Page 43 - Alison Balsom Quiet City FULL BOOK

really important voice in seventeenth-century London and the
seventeenth-century as a whole.

I would often have an actor who was the character version of what I

was doing. They would stand me, and I would play whilst they would
act. I wasn’t expected to do any serious acting. I did a little bit of

acting, but I wasn’t a pivotal character as an actor; I was a pivotal

character as a trumpet player!

It was also great to work in a different medium where the standard of
musical performance was paramount and had to be top-notch, but it

wasn’t just about the sound of the music; it was also about the visuals.

It was also about the interaction with the actors, interacting with the

crowd, playing outside, and all sorts of things that none of us had
really thought that much about before, without compromising the

musical performance in any way. So that’s a long-winded answer.

We later did a concert performance of it, which was less successful as
it was on a concert stage and there was a lot of talking which worked

less well compared to a theatre. But essentially, it was really fun to

pull it all back together in a semi-staged capacity. Whether or not we
do it again, or whether we just try and come up with something

completely in the future… Your guess is as good as mine! Never say

never — I’m always open to the idea of cross-pollination of the arts.

You are one of the most successful trumpet soloists in history. You

won competitions and awards and performed with some of the best

ensembles in the world. You are also one of the first female trumpet
players to achieve such success. Could you talk about the challenges

you had to overcome as a young female artist in a field that was and

is still male-dominated?

I think that I was really fortunate in that I decided at a young age that I

wanted to be a soloist. Being a soloist is relatively meritocratic. You’re
only as good as your last gig, and I also spent two years when I was