A recent concert of John Rutter’s music with the Putney Choral Society left me drenched with Christmas cheer, and so as the festive season approaches, preparations begin for a busy start to the new year.

Autumn 2017 was chock full of travelling – a trip to Southeast Asia with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra temporarily suspended the inevitable approach of the cold, dark London evenings. We were part of Toyota Classics’ 27th annual tour, a series of charity concerts that took us to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Several weeks (and many flights) later, I was bound for the airport again, with considerably more clothes – this time to visit chilly yet charming St Petersburg with The Hermes Experiment, where we played our Russian Revolution-inspired programme at their Sound Ways festival.

Rounding off 2017 was an appearance at the opening of this year’s Spitalfields Festival, where The Hermes Experiment gave the premiere of a beautiful new piece written for us by Josephine Stephenson, in addition to our own devised piece based on a crazy sonata by Giovanni Valentini.

The beginning of 2018 sees me return to my hometown of Grantham, Lincolnshire, to give a recital at the Music Club with pianist Edward Liddall – and the music club visits don’t stop there. In February The Hermes Experiment is undertaking its Tunnell Trust tour to Scotland, visiting six music clubs in six days – so no time for whisky this time round!

For more information of upcoming events, check out the dates page – and have a wonderful Christmas!