Imogen Whitehead - Making a Connection on the trumpet

In-demand trumpeter Imogen Whitehead – the principal trumpet of Britten Sinfonia – has just released her debut solo album, Connection, and will also be coming to our region later this month for a concert.

Connection, released on 25 April, was inspired by Imogen’s personal relationship with each of the composers whose work she showcases on the new album.

She gave a special live performance of it at a launch concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on Tuesday, 6 May, with the five living composers whose work is featured on the record in attendance.

And speaking of live performance, Imogen, a Royal Academy of Music graduate, will be appearing alongside Britten Sinfonia later this month at Saffron Hall, performing Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto.

“The Hummel and the Haydn are the two most famous trumpet concertos in the classical repertoire,” explains Imogen, speaking to the Cambridge Independent from her home in Raynes Park, London, “so it’s such a treat to get to play that with my orchestra.”

On the subject of the new LP, Imogen – hailed as “splendidly sonorous” by The Telegraph – says: “I’m self-releasing this album and it’s a heck of a lot of work doing it yourself and not through a label. It’s been a steep learning curve...

“But I’ve got these eight pieces, each of which are really personal to me, so that’s why I’ve called the album ‘Connection’ – because of my personal connection to the composers and the pieces.

“And I decided I wanted it to be a visual as well as an audio release, so I made videos of each of the recording sessions and also a music video of one of the pieces for YouTube.”

The album contains pieces by seven composers, spread out over eight tracks (two of them are by the same composer).

“The two composers no longer alive were both fairly eminent,” notes Imogen, who started her musical journey with piano lessons at the age of “four or five”.

“There’s Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016), who was Master of the Queen’s Music at one point, and Stephen Dodgson (1924-2013), who was quite local to me, actually.

“Sadly they’ve both passed away, but the composers who are still living are pretty famous as well.

“There’s Sally Beamish and Roxanna Panufnik, who are both very well-known composers.

“Then I’ve got a composer called Charlotte Harding, who’s a younger composer, but is doing great things (including a commission for this year’s BBC Proms), and Andy Scott, a Manchester-based jazz saxophone player and composer.

“I arranged a piece of his for the flugelhorn, which is the other instrument I play, and then there’s a piece by my dad.

“Not as eminent a composer, but obviously a very special connection to me.”

Interestingly, four of the album’s tracks were recorded at Stapleford Granary in Cambridge.

“The pianist who I play with regularly, Jennifer Walsh, lives near Saffron Walden,” recalls Imogen, who, while learning the trumpet, was inspired by fellow trumpeter and three-time Classic BRIT Award-winner Alison Balsom – someone she now calls a friend.

“As Jennifer has got two young children, I was happy to travel to her... She suggested Stapleford Granary, and it was such a great venue – so beautiful, with great acoustics.

“[Stapleford Granary’s] chief executive and artistic director Kate Romano was really accommodating and it was a brilliant place to go.

“I hired it as a recording studio but I’d like to do a concert there one day too.”

Imogen comments on her role as principal trumpet with Britten Sinfonia, a chamber orchestra ensemble based in Cambridge and founded in 1992: “It’s been so exciting having this position at Britten Sinfonia,” she says.

“And when I was appointed to that position, to my knowledge it had been almost two decades since a woman was given a job in any trumpet section in a major UK orchestra.

“It’s been a very long time, so it felt like a bit of a turning point – and actually since then, there have maybe been three or four women who’ve been appointed to positions [in trumpet sections] in orchestras across the country.

“It feels like things are starting to change in a really exciting way.”

Imogen will be performing with Britten Sinfonia at Saffron Hall on Monday, 26 May.

Tickets, priced £13-£37 (concessions are also available), can be purchased from brittensinfonia.com/events/britten-sinfonia-with-imogen-whitehead.

For more on Imogen, go to imogenwhiteheadtrumpet.com.