Described as “…simply divine” by the Sunday Telegraph, Alison Balsom has been awarded an OBE for Services to Music, and has dedicated her career to broadening the artistic horizons of the trumpet. Alison has performed worldwide with many of the greatest conductors and orchestras of our time, including Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as The Balsom Ensemble, a handpicked group of leading Baroque soloists.

Alison has recorded exclusively with EMI Classics (now Warner Classics) since 2001. Her next album (her sixteenth with the label) will be the hotly anticipated Baroque Concertos album with Trevor Pinnock, and will be recorded in January 2024. Alison is a three-time recipient of Germany’s Echo Klassik Award, Gramophone Artist of the Year, and three Classic BRIT awards  (two of which as Female Artist of the Year), and has received a Nordoff Robbins O2 Silver Clef Award. During her time as Artistic Director of Cheltenham Music Festival, Alison brought the LSO, CBSO, the AAM, and commissioned twenty new works from leading composers to celebrate the Festival’s 75th anniversary, whilst also founding the contemporary music symposium — Composium. 

Constantly exploring the boundaries of her instrument, she has had numerous concertos written for her including World Premieres of Thea Musgrave’s Trumpet Concerto, Qigang-Chen’s Joie Eternelle and Guy Barker’s Lanterne of Light at the BBC Proms, and in April 2024 will give the UK and German Premieres of Wynton Marsalis’ Trumpet Concerto with Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra.