Alison Balsom

World-renowned classical trumpeter and teacher at London's Guildhall School, Alison Balsom is an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). Born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire (UK) on October 7, 1978, Alison Louise Balsom developed a passion for the trumpet as a child, taking her first lessons at the age of seven. She played in a local brass band, the Royston Town Band, before joining the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the age of fifteen, and studying at the Guildhall School in London, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and the Conservatoire de Paris with Håkan Hardenberger. A professional musician since 2001, the year she graduated from the Guildhall School, the trumpeter signed with the EMI Classics label to record the albums Music for Trumpet and Organ with Quentin Thomas (2001), Bach: Works for Trumpet (2005), which won a Classical Brit Award, Caprice (2006) with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner and Haydn - Hummel: Trumpet Concertos (2008). Invited to Prom Night 2009, Alison Balsom teaches at London's Guildhall School and is principal trumpet with the London Chamber Orchestra. She has premiered works by Qigang Chen and Guy Barker and, in addition to the baroque recital Sound the Trumpet - Royal Music of Purcell & Handel with Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert (2012), has recorded for Warner Classics: Italian Concertos (2010), Paris (2014), Jubilo: Bach, Corelli, Torelli, Fasch (2016), Légende - Works for Trumpet & Piano with Tom Poster (2017) and Quiet City (2022). In 2014, ten years after benefiting from the BBC Radio 3 Generation Artist program, she presented the radio show with classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglić. An Officer of the Order of the British Empire since 2016, Alison Balsom or Lady Mendes after her 2017 marriage to director Sam Mendes, was appointed Artistic Director of the Cheltenham Festival in 2019 but relinquished this role to focus on her career.