Charpentier Fantastique

Paul Archibald regularly appears throughout the concert season with the London Mozart Players, Britten Sinfonia, Orchestra of St John's and the London Pro Arte Orchestra performing a varied and stimulating solo repertoire.

His career began as Co-Principal Trumpet in the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Carlos Kleiber, Sir Colin Davis and Sir Georg Solti being some of the great conductors he worked with during this period. As a member of the London Sinfonietta he worked with musical icons of the 20th Century such as Elliott Carter, Witold Lutoslawski and Luciano Berio, along with the prodigious talent of George Benjamin and Oliver Knussen.

As Principal Trumpet of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales Paul had the opportunity to perform great orchestral classics, and as a soloist he recorded Haydn's Trumpet Concerto and Copland's Quiet City for the BBC. In 1984 he was a prize winner of Toulon Prix de Concours, a major international trumpet competition, and has since performed as a soloist with the London Philharmonic, the Bournemouth Symphony, the Brandenburg Sinfonia, The London Concert Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Paul Archibald's repertoire reflects the music of our time and most recently has worked with Cecilia McDowall in a new work Seraphim, for Trumpet, Strings and Percussion, commissioned by Paul and the London Mozart Players. As suggested he is well known in the sphere of contemporary music. He also plays with the ensemble Fibonacci Sequence.

Paul's discography includes the Trumpet Concertos by Haydn and Hummel, Carnival of Venice arranged by Malcolm Smith and Handel's Concerto Grosso No 10, all recorded for Readers Digest with the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Charles Gerhardt. Jeremiah Clarke's Trumpet Suite in D is recorded with the Brandenburg Sinfonia and Paul also features as a soloist on Clarence Adoo's World of Brass, a fund-raising CD on behalf of the Clarence Adoo Fund.

Photo credit: Alison Bowring