Simon Desbruslais graduated with a first-class honours degree in music from King’s College London in 2005. Whilst studying as an undergraduate he won the Sambrooke Exhibition prize for best undergraduate results (2004), and was aided by a choral scholarship. His trumpet teachers have included Andrew Crowley, Neil Brough, Iaan Wilson and Paul Archibald, with whom he graduated from the master’s programme at the Royal College of Music in 2007. Notable solo performances have included a duet with countertenor Michael Chance in Aviemore, the Jolivet Concertino at the Royal College of Music, and throughout Europe in Finland, Hungary, Germany, Italy, France and Spain. In December 2008 in Oxford’s Holywell Music Room he was only the second-ever trumpeter to perform Robert Saxton’s Trumpet Concerto, Psalm: A Song of Ascents. Following the success of this performance, both Robert Saxton and John McCabe are currently preparing new trumpet concertos specifically for him.
Concurrently with his performance career, Simon is writing a doctorate at Christ Church, Oxford on the music theory of Paul Hindemith. During his time there he has been awarded a Hugh Pilkington Scholarship for graduate study, and a Joan Conway Performance Scholarship allowing him to take trumpet instruction with Eric Aubier in the Conservatoire de Musique à Rueil Malmaison. He has also been aided with kind assistance from the EMI Sound Foundation.
In addition to his work on the modern trumpet, Simon is an active Baroque specialist. In 2007 he was chosen to play principal natural trumpet for Masaaki Suzuki in a performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass in the final concert of the 60th Aldeburgh Festival, and he is in demand by groups such as the Sarabande Consort, Classical Opera Company and the Charivari Agréable. Furthermore, he directs the aspiring Baroque group Ducere Clarino, which has recently performed in St Martin-in-the-Fields, the National Gallery and Farnborough Abbey. This autumn, Simon may be found on stage in the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre playing the natural trumpet in Thomas Arne’s Artaxerxes.
October 2009