Alison Balsom

Solista

Alison Balsom has 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. Currently, she is a 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.

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. 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.