Alison Balsom launches Bristol Proms with Paddington Station fanfare
4 March 2015, 09:59 | Updated: 5 January 2017, 16:34
Trumpeter Alison Balsom has signalled the launch of this year's Bristol Proms with a spectacular fanfare performance at London's Paddington Station.
Appearing with fellow trumpeters Adam Wright and Niall Keatley, Balsom played for commuters at Paddington, the main London terminal those heading to and from Bristol by train.
It's a fanfare to herald the 2015 #BristolProms at #Paddington Station... pic.twitter.com/EwDrhNPBF6
— Classic FM (@ClassicFM) March 4, 2015
Balsom told Classic FM: "The Bristol Proms is completely visionary. They're presenting music at the highest level and they're not dumbing it down at all, and yet it's being presented in a really unexpected way.
"It's going to be a real hot ticket. I'm incredibly excited to be playing."
Bristol Proms 2015: full line-up and tickets from £5
The Bristol Proms, now in its third year, will feature concerts from Alison Balsom herself, Daniel Hope, Pumeza Matshikiza, Miloš Karadaglić and many more. Concerts will run from July 27 - August 1 2015.
Conductor Charles Hazlewood, who will be performing with Pumeza Matshikiza, was also in attendance: "There's a kinetic energy to that space, The Old Vic is like a magnet for goodness. It just sucks great things out of people.
"I think every artist that plays in there, whatever they do, they perform beyond their normal expectations."
Commenting on the acoustic of Paddington station for trumpeters, Balsom also told Classic FM: "We love playing in places like stations because there's this beautiful reverberant acoustic that makes you sound very heroic and grand, much more fun than playing in a really dead space with lots of velvet curtains. I'd do a concert here every week!"
All concerts will take place, as usual, in the Bristol Old Vic, and have been curated by the artists and the venue's artistic director, Tom Morris, who was also at Paddington Station to lend his support.
Also announced as part of the unveiling was a brand-new competition to celebrate the Bristol Proms' launch - a competition to compose a new fanfare especially for the event.
