Anthony Thompson
began his musical training at the Salvation Army in Castleford, Yorkshire,
progressing through a music scholarship to Ackworth School and then
to Hull University where he graduated with an Honours Degree in Music.
Following a year of postgraduate trumpet studies at the Royal Scottish
Academy of Music and Drama, and two years as Music Director to the Salvation
Army in Texas, Anthony is now one of the busiest trumpeters in the North
of England. This includes work with the Manchester Camerata and Northern
Sinfonia (including principal), Aldeburgh Music Society (including soloist),
Opera North, English National Orchestra, North of England Chamber Orchestra,
Manchester Concert Orchestra, Northern Ballet, London Gala Orchestra,
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, joining Orichalcum Classic Brass,
Harlequin Brass and the English Brass Consort, and the European Concert
Orchestra which has involved recording sessions with Don Lusher, Kenny
Baker, Claire Sweeney and Shirley Bassey amongst others.
In addition, he has been a member of the Britten-Pears
Orchestra and Baroque Orchestra, and has performed with the Fine Arts
Brass Ensemble, Lesley Garrett and The Sixteen with Harry Christophers.
As a soloist, Anthony has toured extensively throughout the UK, USA
and Brazil, and has also appeared in Holland, Norway, Canada, Costa
Rica, Guatemala and Mexico. In addition to his own solo work and masterclasses,
Anthony appears regularly on BBC Radio 4's Daily Service and BBC Television's
Songs of Praise. He has recorded a solo album of varied Classical works.
With organist Gordon Stewart he gave the first performance
of Andrew Carter's Petite Suite, which they then took on tour in the
United States. Anthony is becoming well known for the wide range of
instruments he plays in concerts everything from didgeridoo and conch
shell to comet, flugel horn, natural and piccolo trumpets!
Gordon Stewartwas
born in Dundee, Scotland and studied at the Royal Manchester College
of Music and the Geneva Conservatoire, gaining a performers' diploma
with the distinction from the former and a premier prix de virtuosité
from the latter. His teachers included Gillian Weir and Lionel Rogg.
He was, for eleven years, organist of Manchester Cathedral and has,
for the past thirteen years, been Borough Organist of Kirklees, where
he plays the magnificent Father Willis organ in Huddersfield Town Hall.
Organ playing has taken him to countries across Europe
and to the USA, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. His repertoire
is large and covers all the major schools of organ composition including
works written for him by Lionel Rogg, Noel Rawsthorne, Michael Ball,
Dick Koomans and Alan Spedding.
He is Director of the Royal School of Church Music Millennium
Youth Choir and one of the regular musical directors for BBC Radio 4's
Daily Service and television's Songs of Praise. Gordon has appeared
as concerto soloist with the BBC Philharmonic, the Halle, Northern Chamber
and Camerata orchestras, and has recorded on the Lammas, Priory, Ambient,
Foxglove and OxRec labels.
Gordon is much in demand as a teacher and adjudicator
and has given Master Classes for the Royal College of Organists, the
St Giles Organ School, the Royal College of Music, the IAO, the Oundle
Organ School, and Gothenburg University. He is a Past President of the
Incorporated Association of Organists and was recently elected a Fellow
of the Royal School of Church Music.
Programme
Martini Toccata
Telemann Concerto in D
Bach Prelude and Fugue in G
Andrew Carter Petite Suite
Festival - Wisteria - Scherzo
Rawsthorne Fantasia on Wachet auf!
Hartmann Theme and Variations on La Belle Americaine
Louis Vierne Impromptu
Stephen Bulla Blessed Assurance