David took up the trumpet aged nine following in the footsteps of his grandfather who was a bandmaster in the Northeast. He started his musical life playing in brass bands and went on to join the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra.

After studying at the Royal College of Music with Michael Laird he went on to become Principal Trumpet with the English Baroque Soloists and Sir John Elliot Gardiner, The Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. David has toured the world and has recorded many of the great solo trumpet masterpieces in the repertoire with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Roger Norrington, Stephen Cleobury Trevor Pinnock, Franz Bruggen and Yannick Nezet-Sequin. He has also recorded alongside some of the world’s leading singers including Kiri Te Kanawa, Rene Fleming and Elin Manahan Thomas with whom he performed at the Royal Wedding in 2018 to a live global audience of 1.9 billion.

Phillip began his musical life in Bedfordshire where he took up the trumpet at the age of nine under Terry Hext and went on to join the Bedford Youth Orchestra and Bedford Town Band.

Since studying with Michael Laird at the Royal College of Music Phillip has been busy as a freelance player and has performed with some of the finest modern and period instrument orchestras including the London Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the English Baroque Soloists, working with many top conductors such as Rattle, Elder, Hogwood, Norrington, Gardiner, Mackerras, Jurowski, Jansons and Gergiev.

Phillip is the sub-principal trumpet with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Academy of Ancient Music with whom he has toured extensively, participating in numerous recordings for CD, television, radio and video.

Emily grew up in Northampton and began playing the trumpet as part of the Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust.

She went on to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she had the opportunity to play in numerous ensembles alongside educational schemes with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia and has worked professionally with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Knussen Chamber Orchestra, British Sinfonietta and English National Opera.

It was at the RWCMD that she was introduced to the Cornett by Jeremy West. After picking it up in 2016, Emily has now played with His Majesty’s Cornetts and Sagbuts, Girton College Choir and as part of the Bach the European series at the Royal Academy of Music conducted by John Butt.

She is now a final year trumpet scholar studying for her Master of Arts at the Royal Academy of Music.

Gavin Edwards graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied horn with Richard Bissell, Anthony Chiddel and natural horn with Anthony Halstead.

After graduating he was appointed as principal horn of the Orchestre Sinfonica de Tenerife, returning to England shortly after to join the Hanover Band in their recordings of Beethoven’s, Schubert’s and Haydn’s symphonies.

He is regular principal horn for many period ensembles, including The Hanover Band, the English Baroque Soloists, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Mozartists and Capella Cracoviensis in Poland.

Hailing from New Zealand, London-based musician Isaac Shieh has truly made Europe his own, with an extensive list of performances across the vast continent. Regarded as one of his generation’s leading exponents on period horn playing and an ‘era-defining’ musician, his work takes him around the globe, exploring repertoire and instruments from early 18th Century through to the present day.

In 2018, Isaac was on trial with the Paris-based contemporary ensemble Le Concert Impromptu, regarded by the Washington Post as ‘the finest French wind quintet’, before becoming Co-Principal of the Oxford Bach Soloists, regular guest of the Haydn Philharmonie and member of Paraorchestra. In addition, Isaac works regularly with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, and Chineke! Orchestra amongst others. He has also performed as a soloist at the British Horn Society Festival Gala Concert and in front of HRH Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall at Llwynywermod.

Phil was born into a coal mining family in Nottinghamshire and began his musical life at the age of 11 playing Trombone for The Hucknall and Linby Miners Welfare Band and later had a short stint down the coal mine himself.

After auditioning at The Royal Academy of Music, Phil was offered a scholarship and it was here that Phil began to research and explore period instruments and historically informed performance. Since leaving RAM he has performed and recorded with many leading specialist period instrument orchestras and ensembles.

He currently holds the position of Principal Trombone with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Co Principal Trombone with The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century (Amsterdam).

Andrew Kershaw is a performer on Tuba and related historic instruments, conductor and teacher, playing with symphony orchestras, film and TV recordings, theatre productions and brass ensembles. His musical education was at the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College of Music.

After Graduating he was appointed principal Tuba of the Opera House in Santiago, Chile, and then returned to the UK in 2007 to build a freelance career. Andy has played with many of the country's top orchestras including The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The Halle and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also regularly played for the West End production of Chicago and now performs at The Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe.

Andrew has a keen interest in historical performance, playing ophicleide, serpents and many other low historical brasses and runs Queen Victoria’s Consort. He has also performed with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, appearing on the BBC documentary The Symphony, and with the Gabrieli Consort, including at the BBC Proms. He also enjoys the lighter side of music performance having toured the UK and USA with pop legend Elton John. Recent engagements have been with Chineke!, London Mozart Players and William Kentridge’s ‘.The Head and the Load’.

Rachel was born in Yorkshire and began her musical life in the Brass Band world, and at age 15 was the first woman to be invited to join the Hammonds Sauce Works Brass Band.

She went on to study at the Royal College of Music and in 1988 Rachel won the silver medal in the Shell LSO competition. After freelancing with a wide variety of orchestras and ensembles including ballet, opera, chamber and West End, she joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992 and became Principal Percussion two years later.

Whilst at the LPO, in addition to working with many of the great conductors on the concert platform and at Glyndebourne Opera, Rachel enjoyed inspiring collaborations with some leading jazz artists such as Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, Ray Brown and Kenny Wheeler. She has also been involved in numerous recordings for feature films including Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Batman.

In 2011 Rachel was appointed Section Principal Percussion with the Royal Opera House.

She now holds a teaching post at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is enjoying a varied freelance career.

Rachel is also a keen composer and has recently been invited to write for the ABRSM percussion syllabus.

Adrian Woodward studied at Trinity, the Royal College of Music and Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel.

He plays and records on the cornetto and natural trumpet with the Gabrieli, Kings Consort and the education band of the OAE.

He’s interested in improvising in music from the 17th century, up to and including jazz, following the sources by Farburden, Falsobordoni, Lusitano, and several bebop musicians, on cornetto and the modern trumpet with High Wire Baroque. Adrian has been the MD for 4 artistic directors at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, playing in award winning productions with Mark Rylance, Stephen Fry and other celebrity actors. He often gets called upon to play unusual instruments at the Globe, such as the Hang (Drum), hammered dulcimer, hurdy- gurdy, navalur, renaissance and Greek bagpipes. He’s looking forward to being the MD for a new production of King Lear in the Summer.

Born and raised in Dublin, Conor studied modern trumpet at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. During his studies he stumbled across the Cornetto and historical performance practice. Following initial instruction with Jeremy West he went on to study the Cornetto at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Bruce Dickey and Frithjof Smith.

Since graduating from the Schola Cantorum Conor has performed and recorded all over the globe with some of the world’s leading ensembles including The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble (of which he is a member), I Fagiolini, Concerto Copenhagen, The Globe Theatre, The Gabrieli Consort and Players, Göteborg Baroque, His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts, Sestina (with which he has served as musical advisor and editor), The English Concert, La Nuova Musica and In Echo to name but a few.

Conor is dedicated to bringing the Cornetto and early music to wider audiences in Ireland, including serving as musical advisor to the Irish vocal ensemble Resurgam, with whom he has performed all over Ireland with The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble.

Horn player Peter Moutoussis recently completed a Masters of Music in Performance with distinction at the Royal College of Music, studying with Simon Rayner, Jeffrey Bryant and Timothy Jones. He previously gained a first-class Bachelor's degree under the tutelage of Michael Thompson, Richard Watkins and Martin Owen at the Royal Academy of Music.

Peter has performed in masterclasses with Radovan Vlatković, Marie-Luise Neunecker, Stefan Dohr, and Teunis van der Zwart. His studies included projects with Robin Ticciati, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Harrison Birtwistle and James Newton Howard, sit-ins and side-by-side projects with the Philharmonia and members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Specialising on historical horns, Peter studied with Roger Montgomery and Anneke Scott. He was principal soloist in Brandenburg 1 at the RCM, is a member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Experience Scheme for 2020-21 and has played with Florilegium, London Baroque Orchestra and the Oxford Bach Soloists.

Amanda started playing the horn aged 15 but for years was too busy as a choral singer to take it seriously! She was a choral scholar at Royal Holloway, where she studied music, but a last-minute decision led her to study horn for her postgraduate degree at Trinity College of Music. A decision she’s never regretted!

As a singer, Amanda’s voice had naturally suited early music, so it was inevitable that her passion for early music would continue as she explored historical performance on the natural horn whilst at Trinity. Amanda now thoroughly enjoys a career that encompasses historical performance as well as her work on the modern horn.

Ben grew up in London having been given his first drum at the age of 4 by his father who rescued it from a skip outside the former Boosey and Hawkes showroom in Regent Street.

From this stemmed a lifelong fascination for percussion which led Ben to eventually study at the Royal Academy of Music where he is currently Professor of Baroque and Classical Timpani. In addition to a varied career working with many of the larger orchestras in London, notably the London Symphony Orchestra, Ben is timpanist of the London Mozart Players and timpanist with the Academy of Ancient Music.

Living in rural Gloucestershire and wishing to bring music to an area not noted for live classical performance Ben created the Wotton Concert Series which now well established and in its 10th season, produces a popular tri-annual series of symphonic, choral and chamber concerts.

Jeremy West has been instrumental in reviving the popularity of the cornett as a virtuoso and ensemble instrument since the late 1970s, having been inspired and encouraged from the start by the late Jerome Roche (University of Durham). Now recognised by the Spanish national newspaper El País as “the veteran” he has 46 years of top-class playing and recording experience in many of Europe's leading early Baroque ensembles and has been acclaimed a ‘pioneer’ of his instrument on several occasions. He is a founder member of His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts, the leading ensemble of its kind, itself now 40 years of age, has close to 100 recordings to his credit and concert performances have taken him to 38 countries across five continents.

In addition to his playing career, since 1991 Jeremy has carried on the pioneering instrument- making work of the late Christopher Monk. The workshops are devoted to the research, development, reproduction and world-wide distribution of all instruments in the cornett and serpent families. Examples of this output, and of the extraordinarily popular resin cornett – an instrument which has inspired and enabled the majority of today’s players – are to be found even further afield: in excess of 40 countries.

Matthew started playing the cornet in The Salvation Army at the age of 7 and went on to study with Michael Laird and Mark Bennett at the Royal College of Music. Prior to this a very young Robert Van Ryne was his teacher!

He has enjoyed a varied career as a trumpeter playing all over the world in some of the finest concert halls and on TV and radio. On the modern trumpet he has freelanced with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and regularly deps on world famous shows including Les Miserables in the West End. Mathew regulary performs with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Academy of Ancient Music and often plays with orchestras such as the Orchestre Revelutionaire et Romantique, The English Concert and the Dunedin Consort. He has been fortunate enough to collaborate with some of the finest conductors in the world including Sir Simon Rattle, Vladimir Jurowski, Semyon Bychkov and Sir John Elliot Gardiner.

When he’s not playing the trumpet, he’s a keen footballer, and enjoys watching rugby and eating! He’s married to Tracy and together they have two children.

Peter Mankarious studied with scholarship at the Royal College of Music as a postgraduate with Alistair Mackie, Mark Calder, Neil Brough, and Michael Laird. As an undergraduate he read for an academic Music degree at Royal Holloway, University of London where he was taught by Simon Munday. Originally from Oldham, Peter was brought up around the legendary brass tradition there and started playing the cornet in group music lessons. His main musical interests lie within the Baroque and symphonic orchestral genres, both of which feature heavily in his schedule.

Peter performs on both modern and historical trumpets and has performed with groups such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, The English Concert, Dunedin Consort, Hanover Band, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, and many others at home and abroad. He has also appeared as Principal trumpet with many groups, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Gabrieli Consort, The King’s Consort, La Nuova Musica, Armonico Consort, and the Austrialian Chamber Orchestra.

Robert Vanryne began playing the cornet by accident at the age of 9 when his older brother was given one to learn on his first day at his new school. After graduating to the trumpet, he reached the brass finals of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 1980.

Whilst still at school he developed an interest in the Baroque trumpet and, having grown up in an engineering family, began to experiment with making his own copies of old instruments. Several years later he had made copies of natural trumpets which were being used by many of the world’s leading period instrument specialists.

Robert is principal trumpet of the Netherlands Bach Society and much of his work can be seen on their web-based platform AllofBach.com. He continues to specialise in music from the Baroque era but has also become recently involved with the performance of 19th century chamber music on early valved brass instruments.

Alto/tenor trombonist Stephanie Dyer works primarily as a historical specialist and, since 2016, as member of world-renowned historic brass ensemble His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts. She was thrilled to become a founder member of Blackadder Baroque Brass in 2021.

Born and raised in South Wales, Stephanie read music at King’s College, Cambridge, specialised in historical performance and research at the Royal Academy of Music, London – where she was also Regent Fellow for 2015/16 – and at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland. She enjoys a busy international career as trombonist, historical specialist and educator.

Alongside her work with HMSC, as a period instrumentalist Stephanie performs with the likes of the Academy of Ancient Music (UK), Il Giardino Armonico (Italy) and Camerata Lipsiensis (Germany). Equally at home in the recording studio and theatre as on the concert platform, Stephanie has a growing discography to her name, including the soundtrack for Fanny Lye Deliver’d (2018); and in 2022 Stephanie is trombonist/tuba player in the production of Sugar at Aalborg Theatre, Denmark.

Passionate about education, Stephanie is sackbut tutor for the annual International Early Music Summer School in Ścinawka Górna, Poland (2017–) and for the International Sackbut and Cornett Festival at the National Theatre, Warsaw (2021). She has worked with OAE Education (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, 2022), coached for the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (2018; 2020–21) and has been Lower Brass Tutor for the National Schools Symphony Orchestra since 2017.

Stephanie was delighted to be elected Member of The Royal Society of Musicians in 2019. She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Motorists and a native Welsh speaker.

Sue is recognized as one of the world’s leading Baroque trombone players. She currently plays principal trombone with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Academy of Ancient Music, Gabrieli Consort, The Sixteen and the Valletta International Baroque Ensemble.

She was a founder member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment of which she played principal Trombone for over thirty years, and she also played with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra for over twenty-five years.

Sue has worked regularly with chamber ensembles such as the Wallace Collection, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She is a founder member of “His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts” and after a break from the group Sue was delighted to accept the offer to become a full member again. Research has led her to produce a CD on Sir Edward Elgar’s Trombone and a lecture concert on Holst’s Instrument at his birthplace in Cheltenham. She is currently Professor of Baroque trombone at the Royal College of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Royal Northern College of Music and Trinity Laban.

Roger was born in London and grew up on Merseyside. He studied with James Scott and Michael Ogonovsky and after graduating in music from the University of York undertook postgraduate studies with Anthony Halstead at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Equally interested in contemporary music and historical performance, he plays with many of the leading groups in each field and has conducted and played with Jane's Minstrels, founded by Jane Manning and Anthony Payne. He has been principal horn of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment since 1994 and a member of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House since 2000. Notable recordings include the complete Mozart Horn Concerti on Signum with the OAE directed by Margaret Faultless, (a disc which was recommended as best period instrument performance by BBC Radio 3's Building a Library), Schumann's Konzertstueck with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the ORR and more obscurely an improvised Baroque horn solo on the album Ultra by East German heavy metal band the Inchtabokatables.

Although busy with playing and teaching, Roger tries to find time to run and read. His arrangements of late Romantic music have been performed and recorded by the OAE and his completion of Mozart's fragmentary Horn Concerto in E K494a by the Classical Opera Company.

Martin was born in Cumbria and studied physics at the University of York. He has been second horn in the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment since 1995 and has also played with all the other London-based period instrument orchestras, and abroad with Pygmalion, Il Giardino Armonico and the Australian Chamber Orchestra amongst others.

Martin really enjoys cooking, mushroom foraging and yoga, but in between times playing the natural horn is an amusing way of earning a living, despite the 'teetering on the edge of disaster' aspect of it. That’s what he really likes about it. One of the other things he does is help other musicians embrace the teetering, in his ‘Free Your Playing’ courses, which apply his PhD research on performance anxiety to help nervous musicians.

Ed grew up in Devon and is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music. Shortly after he became bass trombonist of the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre Orchestra in Osaka, Japan, and was a regular guest with other Japanese orchestras during his time there.

Since returning home Ed enjoys a varied freelance career performing with many of the U.K.’s orchestras and West End productions. He is currently bass trombonist on the Les Misérables UK & International tour. Whilst studying the bass sackbut at RAM, Ed grew hugely fond of the instrument and the different approaches required in performance practice. Ed has made guest appearances with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts, the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre U.S. Broadway productions.

Ed is very excited to be a part of Blackadder Baroque Brass’s future endeavours. In his spare time Ed enjoys cooking, motorsport, railways and anything else with an engine!

Richard Bayliss is a regular performer with many of the UK’s leading chamber ensembles and orchestras. Also with many of the UK’s leading symphony orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia and BBC Orchestras. He has performed as guest principal with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.

As a soloist, Richard has performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Academy of St Martin-in-the fields and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. Richard has always had a keen interest in early music, and as a natural horn player he is principal with the Gabrieli Consort and Players. He has performed as guest principal with the English Baroque Soloists, London Handel Orchestra, and the Academy of Ancient Music, Hanover Band and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Richard is also a regular performer in the West End, and has held positions with many shows, including Shrek, The Sound of Music, and Jesus Christ Superstar, and is a deputy on many of the current west end musicals.