June)
Barry Mills’ Trumpet Concerto - Britten Sinfonia @ JAM on the Marsh (Sat 5th July)
GALSI Course - Royal College of Music (28th/29th Oct)

For anyone who has made it this far… there is exciting news coming very soon about my debut solo album! Watch this space 🤩🎺📀

UPCOMING CONCERTS