2016 so far...

The start of 2016 has been crazily busy! At the beginning of January, I began rehearsals for a tour around the UK and Europe with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF), playing Beethoven's 5th and 8th symphonies and Brahms' Double Concerto (with Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis as soloists). We had an intensive but fantastic three weeks, filled with rehearsals, 11 concerts and a CD recording session for the Brahms.

Academy of St Martin in the Fields concert at Cadogan Hall, Jan 2016

It was the first time that I'd ever played in an orchestra without a conductor and, I'll admit, it was a rather daunting prospect! However I learned so much from everyone around me about being really aware of watching string players' bows or listening to everyone's breathing. I was surprised how quickly I got used to not being conducted - and how much I loved it!

Immediately after finishing the tour, I started playing with Southbank Sinfonia. Our first performance was a Rush Hour Concert at the end of January, where we played Vaughan Williams' exquisite Serenade to Music and Mendelssohn's Symphony No.1. Since then Southbank has been pretty non-stop, with residencies in Leiston/Aldeburgh and Marlborough, and a further five concerts. Last week was actually our side-by-side week with the ASMF and we performed an unconducted Rush Hour Concert of works by Beethoven, Brahms and Haydn. The energy and focus in that concert was incredible and it was definitely the highlight of my Southbank experience so far.

Leiston Abbey, Suffolk

For two weeks in February, Southbank Sinfonia are working in the beautiful setting of Glyndebourne for the premiere of a new youth opera - Nothing by David Bruce. Education and side-by-side projects are a large part of the Southbank programme, so we are working alongside young musicians in the Glyndebourne opera. In two weeks' time we'll also be performing Shostakovich's Symphony No.10 in a Rush Hour Concert with students from the Cardinal Vaughan School. We will then be giving our first Family Concert at Cadogan Hall on Sat 5th March, introducing the audience to Beethoven's 3rd Symphony - the Eroica. 

Glyndebourne Opera House

Since my last blog post, I've begun a new trumpet teaching job at The Tiffin Girls' School in Kingston (where I studied in the sixth form!) and also received confirmation that I passed my LRAM teaching diploma with Distinction. 

My next post will focus on preparations for an upcoming Telemann double trumpet concerto with Southbank and some more recent news updates. But for now... thanks for reading and Happy Valentine's Day!

Reflecting Back and Looking Ahead

2015 was a very exciting year for me: I performed my Final Recital and graduated from the Royal Academy of Music. A major highlight of my final year at RAM was organising and performing a concert in which I played two concerti (including the London Premiere of Stephen Dodgson's Trumpet Concerto) surrounded by an orchestra of great friends and colleagues.

During 2015 I became a Park Lane Group (PLG) Artist for the 2015/16 season and was awarded the Julius Isserlis Scholarship by the Royal Philharmonic Society. I also formed new working partnerships with pianist Jennifer Hughes and harpist Olivia Jageurs. After finishing my studies at the Academy, I moved to Surbiton, performed at the St Endellion Summer Music Festival and successfully gained a place in the Southbank Sinfonia 2016.

Graduation at RAM with fellow trumpeter and good friend, Gwyn Owen (July 2015)

However 2016 already looks set to overtake last year with many exciting opportunities and new ventures! I am particularly looking forward to the next three weeks when I will be working with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Rehearsals start today for a tour involving 11 concerts around the UK and Europe with soloists Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis and finally a recording of Brahms' Double Concerto in A minor. (See here for more details).

At the end of January, the new year of the Southbank Sinfonia begins. Upcoming projects include the premiere of a new youth opera at Glyndebourne (February), a concert at Cadogan Hall (March), a contemporary music project (April), trips to Paris (May) and Guernsey (June) and performing at a festival in Anghiari, Italy (August).

There are also the regular free rush hour concerts at St John's Waterloo, where the orchestra is based. The combination of free entry, a free glass of wine, and the chance to listen to an hour of great music, instead of being caught up in the rush hour, means that these concerts are always incredibly popular with commuters! See here for details of the first of these concerts.

Performing Dodgson's Trumpet Concerto at RAM (March, 2015)

In February, I am looking forward to the publication my first article in the Brass Herald, focusing on graduates from the Royal Academy of Music and their 'portfolio careers'. This new year also brings with it a new teaching job - I have recently been appointed as the new trumpet teacher at The Tiffin Girls' School in Kingston - and I will continue with my peripatetic teaching at Queen's College London alongside this.

I am excited to be performing with Jennifer Hughes at St John's Smith Square in April, as part of the Park Lane Group series. We heard recently that the Park Lane Group has actually commissioned composer Sally Beamish to write a new piece for us, the World Premiere of which we will perform on Friday 22nd April. I'll be keeping my Concerts page updated with all upcoming performances, so make sure you check it out.

I hope you had a very Happy New Year and 2016 is productive and prosperous for you all!

A Portfolio Career

I've spent most of this week working on an article for the Brass Herald, writing all about brass players with 'portfolio careers'. It got me thinking about my own career, those of my friends and the different elements which they involve:

Last weekend was filled with rehearsals for a 'Music Hall Night' on Saturday evening at a local theatre in Surbiton. It was a sold-out event and was great fun to play lots of war-time music! This was followed the next day by a seaside recital in Steyning with trumpet quartet 'Bella Tromba'. Apart from playing in the group, the careers of the Bella Tromba girls are incredibly diverse: Emma Bassett plays trombone in a successful quintet 'Westcombe Brass' and regularly works with major UK orchestras, Becca Toft has a demanding teaching job, arranges and composes music for Bella Tromba and often performs as lead trumpet with various jazz/swing bands, whilst Jo Harris works in the stage/artist management side of the business.

Bella Tromba performing Britten's Fanfare for St Edmundsbury

This week I have been rehearsing with my duo partner, pianist Jen Hughes, for our lunchtime recital next Wednesday (9th Dec) at St James's Piccadilly, as part of the Park Lane Group recital series there. It's been hard to find time to rehearse around Jen's busy schedule - this week she has been playing for auditions at the Royal College of Music (where she is Duo Coach for the Strings Department), she flew out to Oslo for a recital on Wednesday and then played on Radio 3's 'In Tune' on Friday with Charlie Siem!

I've also had the pleasure of watching two excellent recitals this week:
First a lunchtime concert by æðelfrìth brass quintet (& 2 harps) at St John's Smith Square. The recital focused on Anglo-Nordic music and also included arrangements and compositions by the ensemble's founder Nick Walkley. Nick is currently employed in the Army as Principal Trumpet of the Welsh Guards and of the Household Division band. However he is going to be moving to Norway next summer to pursue his dream of living there whilst working as a freelance performer, conductor, teacher, composer, arranger and much more!

The following day I was invited to a house gig - the first one I've been to - where harpist Olivia Jageurs and cellist Abi Hyde-Smith put on a recital in Olivia's London flat. It was a beautiful and intimate setting with about 40-50 people in the audience and all donations went to the Syrian Refugee Crisis Appeal. It was a really successful event and I hope that house gigs for classical musicians really take off! Olivia is a busy harpist - involved in many chamber ensembles, in demand for background music at corporate and private events, working with the LPO and she will be starring on stage in the West End production of War of the Worlds next year. 

Olivia and Abi's House Gig

This weekend I had a wonderful time playing Bach's 'Christmas Oratorio' with the Orchestra of St Paul's (OSP, conducted by Ben Palmer), as part of a great team of natural trumpeters. Paul Bosworth, who played the 1st trumpet part (to the complete awe of the whole orchestra, choir and audience!) is truly making his mark in the Baroque music world, as well as being another member of Westcombe Brass.  Paul has recently performed as a soloist on tour with the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) and this week alone has performed Bach's Brandenburg No.2, sonatas by Biber and Telemann and, obviously, the Christmas Oratorio.

Photo credit: Ben Palmer (Left to Right: Paul Bosworth, Imogen Hancock, Richard Knights)

Next weekend I am looking forward to performing Handel's Messiah in Truro Cathedral (more details here). It's then a quick flight to London the following morning to ensure that I'm back for a rehearsal for Casablanca: Live at the Royal Festival Hall with the OSP! Follow this link for more information and to book tickets.

So, as you can see, this week has been full of great musical ventures alongside friends and colleagues who each have truly unique and wide-ranging careers. It's certainly an exciting time to be a freelance musician!

You will be able to read my article in the February 2016 issue of the Brass Herald.

An Inspiring Week

Over the last week, I have had the pleasure of both performing in, and listening to, some truly inspiring concerts. 
 

Saturday 7th:
Last Saturday I joined the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for a candlelit performance of Haydn's Nelson Mass. The concert opened with Mozart's sublime Ave Verum Corpus and the audience completely filled St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square.
 

Sunday 8th:
Remembrance Sunday is always a special day in a trumpeter's diary and it is one that I particularly look forward to.  I have played the Last Post in various church services for ten years now and it is a real privilege to play such an important part in a service that is meaningful for so many people. It never gets any less powerful - or any less exposed!!!
 

Wednesday 11th:
On Wednesday evening I was invited as a guest of the Royal Philharmonic Society to a recital by RPS Young Musicians. As a recipient of the Julius Isserlis Scholarship, I met many generous supporters of the RPS and heard wonderful performances by Marta Kowalczyk, the Ruisi Quartet and Clare Hammond, all in the beautifully intimate setting of 49 Queen's Gate Terrace.
 

Thursday 12th:
On Thursday I performed the Hummel Trumpet Concerto in Eb Major as part of the Southbank Sinfonia's 'Concerto Day'. This is an opportunity for supporters and new members of the orchestra to meet and perform to each other in a friendly and relaxed environment. It was a fantastic day and has made me even more excited to start the programme in January!


Friday 13th:
On Friday evening I decided to go and watch a concert at St James's Piccadilly. One of the items in the programme was a world premiere performance of Stephen Dodgson's Songs of the Heart. The performance (by the New London Singers) was absolutely brilliant and I feel so sad that Stephen never had a chance to hear these songs performed live during his lifetime.
I have a special connection to Stephen Dodgson; he wrote me a trumpet concerto in 2011, and it turned out to be the last piece he wrote before he died. I will be performing Dodgson's Trumpet Concerto at St James's Piccadilly on Wednesday 9th December as part of the Park Lane Group recital series. Click here for more details. 
 

Saturday 14th:
Last night I played in a concert in Parsons Green with the Fulham Camerata. It was a concert of French music, with performances of both the Duruflé and Fauré Requiems. Playing a concert of music by two Parisian composers felt particularly poignant in light of this week's tragic events in Paris. A minute's silence at the start of the concert encouraged the audience, orchestra and choir to reflect on the terrible situation there and resulted in an incredibly moving performance.
 

Sunday 15th:
This afternoon I enjoyed a rehearsal with the girls from Bella Tromba. I am currently stepping in for Vickie, who has just had a baby, and we have an upcoming recital in Steyning at the end of the month. Today was a perfect opportunity to run through the programme and it provided a fun end to my wonderful, music-filled week!

Kristian Steenstrup at Parkers

I had a fantastic time at Phil Parker Ltd brass shop today, having a lesson with Danish trumpet/breathing guru Kristian Steenstrup.

We spent the hour doing a range of breathing exercises and putting the new techniques into practice in the Hummel Trumpet Concerto.

One of Kristian's main points was that you can't pick and choose where your air goes when you breathe in. So if you take a good enough breath, you don't need to worry about where in the body it goes!

He advocates putting a finger to your lips, breathing in with a 'Woah' sound and breathing out with a 'Toh'. If you keep the lips in the shape of your normal embouchure, the finger acts like the mouthpiece. It is important that the corners of your lips are relaxed when you breathe in, but that you don't open your mouth much wider to take in the air.

Phil Parker Ltd Brass Shop, London

Two of the most helpful things I learnt today:

1. Always think about using a thick column of air - even when playing piano. It doesn't always have to be fast air, just free-flowing. We spent time feeling the desired airflow on the back of my hand, which helped me enormously when transferring this idea to the trumpet.

2. Posture is so important when playing - keep the 'S' shape in your back and don't slouch when standing or sitting to play. The ribs are then all free to move when you breathe and you can take in a greater capacity of air. It may feel silly/uncomfortable at first, but it won't look it in the mirror.

I now have the challenge of making these new ideas into new habits. It is going to be really important that I do Kristian's breathing exercises a few times each day, so that I start training my brain away from my old habits. I'm looking forward to spending the next week away in Llandeilo, where I can both relax and put Kristian's teaching into practice by breathing in lots of fresh Welsh air!

Fiendish Fantasy and Southbank Success

This week I performed Malcolm Arnold's Fantasy for Bb Trumpet at an Arnold celebration concert in Oxford. I've never performed the piece in public before, so it was a daunting but exciting prospect and one that, thankfully, went well! Arnold's daughter and son-in-law were in the audience and the Fantasy provided the perfect opening to the concert.

The Fantasy is technically demanding in many ways, not least because it is unaccompanied and very exposed. Arnold was a great trumpeter himself (he was Principal Trumpet of both the LPO and BBC Symphony Orchestra) and so he writes very idiomatically for the instrument. Did you know: Arnold was conscripted to the military band during the Second World War, but quite literally shot himself in the foot so that he could return to civilian life!

The piece opens boldly and within the first four bars you find yourself already in the depths of the trumpet's register... Then immediately leaping up two octaves! The following main section is a very fast and fiddly passage, involving rapid scales and a lot of double tonguing. This was, unsurprisingly, the most difficult part to master. However on the night I actually relished the opportunity to whizz around on the instrument and just have fun with it. 

In amongst all the "chaos", the piece finds calm just in time, with a beautiful melody and soft dynamics. There is a moment's silence before the closing Maestoso fanfare which ends the work with big leaping intervals, fast ascending scales and a final ritardando. 

When I first started working on the Fantasy, I struggled to see past the technical difficulties and the sheer volume of notes played in such a short space of time! However the more I got to know it, the more I heard it (and played it) as a tune and this made it much more workable and more rewarding to perform. 

I am hoping to put up a recording of the Fantasy soon, so keep your eyes peeled on my Sounds page for this... However you can find Angela Whelan's recording on YouTube, which I enjoyed and found helpful to listen to. You can also follow the music along on her video whilst listening.

Finally I received some exciting news this week, which is that I have been offered a place for the Southbank Sinfonia 2016! I am delighted to be part of such an inspiring orchestra and I look forward to taking up my position in January. Look out for Southbank Sinfonia events on my Concerts page in the New Year...

Chamber Music Galore!

The start of October has been full of exciting chamber music.

On Sunday 4th October, I spent a lovely, sunny afternoon in Surrey, performing at Pilgrim Harps. I was playing in a duo with harpist Olivia Jageurs at the shop's Open Day event and the audience seemed to very much enjoy ourunique arrangements of jazz standards and pop songs!

The performance tent and audience at the Pilgrim Harps Open Day

On Tuesday 6th, I performed a lunchtime trio recital with
Rupert Whitehead (trombone) and Jennifer Hughes (piano).

The recital took place in the beautiful church of St Paul's, Bedford and our programme included a range of works, from the World Premiere of Simon Hancock's Fanfare to the Castérède Concertino, two solo works by Philippe Gaubert and Koetsier's Gran Concerto. The concert was our first outing as a trio and was a resounding success! We look forward to returning to St Paul's later in the year and to performing more recitals together soon.

The next chamber music activity of my week didn't actually involve any playing, but instead I showed off my trumpet in front of a camera! I was asked to do a photoshoot for the new branding of the Faust Ensemble, founded and conducted by Mark Austin. It was great fun and I'll be sure to post the results of the shoot on here soon...

Finally I am looking forward to ending my week with a performance of Mozart's Requiem in D minor, conducted by Max Barley. Despite the trumpet parts for this piece looking a little bare, it is a great work to perform and the trumpets enjoy particular prominence in the Dies Irae. For more details of this concert, please click here.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Preparing for my Southbank Sinfonia Audition

On Thursday 10th September, I auditioned for the Southbank Sinfonia.

The audition requirements were:
- Haydn or Hummel Trumpet Concertos - First movement only
- An accompanied piece of your choice
- Selected Orchestral Excerpts
- Sight Reading

For my pieces, I chose to prepare the first movement of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto and Cantabile et Scherzetto by Philippe Gaubert. I have played these pieces numerous times with my pianist, Jennifer Hughes, so I knew that I'd feel comfortable and confident performing them again with her.

The orchestral excerpts given were from Carmen by Bizet, Don Quixote by Strauss, Stravinsky's Pulcinella, the opening of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.4 and also the final aria from J.S Bach's Christmas Oratorio (for the piccolo trumpet).

I decided that I wanted to organise a lesson with someone prior to my audition, so I contacted Kate Moore (Principal Trumpet of the BBC Concert Orchestra). I met up with Kate at Maida Vale Studios in London and we had a fantastic lesson, covering most of the audition repertoire together. 

Maida Vale Studios, London

For the Haydn, Kate encouraged me to play the Eb trumpet as if it were a bigger trumpet and to generally play with a fuller, more orchestral sound, as that is what the panel would be looking for. With regards to the excerpts, Kate's main words of advice were to really connect the notes (particularly in the low register for Carmen) like a string of pearls - the notes are the pearls and your air is the string going through them all - and to really sing out the big melodies (like in Don Quixote). 

Another really helpful point which Kate made was to not over-think each excerpt. It is certainly easier said than done - especially in an audition situation! - but one can actually end up achieving "paralysis by analysis". The more relaxed and cool-minded you can be, trusting in what you already know about playing your instrument, the better. I came away from the lesson with a real boost of confidence and was glad to have a few days left to put what Kate had said into practice.

Two days before my audition, I had a mock audition with my boyfriend, Rupert, who is a trombone player. Although I wasn't feeling quite the same levels of nervousness and pressure as I would do for the real thing, it was a perfect opportunity to practise playing how I wanted to in the audition - this time in the great acoustic of St Matthew's Church, Surbiton. Rupert gave me a lot of useful feedback and I spent the next day doing minimal playing but a lot of visualisation, working out exactly how I wanted to play each piece or excerpt. 

Inside St Matthew's Church, Surbiton

On the day of the audition, I was feeling pretty nervous, but tried to hold on to the confidence I had gained from my lesson with Kate and my run-through with Rupert. I knew that, now, I just needed to trust in my preparation. The audition itself was at St John's Waterloo, lasting 15 minutes and was to a panel of four people. It went well overall and I was just relieved for the audition to finally be done!

St John's Waterloo

I was thrilled to hear the next day that the panel had enjoyed my playing and that I had been offered a Second-Round Interview. It was a great feeling to know that my practice and preparation had paid off just when I needed it to. So now to prepare for my interview... Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly!

St Endellion Summer Music Festival 2015

This summer I spent two weeks playing as Principal Trumpet at the St Endellion Summer Music Festival (26th July - 8th August). When I was first asked to play, I was unsure of what to expect, as I knew barely anything about the Festival. However I had a good friend who had performed at the Festival numerous times, and so it was on her recommendation that I decided to give it a chance.  

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Panoramic view of Polzeath Beath, 6:30am

I could never have imagined what an incredible time I would have - meeting new friends, performing alongside world renowned soloists and conductors and doing all of this in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. 

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Aidan Oliver rehearsing the Endellion Strings

Over the two weeks, I performed in seven concerts:

Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5 (Emperor) - Soloist: Charles Owen / Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle

Haydn The Creation - in both St Endellion Church and Truro Cathedral

Vaughan Williams Shakespeare Songs / Elgar Sea Pictures - Soloist: Roderick Williams / Dvořak Symphony No.8

St Endellion Brass & The Fisherman's Friends (Late Night Concert)

Mussorgsky Boris Godunov (Two performances in St Endellion Church)

Conductors: Martyn Brabbins / Aidan Oliver

Soloists: Sir John Tomlinson (as Boris Godunov) / Mark Padmore / Roderick Williams / Brindley Sherratt / Rachel Nicholls / David Butt Philip / Pamela Helen Stephen / Matthew Brook / Alison Rose / Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts / Lucy Hall

St Endellion Church

Each day we had a morning rehearsal from 9.30-1.00pm and then we were free for the afternoon. Every evening, we all ate dinner together (cooked by an incredibly hard-working kitchen team) and this would then be followed by either an evening rehearsal or a (sold out) concert. One of the most special aspects of the concerts at Endellion was the intimacy of the performances. Space in the church is limited and so, in the opera in particular, the staging is in amongst the audience and the orchestra. It was such an exciting feeling to be sitting so close to the singers as they performed and to feel so drawn into the action.

Glebe Farm - the Endellion Festival Site

A new addition to this year's Festival was 'Project Awesome' an exercise regime consisting of runs, circuits and swimming in the sea at a variety of North Cornish beaches - all at 6:30am! P.A. would happen on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and was organised by harpist Olivia Jageurs. It was a gruelling start to the day, however the struggle to get up was always made completely worthwhile by the stunning scenery and having the beaches all to ourselves. 

Project Awesome taking a rest (we even had Roddy Williams (in yellow) joining us!

As the Endellion Festival is now in its 57th year, there are many people who have been going for a number of years and this certainly creates a family-feel at the Festival. This could seem intimidating to a newcomer, however it could not have been a more welcoming and friendly environment and everyone made it so easy to get to know each other. The social element of Endellion was fantastic and we enjoyed a barn dance, a post-concert curry, a Festival party and many trips to the local pub!

The Cornish Arms, Pendoggett

British Tenor, Mark Padmore, is the Artistic Director of the Festival and it was his words of welcome in the Festival Programme that I found most perfectly summed up the whole Endellion experience for me:

"Enthusiasm is a very apt word to describe the spirit of the St Endellion Summer Festival - not cool, or trendy or ironic, but signalling an inspirational desire to do something for the love of it. It is worth reiterating that nobody gets paid a penny for performing at the Festival. The players in the orchestra and the singers in the chorus all contribute to the costs of accommodation and they throw themselves into long rehearsals because something special occurs when music is made like this. 
We reconnect with a basic instinct and motivation and discover that there are things that are more important than the glamour and rewards of professional success. The Festival has once again been able to assemble a case of singers for the grand opera that any company in the world would be proud to engage and they will be performing quite literally in our midst - where else would you be able to hear Sir John Tomlinson's Boris Godunov at a distance of a few feet?

The Festival is deliberately run without subsidy or sponsorship so that we have no obligations to do anything other than the joy of community as expressed in music. We don't invite critics or journalists and are therefore not distracted by judgement or praise. I believe that this creates an extraordinary opportunity for performance and audience alike to experience music in a rare and special way - without the polish and glitz of the metropolitan concert hall - but perfectly fitting the rough, honest beauty of the church where we perform and the magnificent landscape in which it is found".

Early morning at Port Gavern

St Albans International Organ Festival

On Monday 13th July, 2015, I performed at the St Albans International Organ Festival, along with other members of the Royal Academy's Brass and Percussion departments.

The concert involved three choirs:
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
Westminster Cathedral
St Albans Cathedral

The vocal music performed included works by Taverner, Fayrfax, Tallis, Byrd, Guerrero, Bruckner and Pärt. 

The highlight of the concert for me was the performance of Tu es Petrus & Fanfare by James MacMillan. This work was originally composed for the Pope's visit to Westminster Cathedral in 2010. Macmillan's writing is perfect for a space like St Albans Cathedral, with the thundering sound of the organ, brass and percussion resonating around the building. I particularly loved the moment just before we performed this piece - looking out into the audience, and seeing that they had no idea of what they were about to experience! 

St Albans Cathedral organ

We also performed arrangements of works by Gabrieli in two different brass quartets. The counterpoint was very effective in the cathedral and it was a pleasure to perform chamber music in a such a beautiful place. 

St Albans Cathedral has the longest nave of any cathedral in England (84 metres!), so it was great to have an audience of over 800 people filling every corner. This was an incredibly exciting concert to be a part of, and poignant for me in that it was my last engagement as a student at the Royal Academy of Music.