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 We are delighted to welcome Alison Balsom as our first Honorary President. Alison has cemented an international reputation as one of classical music's great ambassadors. She was named Best Young British Performer at the 2006 Classical BRITs and was honoured with the Classic FM Listener's Award at the September 2006 Gramophone Awards. In 2007 the Klassik Echo Awards named her "Rising Artist of the Year" and she took "Best 18th Century Concerto Recording" in 2009. Alison become the first ever Briton to be crowned "Female Artist of the Year" at the 2009 Classical BRITs.
Highlights of the 2009/10 season include performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras; she will also tour with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Dresdner Kapellsolisten and Alison's own Balsom Ensemble. Recent debuts have included appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Japan and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. In September 2009 Alison headlined classical music's most celebrated concert – The Last Night of the BBC Proms – which reached its biggest ever global audience.
Whilst represented by the Young Concert Artists Trust, Alison caught the ear of EMI Classics with whom she now records exclusively. Her internationally celebrated Bach Trumpet and Organ disc of 2005 was quickly followed by the Caprice album which won her further critical acclaim. Alison's most recent recording features Haydn and Hummel's Trumpet Concertos. Under the auspices of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, Alison performed at the Wigmore Hall and with all of the BBC orchestras.
In 2009 Alison became an ambassador for the international charity War Child and upcoming seasons will see her curate concerts with some of the world's most celebrated artists from both classical and popular culture to raise funding and awareness for the charity.
Alison studied trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music, the Paris Conservatoire, and with Håkan Hardenberger. She was previously a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Alison was a concerto finalist in the BBC Young Musicians Competition in 1998 and received the Feeling Musique Prize for quality of sound in the 4th Maurice André International Trumpet Competition. She is Visiting Professor of Trumpet to the Guildhall School of Music. Alison performs a wide range of recital and concerto repertoire, from Albinoni to Zimmermann and performs on both modern and baroque trumpets.
For further details please visit www.alisonbalsom.com
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"She makes the trumpet sing with an irresistible exuberance and eloquence."
– Richard Morrison, The Times, September 2008
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