Alison Balsom

September 27, 2009 Irish Chamber Orchestra Cork, Ireland Concert
September 26, 2009 Irish Chamber Orchestra Dublin, Ireland Concert
Setpember 24, 2009 Irish Chamber Orchestra Limerick, Ireland Concert

Alison Balsom 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 Echo Klassik Awards hailed her "Rising Artist of the Year" and in 2009 she became the first ever Briton to be crowned "Female Artist of the Year" at the Classical BRITs.

Whilst represented by the Young Concert Artists Trust, Alison caught the ear of EMI Classics, with whom she 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 which includes the gems of the trumpet repertoire, the Haydn and Hummel's Trumpet Concertos was named among the 24 records of 2008 by the New York Times.

Under the auspices of BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme, Alison performed at the Wigmore Hall and with all of the BBC orchestras. Recent debuts included appearances with the Los Angeles, Japan and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras, the San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre de Paris and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin.

09/10 highlights include performances and with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Queensland and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras as well as tours with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Dresdner Kapellsolisten and Alison's own Balsom Ensemble. Alison headlined classical music's most celebrated concert - The Last Night of the Proms in September 2009 which reached its biggest ever global audience of an estimated 150 million.

In 2009 Alison became an ambassador for the international charity War Child and in November 2009 she will curate a ground breaking concert at London's Bloomsbury Ballroom bringing together 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 Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of 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
http://www.alisonbalsom.com/bio/