Alison Louise Balsom (born 7 October 1978, Hertfordshire) is an English trumpet soloist.
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She attended the Tannery Drift Primary School, then the Greneway Middle School and the Meridian School, all in Royston, Hertfordshire. She took her A levels at the Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge.
She played in her local brass band, the Royston Town Band.
She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the Conservatoire de Paris, and also with Håkan Hardenberger.
Balsom has been a professional classical trumpeter since 2001. She is a former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist,[1] and she released her debut album with EMI Classics in 2002. In 2005, she released her second disc, "Bach Works for Trumpet" as part of a contract with EMI Classics. In 2006, Alison won 'Young British Classical Performer' at the 2006 Classical BRIT Awards and was awarded the 'Classic FM Listeners' Choice Award' at the Classic FM Gramophone Awards. She won 'Female Artist of the Year' at the 2009 Classical BRIT Awards. Her third album (the second disc in the EMI contract), "Caprice" was released in September 2006 and was awarded 'Solo CD of the Year 2006' by Brass Band World magazine. Alison was a soloist at the 2009 Last Night of the Proms, performing, among other pieces, Haydn's Trumpet Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a jazz oriented arrangement of George Gershwin's "They Can't Take That Away from Me" with mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly.
Balsom is the principal trumpet of the London Chamber Orchestra. Her main trumpet is a Malone-converted Bach C Trumpet.
Since 2006 she has been Professor of Trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Aside from music, Balsom has a keen interest in yachting.[2] She is reported to have had a brief relationship with the violinist Maxim Vengerov in 2007, and since early 2009 has been dating British conductor, Edward Gardner.[2][3]
Alison Balsom (born 1978, Hertfordshire) is an English trumpeter. She grew up in Royston, Hertfordshire in England. She studied the trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Paris Conservatory, and also with Håkan Hardenberger. She is a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. She has made three CD albums with EMI Classics and has been described by many as the best trumpeter of the young generation.
The BBC Music Magazine cover disc for December 2010 has: Haydn & Hummel concertos (not the 2008 EMI recordings); Albinoni's Oboe Concerto Op. 9 No. 2, transcribed for trumpet; and Vivaldi's Violin Concerto Op. 3 No. 9, arranged for trumpet and instrumental trio.
   | Official website - Alison Balsom - trumpeter, concert and recording artist |
| | Caprice album microsite - Alison Balsom: Caprice |
| | Alison Balsom on MySpace - Alison Balsom on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads |
| | Alison Balsom videos on YouTube - YouTube - alison balsom |
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